R explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Hypocrisy and Duplicity

  The definition of 'Righteousness' satirizes the hypocrisy of enforcing virtue on others, and 'Reverence' reduces it to a dog-like attitude.

• Politics and Power

  Definitions like 'Revolution,' 'Rabble,' and 'Recount' critique political systems and the misuse of power.

• Human Folly and Self-Deception

  Entries such as 'Rational,' 'Reality,' and 'Reason' mock human self-deception and flawed reasoning.

• Social Class and Inequality

  The definition of 'Rich' highlights class conflict, and 'Riches' contrasts views of wealth from different social perspectives.

Characters to notice

• Unknown

  The narrator provides the definitions and commentary throughout the chapter.

• Father Gassalasca Jape

  Referenced indirectly as the source of a quotation in the definition of 'Righteousness' (Bishop Rowley).

• Andrew Carnegie

  Quoted in the definition of 'Riches' as saying 'The reward of toil and virtue.'

• James F. Bowman

  Quoted in the definition of 'Riches' as saying 'The savings of many in the hands of one.'

• John Elmer Pettibone Cajee

  Quoted in the definition of 'Riches' as saying 'A gift from Heaven signifying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."'

• Dr. Samuel Johnson

  Referenced indirectly in the definition of 'Rime' as a source of the spelling 'rhyme.'

• Shakespeare

  Referenced indirectly in the definition of 'Romance' as a great novelist who 'laid waste their powers.'

• Carlyle

  Referenced in the definition of 'Romance' as saying 'Your novelist is a poor creature.'

Key passages

• “Revolution In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. Specifically, in American history, the substitution of the rule of an Administration for that of a Ministry, whereby the welfare and happiness of the people were advanced a full half-inch.”

  Revolution is just a sudden switch from one bad government to another, and in America it barely improved anything.

  Satirizes the American Revolution as a minor change in governance.

• “Riches A gift from Heaven signifying, 'This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.' — John D. Rockefeller The reward of toil and virtue. — J. P. Morgan The savings of many in the hands of one. — Eugene Debs”

  Wealth is seen as divine favor by Rockefeller, as earned merit by Morgan, and as stolen from the many by Debs.

  Contrasts different class perspectives on wealth.

• “Righteousness A sturdy virtue that was once found among the Pantidoodles inhabiting the lower part of the peninsula of Oque. Some feeble attempts were made by returned missionaries to introduce it into several European countries, but it appears to have been imperfectly expounded.”

  Righteousness is a fictional virtue from a made-up land, and missionaries failed to explain it properly.

  Mocks the concept of righteousness as absurd and poorly understood.

• “Romance Fiction that owes no allegiance to the God of Things as They Are. In the novel the writer's thought is tethered to probability, as a domestic horse to the hitching-post, but in romance it ranges at will over the entire region of the imagination—free, lawless, immune to bit and rein.”

  Romance is imaginative fiction unbound by reality, unlike the novel which is constrained by probability.

  Praises romance over realism in fiction.

• “Rubbish Worthless matter, such as the religions, philosophies, literatures, arts and sciences of the tribes infesting the regions lying”

  Rubbish includes all the cultural achievements of various peoples.

  Dismisses entire fields of human endeavor as worthless.