His argument on anarchy is also very romantic. He views anarchy as an artistic expression; in his words: "[an artist] sees how much more valuable is one burst of blazing light, one peal of perfect thunder, than the mere common bodies of a few shapeless policemen...". To him the act of revolting, of causing anarchy is beautiful and he seems to care nothing of the political aspect of it. He seems somewhat short sighted, yet passionate. Maybe this is why Syme finds him ridiculous, why he assures Rosamond that Gregory will never throw a bomb... because he is more a romantic than a revolutionary.
I suppose this is what Chesterton thinks of the anarchist. He's saying that this is what most revolutionaries look like. Not the big men sitting in dark rooms making ominous plans, but the ones throwing bombs, making protests and rallying the masses. He's making fun of these young idealist men, who are so passionate and yet have no idea of what they're really doing...
That made me laugh. It reminded me of my mother. She never seemed to care much about the reasons for what I was doing... so long as I wasn't doing anything embarrassing and I was being safe about it. It's as if the winding path a thought might take inside my head didn't matter so long as the actions resulting from it were ultimately acceptable.giselle wrote:I think another interesting point in Chp 1 is the concern that Rosalind has for Gregory, not for his ideas or something that might please Gregory, but for whether or not he would use 'bombs' in his pursuit of anarchy. She is concerned for his safety but doesn't take his ideas seriously. As an anarchist, Gregory knows that a great many people will just write him off as a wing-nut and laugh behind his back and this does not please him at all, he is a serious anarchist to be reckoned with.
Also, Rosamond's introduction is really weird. We're not going to see her at all later on? Yet she's given a lot of importance. She's Gregory's sister and Syme's pretty taken with her... I wonder why that is?
EDIT: I'm making a lot of assumptions here... I hope none of this proves to be wildly innacurate later on xD.