The Man Who Was Thursday Essay

The Man Who was Thursday by GK Chesterton is a trilling novel about the experiences of undercover policeman Gabriel Syme as he attempts to take down the Central Anarchist Council based in London. After negotiating with the red-haired poet, Gregory, Syme is appointed to the position of “Thursday” on the council. As his time on the council progresses, Syme discovers that he is only one of the six detectives present on this mission. Chesterton strategically uses the appointed identities of the councilmen as an allusion to the story of the six days of Creation from the first book of the Bible, Genesis. In the last chapter of the novel, each of the six detectives are given costumes to wear to a formal event hosted by the anarchist leader of the council, Sunday. Each detective’s day is assigned to them in relation to their personalities displayed throughout the novel. At the

This band is meant to be symbolic of the creation of light out of darkness. Chesterton described “... how perfectly this pattern of pure white and black expressed the soul of the pale and austere Secretary, with his inhuman veracity and his cold frenzy...” (page 198). Gogol, Tuesday, had “a dress that separated upon his forehead and fell to his well symbolized by a dress that separated upon his forehead and fell to his feet, grey and silver, like a sheet of rain.” (page 200) as a symbol of his simple nature. Ratcliffe, portraying Wednesday, was covered in all that was green with “his square, sensible face, with its not unfriendly cynicism, seemed appropriate enough to it.” (page 199). Syme was to express the fourth day of creation in which the sun, moon, and stars were brought into the world. His blue