Short Fiction · Chapter
II explained
The narrator reluctantly agrees to help a hysterical Chalmers, who believes that entities called the Hounds of Tindalos can only reach him through angles.
What happens
The narrator reluctantly agrees to help a hysterical Chalmers, who believes that entities called the Hounds of Tindalos can only reach him through angles. They spend hours plastering all corners and crevices of the room to eliminate every angle, creating a spherical space. Chalmers explains his belief that time and space are illusions and that the hounds will return if the scent leads through curves. The narrator leaves, convinced Chalmers is insane and plans to send a physician.
Themes in this chapter
Madness and Psychological Trauma
Chalmers exhibits extreme hysteria, paranoia, and delusional behavior, believing he must protect himself from otherworldly entities.
Fear of the Unknown
Chalmers' terror of the Hounds of Tindalos, entities from beyond time and space, drives his irrational actions.
Characters to notice
- Halpin Chalmers
Phones the narrator in a hysterical state, pleading for help to plaster his room against the Hounds of Tindalos.
- Frank Anders
The narrator who reluctantly agrees to help Chalmers, buys plaster, and assists in sealing the room's angles.
Key passages
“It is just conceivable that we can thwart them! But we must work rapidly. Frank, there is a stepladder in the hall. Bring it here immediately. And then fetch a pail of water.”
Chalmers insists they might still stop the entities if they hurry, and orders the narrator to get a stepladder and water.
Chalmers' urgent and commanding tone reveals his desperation and belief in the imminent threat.
“I shall remain in this room until they return in time. When they discover that the scent leads through curves they will return. They will return ravenous and snarling and unsatisfied to the foulness that was in the beginning, before time, beyond space.”
Chalmers plans to stay in the room until the hounds, following the scent through curves, come back angry and hungry to their primordial origin.
Chalmers articulates his cosmic theory about the Hounds of Tindalos and their connection to angles and curves.