How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Her eyes were drawn upwards to the tremendous bronze statue that stood defiant, a mile in the air, at the summit of Government Building, the figure of a bearded man, classically robed, glaring at the sun. At night he was floodlit. A cynosure to ships, man of the sea, Pelagius. But Beatrice-Joanna could remember a time when he had been Augustine. (1.3.4)
Later in The Wanting Seed it becomes clear that when Britain is in a Pelphase, the Government Building statue is thought to be a statue of Pelagius, whereas, when Britain is in a Gusphase, the statue is thought to be of Augustine. If Beatrice-Joanna can remember a time when the statue was Augustine, and not Pelagius, this suggests that the cycle of social history turns very quickly indeed.
Quote #2
'One achievement of the Anglo-Saxon race,' said Tristram, 'was a parliamentary government, which eventually meant government by party. Later, when it was found that the work of government could be carried on more expeditiously without debate and without the opposition that party government entailed, the nature of the cycle began to be recognized.' (1.4.1)
Is Tristram suggesting that the concept of social and historical "cycles" comes from dictatorial or totalitarian politics, rather than democratic politics? If so, does that imply that Tristram's own beliefs about cyclical history have been shaped by corrupt social views?
Quote #3
'We have a Pelagian phase. Then we have an intermediate phase.' His chalk thickened one arc, then another. 'This leads into an Augustinian phase.; More thickening, and the chalk was back where it had started. 'Pelphase, Interphase, Gusphase, Pelphase, Interphase, Gusphase, and so on, for ever and ever. A sort of perpetual waltz.'(1.4.1)
Elton John would call this the circle of life, but this cyclical model of human history raises important questions. If human societies are bound to turn round and round in a cycle, is there any possibility of progress or real change? Do individual actions matter?
Quote #4
The screen above their heads glowed whitely, then erupted into a coloured stereoscopic image of the statue that crowned Government Building. [. . .]
'There he is,' said Derek, 'whoever he is—our patron saint. St Pelagius, St Augustine, or St Anonymous—which? We shall know tonight.' (2.11.21-22)
Derek's words imply that when Britain is in a Pelphase, the Government Building statue will seem to represent Pelagius. When Britain is in a Gusphase, the statue will seem to represent St Augustine. Here, Derek's comments also foreshadow the onset of the Interphase: a moment of dark, violent movement from the Pelphase to the Gusphase. "Tonight" is the night that the British Government plans to announce its new police regime.
Quote #5
'Sit tight and wait,' counseled Tristram. 'History is a wheel. This sort of world can't go on forever, either. One of these days we're bound to go back to liberalism and Pelagianism and sexual inversion and, and—well, your sort of thing. We're obviously bound to, because of all of this.' (4.4.13)
Although Tristram's history lessons suggest that it usually takes some time to shift from Pelphase to Interphase to Gusphase and back again, in The Wanting Seed, British society comes nearly full circle in little less than a year. Is this simply for the sake of the plot, or does it make a deeper point?
Quote #6
'Oh,' cried Tristram in sudden irritation, 'don't be so sorry for yourself. It's people like you who've made the kind of world you say you no longer believe in. We were all safe enough in that old liberal society.' He was talking of less than a year back. (4.10.13)
Just as social values shift rapidly in The Wanting Seed, so too does hindsight make the past seem safer and cheerier than it was. It hasn't taken Tristram long at all to forget that he and Beatrice-Joanna really weren't safe before the new social order set in.
Quote #7
Endless war. He wondered. He did not think that possible, not if the law of the historical cycle was a valid law. Perhaps, after all these years, the historiographers had been unwilling to recognize history as a spiral, perhaps because a spiral was so difficult to describe. Easier to photograph the spiral from the top, easier to flatten the spring into a coil. (5.3.21)
For the first time in his fourteen-year career as a history teacher and historian, the looming threat of war causes Tristram to doubt the cyclical model of history that he's been teaching to his students all these years. What changes if human history is viewed as a spiral rather than a circle? What kinds of different movements or changes does a spiral allow?
Quote #8
Then all the big noise ceased, nor were there any specifically human sounds, only animal gasps of those late in dying. One last flash showed him his watch: 2203. Three minutes from start to finish. (5.8.26)
When Tristram experiences firsthand the chaos and horror of trench warfare, one of the things that strikes him is how little time it takes for bloody violence and total defeat to occur. Just as the cyclical model of history suggests that the actions of whole civilizations or societies matter very little in the grand scheme of things, Tristram's experiences in war teach him just how swiftly and easily human lives can be snuffed out.
Quote #9
With a tiny itch of hope, Tristram said, 'Do you think people are fundamentally good?'
'Well,' said the major, 'they now have a chance to be good.'
'Exactly,' said Tristram. 'Which means that it won't be long now before the return of liberalism. I don't think a Pelagian State would renew your charter.' (6.2.39-41)
Although Tristram questions the cyclical model of history during his time in the British Army, by the end of the novel, his faith in it seems to have been restored. Why?
Quote #10
High above Government Building the bronze robed figure with the baroque beard, baroque robe-folds, glared at the sun in this windless day, hair and clothes stirred by the baroque wind of the sculptor's fancy. Who was it? Augustine? Pelagius? Christ? Satan? [. . .] He would have to wait, they would all have to wait. But he was very nearly confident that the cycle would start again, that figure preach to the sun and sea-clouds about man's ability to organize the good life, his lack of need for grace, the godhead implicit in him. (6.3.20)
Good old statue of what's-his-name: always there to reinforce a point about cyclicality and time and yada yada yada when you need him!