Seven Pillars of Wisdom · Chapter
XCIII explained
Lawrence rides with Mirzuk and a large convoy from Aba el Lissan, enjoying the spring landscape.
What happens
Lawrence rides with Mirzuk and a large convoy from Aba el Lissan, enjoying the spring landscape. They cross the railway, encounter a lone Turkish soldier whom Lawrence spares, and proceed to the Atatir, where they wait to link up with Allenby. During a skirmish near Faraifra, Farraj is mortally wounded. Lawrence is forced to kill him to prevent capture and torture by the Turks, a deeply painful act.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Endurance
Farraj's mortal wound and Lawrence's agonizing decision to kill him to prevent a worse fate highlight the physical and emotional toll of war.
Honor and Deception
Lawrence spares a Turkish soldier, showing mercy, while the pact among the Arabs to kill their own wounded rather than let them be captured reflects a harsh code of honor.
Futility and Meaning
The beauty of the spring landscape contrasts with the senseless death of Farraj, and Lawrence reflects on the emptiness and loss that war brings.
Characters to notice
- T.E. Lawrence
Narrator and leader of the convoy; spares a Turkish soldier and later kills Farraj to prevent his capture.
- Farraj
Member of Lawrence's bodyguard; mortally wounded in a skirmish and killed by Lawrence to avoid torture.
- Sheikh Mifleh
Allied sheikh who welcomes Lawrence at Atara with honeyed words, described as greedy.
- Sheikh Fahad el Hansha
Allied sheikh, still stricken, camped at Atara.
- Zaagi
Leader of a party of Ageyl; participates in the skirmish and later covets Farraj's camel.
- Abdulla
Member of Lawrence's party; brings supper after Farraj's death.
Key passages
“I knelt down beside him, holding my pistol near the ground by his head, so that he should not see my purpose; but he must have guessed it, for he opened his eyes, and clutched me with his harsh, scaly hand, the tiny hand of these unripe Nejd fellows.”
Lawrence knelt by Farraj, hiding the pistol, but Farraj guessed his intent and grabbed his hand.
Lawrence's mercy killing of his wounded comrade to prevent capture and torture.
“The abstraction of the desert landscape cleansed me, and rendered my mind vacant with its superfluous greatness: a greatness achieved not by the addition of thought to its emptiness, but by its subtraction.”
The vast, empty desert cleared Lawrence's mind, its greatness coming from the absence of thought rather than its presence.
Lawrence's philosophical reflection on the desert's cleansing effect.