Travel Essays · Chapter
The Boarders explained
The narrator describes his stay at Our Lady of the Snows, where he encounters two boarders: a country parish priest and a former military commandant now a novice.
What happens
The narrator describes his stay at Our Lady of the Snows, where he encounters two boarders: a country parish priest and a former military commandant now a novice. The chapter focuses on their attempts to convert him to Catholicism, revealing the narrator's discomfort with their aggressive proselytizing and his own hedonistic leanings. The conversation shifts from politics to religion, culminating in a tense debate about faith and salvation.
Themes in this chapter
Freedom vs. Confinement
The narrator contrasts his own hedonistic freedom with the strict, ascetic life of the Trappists, and the boarders' transition from military life to monastic confinement is highlighted.
Human Connection and Community
The interactions among the boarders, the priest, and the commandant reveal tensions and attempts at connection, despite doctrinal differences.
Mortality and the Passage of Time
The monastery is described as a 'still country bordering on the grave,' and the commandant's transition from soldier to novice underscores the passage of time and approach of death.
Characters to notice
- Father Michael
The good Irish deacon who tolerantly pats the narrator on the shoulder and says, 'You must be a Catholic and come to heaven.'
- Father Apollinaris
Simple Father Apollinaris who tolerantly used the narrator before the arrival of the boarders.
- The Priest
A country parish priest from near Mende, a grenadier in person with a kilted cassock, who joins the commandant in urging the narrator's conversion.
- The Officer
A short, grizzling, thickset man, an old soldier and former commandant now a novice at the monastery, who becomes furious when the narrator praises Gambetta's moderation.
- The Archpriest
The priest who snorts like a battle-horse and demands the narrator change his beliefs, launching into harrowing details of hell.
Key passages
“I am afraid I must be at bottom, what a cheerful Indian critic has dubbed me, 'a faddling hedonist,' for this description of the brother's motives gave me somewhat of a shock.”
The narrator admits he might be a shallow pleasure-seeker, as an Indian critic once called him, because he was disturbed by the monk's explanation for joining the Trappists.
The narrator reflects on his own hedonistic tendencies in contrast to the monk's spiritual motives.
“Your sect,' he said once; 'for I think you will admit it would be doing it too much honour to call it a religion.'”
The priest dismisses the narrator's faith as a mere sect, unworthy of being called a religion.
The priest's condescending attitude toward the narrator's Protestantism is revealed.
“I have no right to refuse for the monastery,' he explained, 'but I should prefer if you would give it to one of the brothers.'”
Father Michael declined the narrator's offering for himself but suggested giving it to another monk instead.
Father Michael's humility and adherence to monastic rules are shown.