The Wonderful Visit · Chapter
LI: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) explained
The Angel returns to find the Vicarage ablaze.
What happens
The Angel returns to find the Vicarage ablaze. A girl has entered the burning building to retrieve his fiddle. Moved by this act of love and self-sacrifice, the Angel rushes into the fire, disappearing behind a falling, incandescent mass.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Sacrifice
The girl's attempt to save the Angel's fiddle and the Angel's own rush into the fire highlight selfless love and sacrifice.
The Universality of Suffering
The fire, the girl's entrapment, and the Angel's final act underscore the pervasive suffering in the human world.
Characters to notice
- The Angel
Returns to the burning Vicarage, learns of the girl's sacrifice, and rushes into the flames.
- The Vicar
Present at the fire, his scalded hand being tied up; sees the Angel enter the doorway.
- Doctor Crump
Also witnesses the Angel's final moment against the blaze.
Key passages
“She went in, said one voice, she went in. The mad girl! said another.”
A woman entered the burning house, and the crowd called her crazy.
The girl's reckless bravery is initially dismissed as madness.
“I can get his fiddle. I heerd her—Just like that! I can get his fiddle.”
A bystander recalls the girl saying she could retrieve the Angel's violin.
Her motivation was to save the Angel's cherished instrument.
“Then in a flash he saw it all, saw this grim little world of battle and cruelty, transfigured in a splendour that outshone the Angelic Land, suffused suddenly and insupportably glorious with the wonderful light of love and self-sacrifice.”
The Angel suddenly understood that this world of suffering was illuminated by a beauty greater than heaven, the light of love and sacrifice.
The Angel perceives the profound meaning of human selflessness.