Memoirs of a Midget · Chapter
XXVIII explained
The narrator and Mr.
What happens
The narrator and Mr. Anon take a walk through the woods, discussing religion, nature, and the narrator's impending departure. They take shelter from a hailstorm in a barn, where Mr. Anon shares esoteric wisdom about approaching the brink between life and reality. He later fetches a pony-cart to bring her home, where Mrs. Bowater's relief turns to a possessive, unsettling gaze that fills the narrator with hatred and disillusionment.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Sublime
The narrator finds peace in nature, describing the woods, rain, and hailstorm with awe, contrasting with her unease in human company.
Solitude and Self-Discovery
The narrator's walk and conversation with Mr. Anon lead to introspection about her identity, her size, and her place in the world.
Deception and Self-Deception
The narrator reflects on her own vanity and satisfaction after feeding on Mr. Anon's 'strange heart,' and later feels a sudden hatred for Mrs. Bowater, questioning her own affections.
Characters to notice
- Unknown (Narrator)
Reflects on Mr. Anon's teachings, feels a mix of affection and hatred toward Mrs. Bowater, and experiences a sense of otherness.
- Mr. Anon
Shares philosophical and mystical ideas with the narrator, protects her from a sheepdog, and fetches a pony-cart to bring her home.
- Mrs. Bowater
Initially anxious about the narrator's absence, she becomes friendly with Mr. Anon but later gives the narrator a look that provokes hatred and disillusionment.
- Mr. Crimble
Mentioned as being in love with Miss Bowater and as a source of the narrator's sleeplessness.
Key passages
“All things visible are only a veil, he said. A veil that withdraws itself when the mind is empty of all thoughts and desires, and the heart at one with itself.”
Mr. Anon explains that the physical world is a veil that can be lifted when one achieves mental emptiness and inner harmony.
This encapsulates Mr. Anon's mystical philosophy shared with the narrator in the barn.
“How was it that human company so often made me uneasy and self-conscious, and nature's always brought peace?”
The narrator wonders why she feels anxious around people but finds tranquility in nature.
Highlights the narrator's preference for solitude and the natural world over social interaction.
“So swirling a gust of hatred and disillusionment swept over me at sight of her, that for some little while I dared not raise my eyes and look at Mr. Anon.”
Upon seeing Mrs. Bowater's benign expression, the narrator is overwhelmed by sudden hatred and disillusionment, unable to face Mr. Anon.
Reveals the narrator's volatile emotions and sense of alienation from those who care for her.