VII: An Approach to the Delectable Mountains explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Human Dignity and Community

  Pete's transformation from a ghostly figure to a healthy person through friendship and food highlights the restorative power of community.

• Bureaucratic Absurdity

  The French government's 'joke' of offering sentence reduction for not eating soup, and the arbitrary punishment of innocent prisoners, exemplify bureaucratic absurdity.

• Art and Expression as Resistance

  Count Bragard's discussions of painting and the narrator's caricature drawings serve as acts of creative resistance against the dehumanizing camp environment.

Characters to notice

• Narrator

  Describes the arrival of Pete and other prisoners, interacts with Count Bragard and the R.A., and reflects on camp life.

• Pete the Shadow

  Arrives as a ghost-like figure after three months of solitary confinement; becomes a friend of the narrator and B.

• Rockyfeller

  Breaks camp rules with impunity due to bribery; later leaves for the hospital, keeping The Fighting Sheeney as a defender.

• The Fighting Sheeney

  Bullies others, gets into fights, and is treated for syphilis after an injection by Monsieur Richard.

• Count Bragard

  Shares his artistic knowledge, discusses painting techniques and Cézanne, and expresses frustration at being unable to paint in the camp.

• The Black Holster

  Confronts the snoring prisoners with a revolver, displaying bravery; no punishment is given to Rockyfeller for the disturbance.

Key passages

• “One day I found myself expecting La Soupe Number 1 with something like avidity. My appetite faded, however, upon perceiving a vision en route to the empty place at my left. It slightly resembled a tall youth not more than sixteen or seventeen years old, having flaxen hair, a face whose whiteness I have never seen equalled, and an expression of intense starvation which might have been well enough in a human being but was somewhat unnecessarily uncanny in a ghost.”

  The narrator eagerly awaits his soup but loses his appetite when he sees a pale, ghost-like youth sit beside him.

  Introduces Pete's arrival in a striking, supernatural manner.

• “For Pete had been in solitary confinement for three months and had had nothing to eat but bread and water during that time, having been told by the jailors (as he informed us, without a trace of bitterness) that they would shorten his sentence provided he did not partake of La Soupe during his incarceration—that is to say, le gouvernement français had a little joke at Pete's expense.”

  Pete endured three months of solitary confinement on bread and water after jailors tricked him into thinking refusing soup would shorten his sentence.

  Highlights the cruel absurdity of the French government's treatment of prisoners.

• “Never have I seen a greater exhibition of bravery than was afforded by The Black Holster, revolver in hand, holding at bay the snoring and weaponless inhabitants of The Enormous Room.”

  The narrator sarcastically praises the Black Holster's 'bravery' in threatening unarmed, sleeping prisoners with a revolver.

  Satirizes the misplaced valor of camp authorities.

• “Count Bragard folded a piece of paper, tore it in the centre of the folded edge, unfolded it carefully, exhibiting a good round hole, and remarking: 'Do you know this trick? It's an English trick, Mr. Cummings,' held the paper before him and gazed profoundly through the circular aperture at an exceptionally disappointing section of the altogether gloomy landscape.”

  Count Bragard shows the narrator a paper trick, using the hole to frame a bleak view of the camp landscape.

  Illustrates Count Bragard's attempt to find beauty and meaning in a degrading environment.