The Jade God · Chapter
VI: God—Or Devil? explained
Derrick shows Sergeant Burke the jade god he found, a small, malevolent-looking image carved from jade.
What happens
Derrick shows Sergeant Burke the jade god he found, a small, malevolent-looking image carved from jade. They discuss the case and Derrick proposes an inductive method, assuming a murderer and working backwards. Derrick reflects on the four key figures: Perkins, Martin, the peddler, and Jean Millicent. Edith arrives and Derrick gives her a bangle from the peddler, who has come from Burma. Derrick and Jean share a moment of connection, and Edith later tells Derrick that Jean feels strangely linked to her father's death and won't marry until it's resolved.
Themes in this chapter
The Occult and Supernatural
The jade god is described as a malevolent, devilish image with 'fiendish malignity' and 'abysmal knowledge,' suggesting supernatural influence and occult power.
Fear and Paranoia
Derrick feels a 'chill' from the image, and the characters are shrouded in suspicion and hidden motives, with Perkins and Martin described as 'foreign countries.'
The Power of the Past
The past weighs heavily on Jean, who feels linked to her father's death, and on Martin, who is drawn back from Burma by unseen forces.
Characters to notice
- Mr. John Derrick
Shows the jade god to Sergeant Burke, proposes an inductive method for the case, reflects on the four key figures, and gives Edith a bangle from the peddler.
- Sergeant Burke
Examines the jade god, discusses the case with Derrick, and is puzzled by Derrick's inductive approach.
- Edith Derrick
Visits Derrick, receives a bangle from the peddler, and later talks with Mrs. Millicent about Jean and the family's situation.
- Jean Millicent
Shares a moment of connection with Derrick; her mother says she feels strangely linked to her father's death and won't marry until it's resolved.
- Perkins
Described as a sphinx-like figure, a domestic automaton who talks in her sleep and mourns her murdered master.
- John Martin
Newly returned from Burma, receives viewless signals, and is a suspect in the murder.
Key passages
“The thing on the table was a diminutive image, about three and a half inches high. It was carved, apparently, from a single block of the most perfect jade... and over the whole face rested an expression of utter and fiendish malignity.”
The small jade statue, about three and a half inches tall, was carved from flawless jade and had a face that looked utterly evil and cruel.
Describes the jade god's appearance and malevolent expression.
“I’ve never studied your profession but fancy you’d get as much out of them as out of the image itself. Perkins has been under very close observation for weeks without knowing it, and her face is a mask. Martin is much the same. The minds of both of them are foreign countries, so far as we are concerned.”
Derrick says that questioning Perkins and Martin would be as unproductive as studying the statue, since both are inscrutable and their thoughts are completely unknown to him.
Derrick explains why confronting the suspects with the jade god would be ineffective.
“She imagines herself linked with it in some odd fashion and won’t think of marrying till the thing is cleared up, which, of course, it never will be now. She argues that she has her father’s blood and all that, and she may have inherited some kind of threat or danger or whatever it was that killed him.”
Jean feels a strange connection to her father's murder and believes she may have inherited the danger that killed him, so she refuses to marry until the case is resolved.
Edith relays Mrs. Millicent's explanation of Jean's reluctance to marry.
