Page 338 - DENG502_PROSE

Prose

Notes really means a too great emphasis on those virtues which mere custom can misuse, it means too
little emphasis on those virtues which custom can never quite ensure, sudden and splendid virtues
of inspired pity or of inspired candour. If ever that abrupt appeal is made to us we may fail. A man
can get used to getting up at five o’clock in the morning. A man cannot very well get used to being
burnt for his opinions; the first experiment is commonly fatal. Let us pay a little more attention to
these possibilities of the heroic and the unexpected. I daresay that when I get out of this bed I shall
do some deed of an almost terrible virtue.
For those who study the great art of lying in bed there is one emphatic caution to be added. Even
for those who can do their work in bed (like journalists), still more for those whose work cannot
be done in bed (as, for example, the professional harpooner of whales), it is obvious that the
indulgence must be very occasional. But that is not the caution I mean. The caution is this: if you
do lie in bed, be sure you do it without any reason or justification at all. I do not speak, of course,
of the seriously sick. But if a healthy man lies in bed, let him do it without a rag of excuse; then he
will get up a healthy man. If he does it for some secondary hygienic reason, if he has some
scientific explanation, he may get up a hypochondriac.
Self Assessment
1. Choose the correct options:
(i) Chesterton’s first published books were of
(a) Prose (b) Essays
(c) Poetry (d) None of these
(ii) George Bernard Shaw was
(a) Irish Playwright (b) Germany Playwright
(c) British Playwright (d) None of these
(iii) Chesterton’s first novel was published in:
(a) 2000 (b) 2001 (c) 2010 (d) 1995
(iv) The Essay “On Lying in Bed” originally appeared in
(a) 1909 (b) 1910 (c) 1912 (d) 1908

31.2 Summary

• In this short essay, G. K. Chesterton is able to display his absolute understanding of human
nature. He explains this nature through humor and wit in this particular essay, On Lying in
Bed. According to this essay, Chesterton has developed three parts to human nature. The
first part is that items that are desired by humans can often be found in unusually normal
places. The second part is that humans have begun to aggrandize trivial morals and to
debase major morals. The final part to his outlook on human nature is that the lives of
humans have become exceedingly mechanical. These are the topics explained by G. K.
Chesterton in this essay.
• Chesterton begins his essay by discussing his idea that items longed for by humans can be
found in normal places. He does this in the essay by describing his pursuit of a perfect space
to paint. He states that he looks on walls, paper, and several other places. His search, however,
comes to end in the most normal of places, the ceiling above his bed. In the essay he realizes
that he has found his object of desire in a rather ordinary place. In a similar way, people in
today’s society can find their desires in places that are rather customary. We, however, are
not looking for a place to paint. In the many items we covet, many can be found in regular
locations. Frequently, we look in unusual places for these items, when they are actually
located directly «under our nose.» This shows the first part of the human nature presented
by G. K. Chesterton.

332 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY