eternal-loverings
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eternal-loverings · 3 days ago
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The Secret History Analysis
Hi everyone,
I just finished reading The Secret History for the third time and I wanted to share my thoughts.
This is the first time that I've read the book and actually felt real contempt for the characters, obviously I felt bad about the murder(s) when I read the book before, but I couldn't bear to have much sympathy for any of the characters this time. I feel like I have changed a lot as a person since I first read the book, and that I might not have so much faith in people being good anymore. Or, more importantly, I seem to have lost any illusions of anyone being more interesting or important than me. So that's why I couldn't sympathize with them anymore, it's because that golden veil was lifted and I just saw them as people, not romanticized, as Richard did.
It's both wonderful and jarring how much your perception of a book can change. It just shows how we can't ever truly see anything objectively.
The epilogue of the book is the part I think about the most. When Henry talks about his passport being expired, and about not being able to travel. This made me think of a passage (can't think of where it is in the book), where Richard talks about Henry, and mentions that Henry always seems more at ease when he talks in Greek, and that Ancient Greece seems to be more Henry's home than the present. This combined with the final scene made me wonder if Henry was supposed to be some kind of deity, since he seems to be able to travel through space and time. None of the other characters appear in the dream/vision, and I think Richard was there because he appears to me as a character who somehow makes his way into the realm of Gods, something like a tragic hero, although there was nothing really heroic about him.
I also noticed for the first time that Richard had no reason to be up on the mountain pushing Bunny to his death. I mean, obviously, Richard wasn't guilty of anything in the first place, but somehow I realized just now that Richard voluntarily made himself a murder accomplice just to- what? Gain their approval? To enter into their circle completely? Because a shared sin is perhaps the most binding act (also shown with Charles and Camilla).
Regarding Julian's involvement, I saw a few posts saying that Julian was the mastermind behind everything etc. I don't really agree, I really didn't like Julian (he seemed very superficial to me), but he only seemed like a coward who couldn't actually face anything that disturbed his serene image of life that he had built up for himself.
I think the true reason behind the murder was very muddled, part of it could have been Henry's wish to act out something truly significant, something so archetypal that it has been present since ancient times, or maybe the group was so disconnected from real life that killing someone just didn't occur to them as something truly momentous. I don't think it was fear of ruining their lives that brought them to it, because as we see in the end, all of them have ruined lives. Henry is dead, Camilla cannot move on because of him and leads a lonely life, Charles has completely let go of his former intellect and prestige and crumbled into degeneracy, and Francis has given up on life. Richard seems to be doing the best out of them all, but he had to let go of what they all once had, which was connection with people that all saw the world the same way.
When we think back to the times they spent together in the country house, none of them will ever experience a connection like it again.
That's all of my thoughts so far. Can't wait to read this book again sometime in the future, although I know a part of it will stay with me for some time.
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