The Innocents Abroad · Chapter
XLIII explained
The narrator describes the grueling three-day journey to Damascus, compressed into less than two days due to the pilgrims' refusal to travel on the Sabbath.
What happens
The narrator describes the grueling three-day journey to Damascus, compressed into less than two days due to the pilgrims' refusal to travel on the Sabbath. He criticizes their rigid adherence to the letter of religious law at the expense of mercy toward their exhausted horses, contrasting their nightly lectures on gentleness with their harsh treatment of animals. The party detours to visit the fountain of Figia, where Balaam's ass drank, and endures a thirteen-hour ride through deserts and hills. They then travel across the Valley of Lebanon, observing primitive agricultural practices and a camel race, before arriving at the magnificent ruins of Baalbec, whose colossal temples and stonework inspire awe and wonder.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Hypocrisy
The narrator sharply criticizes the pilgrims for prioritizing the letter of Sabbath law over mercy to their horses, highlighting a disconnect between their nightly religious lectures and their daily actions.
The Past vs. the Present
The ruins of Baalbec evoke the grandeur of ancient civilizations, contrasting with the 'miserable Syrian village' and the primitive agricultural methods still in use, suggesting a decline from past achievements.
Colonialism and Otherness
The narrator observes local customs (boundary stones, plowing with a sharpened stick, winnowing wheat) with a tone of condescension, noting that 'they never invent anything, never learn anything,' reflecting a colonial gaze.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Describes the hardships of the journey, criticizes the pilgrims' hypocrisy, and records the day's events in his notebook.
- Jack
Walks with the narrator for three or four miles leading their lame horses.
- Three Hundred Happy Priests
Referred to as 'our three pilgrims' who refuse to travel on the Sabbath, causing the forced march.
Key passages
“a Christian land and a Christian climate, and on a good horse, is a tiresome journey; but in an oven like Syria, in a ragged spoon of a saddle that slips fore-and-aft, and 'thort-ships,' and every way, and on a horse that is tired and lame, and yet must be whipped and spurred with hardly a moment's cessation all day long, till the blood comes from his side, and your conscience hurts you every time you strike if you are half a man—it is a journey to be remembered in bitterness of spirit and execrated with emphasis for a liberal division of a man's lifetime.”
A long ride in a comfortable climate on a good horse is bad enough, but in the heat of Syria on a broken saddle and a lame horse that you must constantly whip until it bleeds, it becomes a miserable experience you'll curse for years.
The narrator vividly conveys the physical and moral suffering of the forced march.
“We said the Saviour who pitied dumb beasts and taught that the ox must be rescued from the mire even on the Sabbath day, would not have counseled a forced march like this.”
We argued that Christ, who showed compassion for animals and allowed rescuing an ox on the Sabbath, would never approve of such a harsh journey.
The narrator uses a biblical argument to challenge the pilgrims' rigid Sabbath observance.
“Thus they were willing to commit a sin against the spirit of religious law, in order that they might preserve the letter of it.”
They broke the true intent of the law just to keep its literal wording.
The narrator exposes the hypocrisy of prioritizing form over substance.
“Such grandeur of design, and such grace of execution, as one sees in the temples of Baalbec, have not been equaled or even approached in any work of men's hands that has been built within twenty centuries past.”
The beauty and craftsmanship of Baalbec's temples are unmatched by anything built in the last two thousand years.
The narrator expresses awe at the ancient ruins, emphasizing their superiority to modern architecture.
