Category: M.R. James, “The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral”

“What is the significance of a letter found in a letter in the pocket of the book?”

To me the significance is that there is a story of a secret to be told. The letter is a blackmail letter from the sister of the second archdeacon, saying that she “knows what happened” and to pay her forty pounds. But this letter from what I can tell was never sent. It’s a look into the darkness of greedy, both financially and morally. The finacial aspect is wanting to be paid off for a secret that she has no proof of, which to me it hinted towards knowing there was a murder and by telling the secret people would be disgraced. The moral aspect is this is a church, a holy place where you are supposed to “love one another”, referring to the commandment, “Love thy neighbor”. The significance is also “God is always watching, or even “all you do you will be judged for”. Later on in the story we find the second archdeacon has suffered a similar fate as the first. Which can be interpreted as “practice what you preach” and “what you give is what you get”. Finally I believe the letter signifies that the truth has a way of coming out whether it is from someone’s words or a person’s reaction to the threat of those words.

Boy was it a long trip to Barchester Cathedral ! I am very surprised how big and massive the stalls are here. I did not see the three wooden figures anymore; the cat, figure pertaining to death, and the devil.  As I took a seat in the archdecon’s stall I vividly visualized in my mind where each wooden figure would have been. I was not tempted to touch anything of fear of not knowing what other “curse” could be laying around unknowingly. I definitely felt very terrified, curious, and very tense. I made sure not to lay a hand on anything or fell asleep and mistakenly touched any god forsaken object in such a cathedral. In my view, everything that lays here such be holy, but without a word did I ever question it. I think anyone would be prompted to feel as I did due to the proceeding of such a story.

The writer visited the Barchester cathedral and the wooden figures are no longer around. I would feel as if maybe there are more curses laying around that no one has discovered or were the right candidate for the curse to undergo. Did John Austin think this  was a way of punishing the people who have blood on his hands?