On a Chinese Screen · Chapter
VIII: The Servants of God explained
Two missionaries, an elderly Frenchman and a younger Englishman, sit together discussing trivial matters, yet share a profound goodness and humility.
What happens
Two missionaries, an elderly Frenchman and a younger Englishman, sit together discussing trivial matters, yet share a profound goodness and humility. The Frenchman, nearly eighty, has spent fifty years in China and faced attacks on his mission; his eyes flash with prophetic intensity. The Englishman, a former soldier turned Church Mission member, is jovial and kind-hearted, having felt a sudden call to missionary work in India. They part, each heading to a different 'home'—one to his French town, the other to his ancestral English estate.
Themes in this chapter
Cultural Clash and Misunderstanding
The two missionaries, despite their shared faith, represent different cultural and national backgrounds, highlighting the subtle clashes and misunderstandings within the colonial missionary context.
Colonial Ennui and Isolation
The English missionary's reminiscence of his past life in England and the Frenchman's long exile in China evoke a sense of isolation and longing for a distant home.
Search for Meaning and Identity
Both missionaries have dedicated their lives to a higher calling, yet their identities are shaped by their pasts—the Englishman's soldiering and the Frenchman's asceticism—revealing a search for purpose.
Characters to notice
- The Doctor
The elderly French missionary, nearly eighty, with flashing eyes and a commanding presence, who has spent fifty years in China and thrice fled attacks on his mission.
- Mr. Wingrove
The younger English missionary, about fifty, a former soldier turned Church Mission member, jovial and kind-hearted, with a round face and toothbrush moustache.
Key passages
“They were sitting side by side, two missionaries, talking to one another of perfectly trivial things, in the way people talk who wish to show each other civility but have nothing in common; and they would have been surprised to be told that they had certainly one admirable thing in common, goodness, for both had this also in common, humility; though perhaps in the Englishman it was more deliberate, and so, if more conspicuous less natural, than it was in the Frenchman.”
The two missionaries sat together, making small talk out of politeness despite having little in common, unaware that they shared a deep goodness and humility, though the Englishman's humility seemed more practiced and thus less spontaneous than the Frenchman's.
Introduces the shared virtue and subtle contrast between the two missionaries.
“He was a magnificent figure. He had been in China for half a century and thrice he had fled for his life when the Chinese had attacked his mission.”
The Frenchman was an imposing presence, having spent fifty years in China and escaping three attacks on his mission.
Highlights the French missionary's long service and the dangers he faced.
“The call had come when he was in India. He did not exactly know how or why, it had just come, a sudden feeling that he must give up his life to bringing the heathen to the belief in Christ, but it was a feeling that he could not resist; it gave him no peace.”
While in India, the Englishman experienced an inexplicable, irresistible urge to dedicate his life to converting non-Christians, a calling that brought him lasting fulfillment.
Describes the English missionary's conversion to his vocation.