Rafael Muniz
Professor Siewers
FOUN 098-52
6 October 2021
The Fine Line Between the Sublime and the Subliminal
Mark, learning of his wife’s imprisonment by the N.I.C.E., the organization for which he is supposed to relentlessly defend each and every action of, realizes just how powerless he truly is compared to the might of the few in power (Lewis 216). He realizes how the many do suffer when decisions are made for the betterment of society by the few in power, how the few can control so much about the many without them knowing any better. Throughout C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength, the totalitarian organization N.I.C.E. tries to control aspects of the general public’s day to day life in society through control over the media and police, and an eventual full control over the minds of the next generation, effectively destroying society as a whole because said society should not be determined by the desires of few but instead by the needs of the many. Although a part of the N.I.C.E., Mark’s desires cannot possibly compare to the desires and might of the few in power, as the desires of the few for societal control can not have the capacity to actually protect the many in said society, but instead only merely contain them while enforcing their new order of life. An argument by Jane Jacobs that Roger Scruton explores in How To Think Seriously About The Planet explains how the needs of the many outweigh the predetermined desires of the few in order to result in a true functioning society, proving that the society that the N.I.C.E. tries to build would never be true to the people inhabiting it or their needs (Scruton 265). Control by the few isn’t only something that has to be worried about in fictional novels such as That Hideous Strength though, situations like this happen out in the real world every day with “the few in power” controlling the governments, organizations, and companies around the world making decisions that could drastically change the lives of the many, while also being protected by possible propaganda defending their actions throughout all forms of media, with the general public not knowing any better.
Even from the start, Mark’s desires were given little to no attention by the higher-ups at the N.I.C.E., with each and every attempt of his to try to even figure out what the operations of the N.I.C.E. are and what his exact role in it would be were thwarted by John Wither, the Deputy Director, and his lack of attention given to the conversation. Because John Wither was too focused on his own desires for the operation and his role in it, the needs of people like Mark, even when he could contribute to said desires, seem worthless to him for a while. After learning mostly nothing after the conversation the two of them had, Wither convinces Mark to pay $200 for a life membership to “join the N.I.C.E. club” as “he would be freer as a member than as someone’s guest” (Lewis 52). Here, Mark compromises to join the N.I.C.E. as it seems the most convenient option in the path of least resistance. In this example, Lewis demonstrates how simple it is for one of the few higher-ups, such as John Wither, to convince one of the many, such as Mark, to conveniently comply with the organization instead of needlessly creating a difficulty with them. In this way, Mark experiences not only the power of the desires of the few but also the propagandistic nature seen in the pursuit of said desires.
Upon Mark’s arrival to his meeting with John Wither, Lewis describes both his office and his general appearance and states to the reader to allow a further comprehension of exactly the man he is. His office, described as “big-windowed with a blazing fire” could be Lewis cluing in the reader early on to his larger objectives and his strong ambitions to achieve them (Lewis 50). There is also a hint of irony in the fact that these “big windows” would allow anyone to see the inner workings of the office meanwhile the N.I.C.E. is working vigorously to avoid the general public to interpret the true inner workings of their operations. As for the description of John Wither himself, Lewis opts to make him a “white-haired old man with a courtly manner”, “clean shaven”, “with watery blue eyes and something rather vague and chaotic about it” (Lewis 50). Obviously it seems as if the description would fit someone in such a high position, with such power and ambition. His watery eyes, however, existing despite the blazing flame in his office and burning flame of desire in his heart, seem to reveal the toll being one of the few in control of such a power can have on a man, even of his described caliber.
Once his conversation with John Wither comes to a vague conclusion, Mark meets back up with his acquaintance Feverstone, who quickly abandons him. Now alone after being entered into the N.I.C.E. madness, Lewis describes him as “silent, alone, and self-conscious” (Lewis 53), revealing that even in such an expansive environment he doesn’t feel as welcome as he likely should. With the understanding that every one of the higher ups like John Wither is in the pursuit of the goals of themselves and the N.I.C.E. as a whole, it becomes clear that people like Mark don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Sure, people in the organization push the goals along, but these goals do not involve people like Mark or the general public. If they were to get in the way, they would be crushed by the controlling hands behind the N.I.C.E. without a second thought behind it. This is the true carelessness to be discovered behind totalitarian organizations like the N.I.C.E.: sure they give the illusion of care to not cause complete and utter rebellion against themselves, but the second said rebellion against the cause does occur it will be quelled with an incredible force.
Much can be interpreted from the conversation between Mark and John Wither, such as hints of their own intentions, the kind of men each of them are, how each of them seem to feel about the operations of the N.I.C.E., and much more. However, because these things might not always be as they seem to the interpreter, one true meaning sometimes cannot be disclosed or discovered. In C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, he admonishes the work of two professors on a primary english textbook of theirs in which they publish their own beliefs against the story of Coleridge at the waterfall, effectively imposing their own beliefs on any of the students burdened with learning from their textbook. In short, one man is present at a waterfall and he calls it sublime. Instead of leaving this up for interpretation, the professors decide that “he was not making a remark about the waterfall, but a remark about his own feelings” (Lewis 2). Lewis goes against such a statement as this, of course, however it is still certain that whichever student would be subjected to this would in turn believe that specific meaning of sublime in that situation, without having the ability to ponder another possible meaning. This simple, yet imposed, understanding or misunderstanding of reality is what John Wither, the N.I.C.E., and all involved have been attempting to take advantage of on a much larger scale. What happens when the room for interpretation that society has been given is crushed by the strong totalitarian hand that is the N.I.C.E.? What happens when they are the only provider, in complete control, of the content given to the public for them to believe?
Once Mark got settled into the N.I.C.E., he learned more of their true operations of control from the Fairy, enlightening him on how tight of a grip the N.I.C.E. really had on society without their knowledge. Because the N.I.C.E. seeks control over the papers and the police force, they would be able to act however they pleased given the freedoms of not worrying about the law or the media backlash against them. As the Fairy explains to Mark, the N.I.C.E. only has “two papers [they] don’t control” and that “[they’ll] smash them” (Lewis 67). In this example, Lewis perfectly depicts the cultural totalitarian slogan of “perception is reality” through the goals of the N.I.C.E. to control the media and resultantly the perceptions of the general public as well. With the N.I.C.E. obtaining the ability to print whatever they want throughout all media sources, this “news” would be the only thing the public would believe. Because each person among the general public already trusts their respective reliable news source, the N.I.C.E. would be able to produce anything they want as facts for the public to believe, should they be in the dark about the N.I.C.E. taking control. Drawing back to the aforementioned concept of “perception is reality”, if the only content for the public to perceive is what the N.I.C.E. is publishing, they can really turn whatever they desire into reality without any problems or rebellion against their ideas whatsoever.
In a world where perception is a thing of the past, truth is a mere tool, and belief can be manipulated so easily, the N.I.C.E. has everything they could ever want. The Fairy stresses control, power, and punishment so harshly that one would begin to assume that “oikophobia”, the “fear of place” as Roger Scruton argues, would begin to set in with this new comprehensive change in society, following the reality being changed from perception. This, however, could be argued to not be the case. In such a powerful situation as the N.I.C.E., controlling the media, police, and many more services inbetween, they could strategically manipulate the masses into feeling the opposite: Scruton’s “oikophilia”, or the “love of place.” With such a firm grasp on a blatantly naive society, why would they fear anything? With such a power, they could force them into loving them, into a true “permanent lie.”
As Mark’s conversation with the Fairy continued, he was able to get a sense of how the inner circle of N.I.C.E. operatives felt about their own operations and those affected by them. Because the few of the N.I.C.E. prioritize their objectives above all, everyone else faces the consequences of what can be observed as a careless pursuit of said objectives. The Fairy coldly describes the fate of criminals, punishment, the rest of humanity, and her desire for total control by the N.I.C.E. while Mark seems to only naively begin to understand the full scope of the terrors going on behind the scenes. Lewis depicts the Fairy as someone with their own clear-cut objective, in line with the rest of the few in the N.I.C.E., however, one factor separates her from the rest. She warns Mark to be scared of Steele, Frost, and Wither as they are dangerous characters. This is important to note as it shouldn’t be assumed that “the few” are actually fully working together toward a common goal. Everyone, especially those in positions of power such as these, always seeks some form of goal for their own personal gain. It may have even been dangerous for the Fairy to make such a comment depending on how willing the others are to pursue said goals. Still, just like Wither, the Fairy continues to keep Mark in the dark about his own duties within the organization.
After warning Mark about these men, she gives him one final pointer which is incredibly useful, ironic, and interesting to see coming from someone inside the N.I.C.E. Because she knows the inner workings of the N.I.C.E., their goals, and how they choose to go about achieving them, she is able to save Mark from his perceptions being changed by just anything he learns there. She warns Mark that he shouldn’t “believe everything [he’s] told” (Lewis 68). Sure, if the general public were to be told that maybe many could be saved from mass manipulation too, but there will always be people who believe. When the public believes every single thing that they are told, their desires are just as easily malleable as their own thoughts, which, in turn, effectively cripples society when once more reusing the lens that the strength and stability of a true society is dependent upon the needs of the many, should said needs be able to be manipulated as well.
In the end, the N.I.C.E., Mark, their problems: it’s all fictional. But the problem is far from fictional. People are just as easily manipulated in the real world as they can be in fiction, minus the mind-control from birth aspect at least. No giant organization like the N.I.C.E. has tried to gain such a grip on the real world as they wanted to on theirs yet. As far as the general public is concerned, that is. Functioning, healthy societies would be nowhere close to where they are today without the consideration of the needs of the many. When such needs have been overlooked, allowing whichever totalitarian regime to rise, the many have always suffered as a punishment for the overextending pursuit of the goals of the few. Society must learn to be better, stronger, and smarter in the face of future attempted risings of totalitarianism. Sure, history may repeat itself, but in a society in which the many will it to not be so, it might be enough to avoid such a rise. “The few” will always exist, whether in the shadows or in the light, but the many must not give in to their eventual manipulation. In a world of prevalent fake news, differing opinions, and conglomerates seeking power, it is incredibly important to look inward and question the stability of oneself in such a time, as well as the stability of one’s beliefs. Even this argument itself could have been written with its own direct motive, ignoring or worse yet concealing the true facts, only to display and enforce the thoughts and motives of the writer, publishing, producing, and populating propaganda for the masses to imbibe, just like the professors Lewis argues against in The Abolition of Man, the N.I.C.E., and the aforementioned dangerous manipulators of the real world. The true final questions, reader, you must ask yourself are: “What, in life, do you believe?”, “Who have you let shape those beliefs?”, “Does any higher power control any of those beliefs?”, “What power would they gain from your belief?”, and finally “Why do you believe?” Watch your back, reader. This world is not a N.I.C.E. place.
Works Cited
Lewis, C. S. That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups. Scribner, 2003.
Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man: Or Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teachings of English in the Upper Forms of Schools. Harper One, 1974.
Scruton, Roger. How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism. Oxford University Press, 2015.