The Wonderful Visit · Chapter
LII: The Last Day of the Visit (Continued) explained
The chapter describes the climactic fire at the vicarage, with a blinding glare and a strange rush of music.
What happens
The chapter describes the climactic fire at the vicarage, with a blinding glare and a strange rush of music. The village witnesses the event, and Lumpy Durgan and little Hetty Penzance offer their interpretations. Hetty becomes pensive and fragile afterward, until Doctor Crump treats her.
Themes in this chapter
The Fragility of Wonder
Hetty Penzance's vision of angels and her subsequent fading away illustrate the delicate nature of wonder and its vulnerability to the mundane world.
The Universality of Suffering
The fire and its aftermath bring grief and a sense of loss to the village, highlighting the universal experience of suffering.
Characters to notice
- The Angel
Implied to be Delia, who dies in the fire.
- Lumpy Durgan
The idiot boy from Sidderford who describes the music as like the opening and shutting of a door.
- Doctor Crump
Treats little Hetty Penzance after the fire with a fattening dietary and medicine.
Key passages
“There was a cry of “Delia” and no more. But suddenly the flames spurted out in a blinding glare that shot upward to an immense height, a blinding brilliance broken by a thousand flickering gleams like the waving of swords.”
A single cry of 'Delia' was heard, then the fire erupted into a towering, blinding glare with countless flickering sparks.
Describes the moment of the angel's death and the intensity of the fire.
“Lumpy Durgan, the idiot boy from Sidderford, said it began and ended like the opening and shutting of a door.”
Lumpy Durgan compared the strange music to the sound of a door opening and closing.
Lumpy's simple interpretation of the supernatural music.
“But little Hetty Penzance had a pretty fancy of two figures with wings, that flashed up and vanished among the flames.”
Little Hetty Penzance imagined two winged figures appearing and disappearing in the fire.
Hetty's fanciful vision of angels in the flames.