The Secret City · Chapter
V explained
Henry Bohun, after recovering from his illness, ventures into Petrograd and visits a cathedral, where he is overwhelmed by the sensory experience of the crowd, the chant, and the ritual.
What happens
Henry Bohun, after recovering from his illness, ventures into Petrograd and visits a cathedral, where he is overwhelmed by the sensory experience of the crowd, the chant, and the ritual. He encounters a peasant who seems to him symbolic of Russia's future.
Themes in this chapter
The Role of the Observer
Henry Bohun observes the cathedral crowd as an outsider, romanticizing and interpreting the scene through his own sentimental lens.
Cultural Misunderstanding
Bohun's romanticized view of the peasant and the ritual highlights his misunderstanding of Russian reality.
Characters to notice
- Henry Bohun
Explores Petrograd and visits a cathedral, feeling both romantic and overwhelmed by the experience.
Key passages
“He felt happy and consoled after a bath, a shave, and breakfast. Always I should think he reacted very quickly to his own physical sensations, and he was, as yet, too young to know that you cannot lay ghosts by the simple brushing of your hair and sponging your face.”
Bohun's immediate physical comfort after bathing and eating makes him feel better, but he is too young to realize that emotional troubles can't be so easily dismissed.
Highlights Bohun's youthful naivety and reliance on physical sensations.
“He saw on his right a great church; it stood back from the street, having in front of it a desolate little arrangement of bushes and public seats and winding paths.”
He noticed a large church set back from the street, with a small, neglected garden in front.
Describes the setting of the cathedral Bohun visits.
“He entered the church and was instantly swallowed up by a vast multitude. He described to me afterwards that it was as though he had been pushed (by the evil, eager fingers of the beggars no doubt) into deep water.”
Once inside, he felt engulfed by the dense crowd, comparing the sensation to being pushed into deep water.
Conveys Bohun's overwhelming and disorienting experience in the cathedral.
“He looked at them and discovered that they had the faces of children—simple, trustful, unintelligent, unhumorous children—and eyes, always kindlier than any he had ever seen in other human beings.”
He saw the peasants as having childlike, trusting, and kind faces, lacking sophistication or humor.
Reflects Bohun's romanticized and patronizing view of the Russian peasantry.
“In his mild blue eyes Bohun fancied that he saw all kinds of things—power, wisdom, prophecy—a figure apart and symbolic. But how easy in Russia it is to see symbols and how often those symbols fail to justify themselves!”
Bohun imagined the peasant's eyes held power and wisdom, but the narrator warns that such symbolic interpretations in Russia are often misleading.
Critiques Bohun's tendency to romanticize and the danger of seeing symbols where none exist.