Lord Foul’s Bane
Chapter 2: Two: “You Cannot Hope”
by Donaldson, Stephen R.The chapter opens with Thomas Covenant, a leper, standing outside a Bell Telephone Company office, grappling with fear and shame as he prepares to confront his bills. His leprosy marks him as an outcast, evident when a lawyer recognizes him and recoils in disgust. This interaction triggers Covenant’s internal conflict—rage at societal rejection and a grim acceptance of his condition. Despite his anger, he acknowledges the unchangeable reality of his disease, forcing him to suppress emotions that could endanger his survival. His struggle highlights the tension between his humanity and the harsh facts of his existence.
Covenant’s thoughts shift to a poem he composes, reflecting his bleak worldview. The verses depict life as a series of “pale deaths,” where joy is fleeting and existence is overshadowed by mortality. This creative outburst contrasts with his earlier frustration, revealing a deeper, more philosophical despair. The poem’s imagery of “puppet corpses” and “hell laughing” underscores his sense of helplessness and the absurdity of life, mirroring his personal turmoil as a leper severed from normalcy.
The narrative then delves into Covenant’s past, recalling his brief literary success and subsequent creative paralysis. His joy at publishing a best-selling novel gave way to indecision, straining his marriage. Joan, his wife, left him with their son, urging him to focus on writing. Covenant’s dedication to his next novel—“For Joan, who has been my keeper of the possible”—hints at his lingering hope, but his physical decline, marked by numbness and a mysterious wound, foreshadows his eventual diagnosis. His ignorance of his symptoms symbolizes his broader denial of impending disaster.
The chapter culminates in Covenant’s hospitalization after Joan discovers his infected hand. Her swift action contrasts with his passive neglect, emphasizing her care and his detachment. The diagnosis of gangrene leads to surgery and the loss of two fingers, but the greater loss is Joan’s emotional withdrawal. Her visit post-surgery reveals a woman transformed by fear and revulsion, mirroring society’s rejection of Covenant. The chapter closes with Covenant’s retrospective guilt, lamenting his carelessness and the irreversible rupture of his marriage.
FAQs
1. How does the chapter illustrate Covenant’s internal conflict between shame and rage regarding his leprosy?
Answer:
The chapter vividly portrays Covenant’s struggle through his reaction to the lawyer’s fearful glance. When the lawyer recoils in apprehension, Covenant initially feels ashamed for causing such distress, showing his awareness of societal stigma. However, this quickly turns to silent fuming as he thinks, “They have no right,” revealing his underlying rage at the injustice of his situation. The text states these emotions are “inextricably bound together,” demonstrating how his leprosy forces him to oscillate between self-blame and defiance. This duality reflects the psychological toll of his condition—he must accept the “lethal reality of facts” while resisting dehumanization.2. Analyze the significance of Covenant’s unfinished poem in the chapter. How does it reflect his worldview?
Answer:
The poem fragment (“These are the pale deaths…”) encapsulates Covenant’s bleak perspective. Lines like “each breath is but an exhalation of the grave” and “hell walks laughing” reveal his nihilism, portraying life as a hollow pretense overshadowed by mortality. The reference to laughter is particularly telling; it contrasts his past joy (his “whole life’s laughing” during his writing success) with his current despair. The poem’s abrupt ending mirrors his fractured creativity post-diagnosis, symbolizing how leprosy has disrupted his artistic expression and replaced inspiration with morbidity.3. What role does Joan play in Covenant’s retrospective narrative, and how does her departure mark a turning point?
Answer:
Joan represents Covenant’s lost stability and creativity. Her insistence that he write again (“strict orders to start writing”) highlights her role as his motivator, while her discovery of his infection shows her vigilance. Her departure to visit family marks the pivotal moment when Covenant ignores early symptoms (numbness, the purple spot) to focus on writing, delaying treatment until it’s too late. The chapter emphasizes his regret over this—he later curses himself for missing “one last embrace” due to his negligence. Joan’s eventual withdrawal (“she ignored his outstretched hand”) foreshadows the emotional and physical isolation leprosy will impose.4. How does the chapter use sensory details to convey Covenant’s physical and emotional decline?
Answer:
Sensory imagery underscores his deterioration. Tactile details like the “ice growing in [his] ankles” and the “sweet, sick smell” of infection signal unchecked physical decay. The lawyer’s “grey” face and Joan’s “pale” skin visually mirror Covenant’s own draining vitality. Auditory cues also play a role: Joan’s voice “crackles” with anger when she finds his wound, later becoming “constrained,” reflecting their relationship’s breakdown. These details immerse the reader in Covenant’s perspective, making his bodily betrayal and social alienation palpable.5. Evaluate the chapter’s portrayal of denial. How does Covenant’s initial response to his symptoms contribute to the tragedy?
Answer:
Covenant’s denial is a catastrophic flaw. He dismisses the purple spot and numbness, focusing instead on his writing (“no thought to spare for the suppuration”). The text critiques this willful ignorance through dramatic irony—readers recognize the gangrene symptoms he ignores. His later reflection (“he cursed himself for not putting iodine on his hand”) underscores the tragedy: a small act could have altered his fate. This denial parallels his emotional avoidance (e.g., suppressing fear at the phone company door), suggesting a broader pattern of resisting uncomfortable truths until they become inescapable.
Quotes
1. “These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives: for all the scents of green things growing, each breath is but an exhalation of the grave.”
This haunting poetic fragment encapsulates Covenant’s bleak worldview as a leper, where life itself feels like a living death. The imagery contrasts natural vitality with inescapable mortality, reflecting his psychological state.
2. “He was a leper; he could not afford suppositions.”
This terse statement reveals the brutal pragmatism Covenant must adopt - leprosy forces him to live strictly in factual reality, without the luxury of hope or imagination. It introduces the central tension between his former creative life and current survival mindset.
3. “That revulsion was an accomplished fact, like leprosy- immune to any question of right or justice.”
The lawyer’s reaction demonstrates how society’s prejudice against lepers operates as an unchangeable reality. Covenant’s bitter realization shows how his condition places him beyond normal human compassion or fairness.
4. “For Joan, who has been my keeper of the possible.”
The dedication to his unfinished novel represents both Covenant’s lost creative potential and the collapse of his marriage. The phrase “keeper of the possible” becomes tragically ironic as his life narrows to impossible constraints.
5. “The surgery which amputated part of his hand was only a small symbol of the stroke which cut him out of his life, excised him from his own world as if he were some kind of malignant infestation.”
This powerful metaphor connects Covenant’s physical mutilation with his social and psychological exile. The medical procedure becomes symbolic of how leprosy has severed him from his former identity and relationships.