The Wonderful Visit · Chapter
XXXVIII: The Trouble of the Barbed Wire explained
The Angel's disastrous social debut ends, and the Vicar returns home crestfallen.
What happens
The Angel's disastrous social debut ends, and the Vicar returns home crestfallen. Village constable Horrocks informs the Vicar that Sir John Gotch is furious about barbed wire vandalism, which the Angel committed after seeing a little girl cut by the wire. The Angel, learning the wire was man-made, expresses horror and anger at the cruelty of the world.
Themes in this chapter
Innocence vs. Experience
The Angel experiences anger and violence for the first time, realizing he is becoming 'tainted' by the world's cruelty, marking a fall from angelic innocence.
Class Division and Exploitation
The barbed wire incident highlights class tensions: Sir John Gotch fences his land to keep out 'bounders,' while the Angel's act of destruction challenges property rights and social hierarchy.
Characters to notice
- The Angel
Returns from the failed social appearance, confesses to cutting barbed wire in a fit of passion after seeing a child hurt, and reflects on becoming tainted by earthly wickedness.
- The Vicar
Dejected and desperate after the social disaster, learns from Horrocks about the Angel's barbed wire vandalism and struggles with how to handle the situation with Sir John Gotch.
- Horrocks
The village constable who investigates the barbed wire incident, confirms the Angel's guilt, and warns the Vicar of Sir John Gotch's anger.
- Sir John Gotch
Mentioned as the furious landowner whose barbed wire was destroyed; he is determined to take out a summons against the perpetrator.
- Delia
Briefly appears in the hall as the Angel cross-examines her about differences between servants and ladies.
Key passages
“It is still more horrible, said the Angel when the Vicar explained the artificial nature of the thing. If I had seen the man who put this silly-cruel stuff there to hurt little children, I know I should have tried to inflict pain upon him.”
The Angel is horrified to learn the barbed wire was deliberately placed, and says he would have tried to hurt the person responsible for such cruelty.
The Angel's growing moral outrage and his first experience of violent impulse.
“I am indeed becoming tainted and coloured altogether by the wickedness of this world.”
The Angel feels he is being corrupted and stained by the evil he encounters on Earth.
The Angel's awareness of his loss of innocence.