Essay Questions

When writing of falling under Bertha’s spell, Latimer writes “no matter how empty the adytum, so that the veil be thick enough.” What does this cryptic phrase imply?

In purely literal terms, the veil is a symbol of mystery. It is a literal symbol because the purpose of a veil is to obscure. Whether purposely or not, this very act of creating obscurity engenders a curiosity as to what is hidden behind the veil. The veil is metaphorically applied at the end of the story to life—to existence--behind which lies death; the ultimate mystery man is not meant to know, but cannot stop thinking about. Thematically, however, the veil is suggestive of so much more than death. To understand the meaning of this phrase, it is absolutely essential to know that adytum refers to an inner sanctum within a house of worship so sacred that only a very select few are granted the supreme privilege of entry and understanding. The fewer the number of those privileged, of course, the greater the mystery of what secrets are to be discovered. As such, it is the very act of not being denied entry that makes the adytum an object of obsession, not whatever is actually attained within the sanctum. Whether one finds the secrets to the universe or a can of tuna waiting for them inside the adytum is irrelevant to falling under the spell of obsessing over getting in. As proof, the fact that Bertha turns out to be a can tuna does nothing to erase the extent to which Latimer once desired her.

What does Bertha mean when she says, “The easiest way to deceive a poet is to tell him the truth.”

Latimer does eventually lift up the veil to the see real Bertha lying behind it, but he is the one who draped the veil over her in the first place. That he and Bertha become estranged from each other after marriage because he sees that what lies behind the veil is a “barren soul and mean thoughts” is entirely his fault. Long before they marry—in fact, when she was betrothed to his brother—Latimer’s vision of their future together as man and wife revealed that barrenness and meanness in glorious Technicolor reality. And still he decides to pursue her. But wait, there’s more! Even while in the midst of his boyish pursuit of his brother’s fiancé, the words he uses to her include “sarcastic, unimaginative, prematurely cynical” and even without “that enthusiasm for the great and good.” A good question at this point would be something along the lines of what the heck exactly did he see in Bertha that he so wanted to marry her? As she herself confesses, she took no pains to deceive him, presenting herself entirely as she was long before he removed the veil to see it. The answer, of course, is that this is precisely what poets do. They look—and see—the kind beauty in things that all the rest of see as it really is. What Bertha means is that the poet sees what he wants to see and so requires no deception since he will readily deceive himself.

Latimer describes the condition of his clairvoyance several times as a “double consciousness.” How is this conception mirrored in the narrative structure of the story?

This is a work written in the first person and from the very first line it is clear that the narrative is going to consist of entirely of a flashback. The book is an account of a man who knows he is going to die precisely one month from the moment he puts pen to paper. And, indeed, the events of the book are all recollections from the past. The structure of the narrative is such, however, that within the recollection of those events presented in the flashback are several flash-forwards to a future which hasn’t yet occurred at that time. This future presented to Latimer in his vision may then later in the book—later in the flashback—be presented as reality within that particular time frame. Thus, Latimer’s own double consciousness is also present in the book as a combination of flashback and flash-forward, a recollection of past events as well as predictions of future events which haven’t happened yet have already happened.