Last and First Men · Chapter
I: The First Dark Age explained
This chapter describes the period following the fall of the First World State, known as the First Dark Age, which lasted about one hundred and fifteen thousand years.
What happens
This chapter describes the period following the fall of the First World State, known as the First Dark Age, which lasted about one hundred and fifteen thousand years. Man's civilization collapsed into savagery and barbarism, with only a tenth of the population surviving. The causes included an epidemic of insanity from microbes, a general senescence of the species, and the loss of technology and mineral resources. The people regressed to stone tools, lived in constant fear of the gods, and were obsessed with legends of a glorious past and the downfall of mighty fliers. The ruins of the old civilization remained as monuments, and the Swastika symbol was reinterpreted as a sign of divine ancestry and decline.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Redemption
The chapter depicts the suffering of the First Men in the Dark Age, with a faint hope of redemption through the second coming of the gods.
The Limits of Knowledge
The loss of scientific knowledge and the distortion of history into legends illustrate the limits of human understanding and memory.
Society and Collective Identity
The breakdown of society into small tribes and the obsession with the past reflect the loss of collective identity and unity.
Characters to notice
- The First Men
The First Men are the subject of this chapter, experiencing the First Dark Age after the fall of the World State.
- Gordelpus
Gordelpus is mentioned as the symbol of the State whose downfall was represented by the Swastika.
- Fate
Fate is described as directing events toward an allotted end, using diverse instruments to cause the downfall.
Key passages
“It is as though Fate, directing events toward an allotted end, had availed herself of many diverse instruments, none of which would have sufficed alone, though all worked together irresistibly in the same sense.”
Fate used many different causes, each insufficient alone, but together they inevitably led to the downfall.
This highlights the complex and multifaceted nature of the collapse.
“The only reaction was supine despair.”
People reacted with passive hopelessness.
Describes the psychological state of the survivors.
“Not for them the delicate flaking of the Paleoliths nor the smooth symmetry of the Neoliths. Their tools were but broken pebbles, chipped improvements upon natural stones.”
Their stone tools were crude and simple, unlike the refined tools of ancient peoples.
Illustrates the technological regression.