Crome Yellow

A family of white ducks stands in the shade beneath Gombauld’s granary. They are disturbed by a sudden thump from the granary and run toward the farmyard. From inside, Anne chides Gombauld for scaring the ducks. She is reclined in a low chair, posing for a portrait. Gombauld curses her for distracting him and taking up his time, and Anne says he would have more time if he cursed and stomped less. He believes she wants him to court her but also wants to freely reject him when he tries. Anne says this thought process is “[so] like a man,” points out that women are not temptresses, and says Gombauld is externalizing his emotions (118). Gombauld accuses her of doing the same thing to Denis, and Anne becomes flustered and upset. She thinks to herself that she would never flirt with Denis.

Gombauld channels his own frustration into the painting, telling himself it will be “diabolic” (119). He paints Anne in a relaxed pose, with an indolent, listless expression: It both looks just like her and looks nothing like her. He wonders what she will think of it.

The same afternoon, Denis sits in his room, drowsy after a heavy lunch. He thinks about Anne and considers whether they might have an ideal, unattainable, theoretical love. He writes a few lines of poetry before being interrupted by the sound of Anne and Gombauld laughing from outside. Becoming angry, he throws the poem in the trash.

Denis finds Mr. Scogan in the hall and tries to avoid him, but Mr. Scogan insists they walk in the garden together. As they pass through the yew trees, Denis remembers that he kissed Anne there and feels ashamed. Mr. Scogan suddenly exclaims that in a sane world, he would be a great man, and Denis will encounter the same problem when he gets old enough to be considered sane or insane. Denis ignores him, thinking about how handsome and accomplished Gombauld is. Mr. Scogan continues, saying that everything in the world is accomplished by “madmen” and that he and Denis, as men of reason, will never be properly acknowledged (122).

They sit on a bench in the sun. To illustrate his point about sane and insane men, Mr. Scogan describes the popular reactions to Erasmus and Luther in the 16th century. Erasmus was an Enlightenment philosopher who relied on rationality and intellect, while Luther used passionate, often violent, religious rhetoric to stir the masses to action. Mr. Scogan argues that to move people to rational action, one must use irrational, seemingly insane, methods. He says that men of sanity will eventually have power, to which Denis replies that he does not want power. Mr. Scogan says that everyone wants power in some form, and in Denis’s case, it is literary power. He claims that sane men have an obligation to seize power from dangerous, insane men and to found what he calls the “Rational State” (124).

In the Rational State, humans will be divided into three main species based not on their physical characteristics, but on their intellect and personality. One species, the Directing Intelligences, will be composed of those who have achieved mental freedom. They will use the second group, the Men of Faith, as instruments to manage the state. The Men of Faith are those who believe in things passionately and without reason and whose energies must be harnessed and controlled. The Directing Intelligences will educate the Men of Faith in order to decide what they preach, which will serve the interests of the state. The final group, the Multitude, is the largest: It is composed of everyone who lacks mental freedom as well as enthusiasm of expression. It is to the Multitude that the Men of Faith’s passionate sermons will be directed, under the watchful eye of the Directing Intelligences. Mr. Scogan envies the Multitude, who, he thinks, will find genuine happiness in work, obedience, and the belief—supported by the Men of Faith—that their lives are meaningful.

Denis asks what his place would be in the Rational State. Mr. Scogan concludes that since Denis lacks sufficient characteristics of any group, there would be no place for him, only “the lethal chamber” (127). Denis is deeply hurt and says they should go inside. On their way, they pass some opium poppies that have lost their petals and Denis compares them to Polynesian trophies. Mr. Scogan finds it remarkable that millions of people are doing physical labor so that they, the leisured classes, can chat casually about Polynesia. Denis suggests they visit Gombauld and Anne in Gombauld’s studio.

Gombauld and Anne are pleased to see Denis and Mr. Scogan, which frustrates Denis, who wonders if they are pretending to be pleased. Mr. Scogan says the portrait is excellent, although he is surprised that Gombauld has not painted a Cubist portrait. He says he prefers paintings that lack any reference to nature as he finds nature too large, complicated, and ultimately pointless to be effective in paintings. This is also why he takes the Tube when traveling through London rather than the bus: On the bus, passengers cannot help but see trees, flowers, and the sky, but on the Tube, all passengers see is concrete, tiles, and other manmade objects. He prefers these for their simplicity, neatness, and legibility.

As Mr. Scogan talks, Denis approaches Anne, who is still reclined in the low chair. Denis pulls three canvases out from behind the chair. One is the painting of the man falling from his horse, one depicts flowers, and the last is a landscape. Anne stares silently at the paintings while Denis stares silently at Anne. Anne finally says she likes the first painting, and Denis tells her he loves her. She says, “My poor Denis” but also blushes (131).

After an unsuccessful afternoon of writing, Denis finds Jenny’s large red notebook on the window seat in the empty drawing room. He opens it and finds that it is full of cruel caricatures of all the houseguests. While Denis had considered himself his own harshest critic, he is deeply shaken to realize that Jenny has seen all his faults even more clearly than he has: she depicts him as aloof, awkward, feeble, and jealous. Deeply unhappy, he tells himself that this is the natural result of snooping. But he is not angry at Jenny; rather, he hates what she represents, which is the conscious world of people outside himself. He does not like to be reminded that others have elaborate, complicated inner lives the same way that he does.

Denis goes outside and walks around the pool. He thinks about Anne and wonders if he will ever truly have possession of anything, even his own brain. He finds Mary sitting against a pedestal among the yew trees and sits with her. That morning, Mary had found a postcard from Ivor on her breakfast plate: It was sent from Gobley Great Park, a decaying manor house, and contains a four-line poem and a request that Mary send him a packet of razors he left at Crome. Mary reflects on the fact that overcoming her repressions has brought her nothing but pain and wonders if she can live without Ivor. Denis, still thinking about Jenny’s notebook, says that individuals are not self-contained universes and must eventually recognize the existence of others. Mary agrees and adds that intimate contact between individuals almost inevitably results in pain, but pain also results from people avoiding contact with others and repressing their natural impulses. Denis remarks on his own ignorance of others’ existence and compares the human mind to a closed book that only occasionally opens to others. The lunch gong sounds, and Mary immediately gets up to go inside. Denis is hurt that she would rather eat than continue talking to him.

At dinner, Henry tells the guests they are all expected to help at Crome’s annual Charity Fair, which will take place during the upcoming bank holiday. Once a small event, the fair has become much bigger and now features rides, side shows, and food vendors. Because the money benefits the local hospital, Henry does not want to stop hosting it, even though it essentially destroys Crome’s park and garden. Anne says she will work in the tea tent as usual, and Priscilla says she will encourage the villagers to attend. Mary will supervise the children’s sports, Mr. Scogan will tell fortunes, Gombauld will paint portraits, Jenny will play drums, and Denis will write a poem about the bank holiday and sell copies of it.

Mr. Scogan says all holidays are bound to be disappointments. Gombauld disagrees, and Mr. Scogan says that the idea of a Platonic Holiday is an idea about “a complete and absolute change,” but that humans can never actually have complete and absolute change (140). He argues that humans are limited by both our natural faculties and social impositions, and these limitations make it impossible to obtain the Platonic Holiday. He gives himself as an example, pointing out that while he is intelligent and has strong mathematical skills, he has no aesthetic or religious impulses. In his youth, he tried to develop these impulses, but failed; while he could know all the objective facts about a work of art, he never felt the genuine excitement that signifies an emotional experience.

Gombauld says he found the war to be a thorough holiday from everything normal, including normal emotions, and he never wants to have that kind of holiday again.