Seven Pillars of Wisdom · Chapter
XL explained
Lawrence and his party continue their arduous journey through the desert, navigating difficult terrain and dealing with the complexities of leadership among the Arab forces.
What happens
Lawrence and his party continue their arduous journey through the desert, navigating difficult terrain and dealing with the complexities of leadership among the Arab forces. They encounter a pair of young Ageyl, Farraj and Daud, who join Lawrence's service after a punishment incident.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Endurance
Lawrence endures fever, boils, and the physical hardships of the desert journey; the group loses camels and faces difficult terrain.
Honor and Deception
The elaborate rules of march and the need for a unifying figure (the Sherif) to combine disparate factions; the conceit of the Arab movement.
Culture and Otherness
Lawrence's Arabic lessons and the mingling of dialects; the contrast between Bedouin and town sensibilities; the eastern boy-boy affection described.
Characters to notice
- T.E. Lawrence
Narrator and participant; suffers from fever and boils; takes on Farraj and Daud as servants.
- Auda abu Tayi
Guides the party through the night with his chanting; a child of battle who has never known a master.
- Sherif Nasir
Commands the group; gives Lawrence Arabic lessons; decides to halt and camp; accepts Farraj and Daud into service.
- Mohammed el Dheilan
Auda's cousin; helps teach Lawrence Arabic.
- Nesib el Bekri
One of the punctilious houses in the group; described as jealous and hostile to merit.
- Farraj
Young Ageyli; burned a tent with Daud; soft-framed and girlish; joins Lawrence's service.
- Daud
Young Ageyli; Farraj's friend; shares punishment; eager and anxious; joins Lawrence's service.
- Sherif Sharraf
Expected to return from an expedition; severe in discipline; not yet arrived.
Key passages
“To townsmen this garden was a memory of the world before we went mad with war and drove ourselves into the desert: to Auda there was an indecency of exhibition in the plant-richness, and he longed for an empty view.”
For city dwellers, the garden reminded them of peacetime, but Auda found the lushness obscene and preferred barren landscapes.
Contrast between urban and Bedouin perspectives on nature and war.
“The fluency had a lack of grammar, which made my talk a perpetual adventure for my hearers. Newcomers imagined I must be the native of some unknown illiterate district; a shot-rubbish ground of disjected Arabic parts of speech.”
Lawrence's Arabic was fluent but ungrammatical, leading listeners to think he came from a remote, uneducated area.
Lawrence's linguistic journey and the eclectic nature of his Arabic.
“For this army of Feisal's the conceit was that an Emir of Mecca, a descendant of the prophet, a Sherif, was an otherworldly dignitary whom sons of Adam might reverence without shame. This was the binding assumption of the Arab movement; it was this which gave it an effective, if imbecile unanimity.”
The Arab army's unity was based on the belief that a Sherif of Mecca was a holy figure worthy of reverence, a notion that was both effective and foolish.
The ideological foundation of the Arab Revolt's cohesion.
“They were an instance of the eastern boy and boy affection which the segregation of women made inevitable. Such friendships often led to manly loves of a depth and force beyond our flesh-steeped conceit.”
The close bond between Farraj and Daud exemplified a type of male friendship common in the East, sometimes deepening into love, which Westerners might misunderstand.
Observation on same-sex relationships in Arab society.
