Photogen and Nycteris

I enjoyed this story so much, I thought I'd go ahead and post some thoughts on it here, where things of importance are supposedly posted.

Go ahead and read it, and then come back to class for discussion. I'll wait, it's fairly short.

Ok, back already?

My language skills are laughable at best, and better than nothing at worst, but 'Photogen', I believe, (aside from being a chemical something quite like kerosene), it means 'born of light', 'lightborn' (roughly, please correct if I'm wrong). 'Nycteris', as far as I can tell, is a bat. 'Nycteris', I believe, is two words, one of which is 'night', and the other, I haven't been able to figure out, because I lack a good Greek dictionary, and searching for Greek words online is a huge pain.

Interestingly, the names of the mothers are Latin (Aurora, and Vesper) as opposed to their children's names, which appear to be Greek. Might we expect that phenomenon to work chronologically (Greek to Latin), or does this method reflect an increasingly philosophic or scientific direction the tale takes? I don't know. Also, I didn't bother to research any other names in the tale, so feel free to do so and blow my thesis out of the water with your amazing new insights.

Now, some have proposed that this story takes aim at the Lockian 'blank slate' sort of theory, that someone born with a blank mind develops eventually or whatever the kids believe now, but I've decided to take a different tack.

What if we view this as a tale of spirituality?

``But who knows,'' Nycteris would say to Photogen, ``that when we go out, we shall not go into a day as much greater than your day as your day is greater than my night?''

What if you find that what you thought was brilliant doctrine was exposed as being as poor a reflection of the truth as the moon is of the sun?

So, in this light, perhaps Photogen could represent the sons of God, and Nycteris, the secular world. In this more theological view, I suppose that Watho would be the devil, instead of merely a heartless scientist, who destroys lives in search of knowledge.

The light would represent spiritual truth, and life, into which the children of God are born, and Photogen, as Christians ought (don't run off just because you are Buddhist or something, please, we need an accurate headcount at the end), knows and cares for nothing but the light, but is ultimately curious to the point of wandering into darkness.

Nycteris, then, as the rest of the world, is thirsty for knowledge, and manages to find the light of truth, even in the darkness in which she is imprisoned. She also is curious, and searches diligently for more, and finds solace in the moon, which merely reflects dimly the light of the sun. God has not left the world without light, and many find spirituality, oddly warped reflections, which establish wrong viewpoints, no matter how well reasoned. Fear, however, drives her back inside before she can discover how wrong she is.

Without the light, Photogen is crippled. Without God, so are we. However, Nycteris comforts Photogen in his hour of need, by showing him that the light still shines:

``I may be a creature of the darkness,'' she replied. ``I hardly know what you mean. But I do not love the night. I love the day -- with all my heart; and I sleep all the night long.''

With this, the author beautifully illustrates how we might look down on other people (Buddhists) for living in darkness, but we forget that they are not always, not naturally, devils in darkness, but love truth as much as anyone, only are kept from it by something, perhaps their own Watho. Though many people don't bother with light (atheists? the servants?), and have no desire to do so, however, they presumably live by some light at least (light is inescapable).

Photogen, once the sun returns, forgets Nycteris, as we might turn our backs on fellow sinners, and does his best to forget his cowardice, as we our sin.

In the end, Watho sends poor Nycteris out to suffer the righteous judgement of the sun, but instead, the sun reveals more truth to Nycteris, and she sees the error of her way.

Nycteris exhibits great selflessness, and her own unique qualities developed in darkness which aid both her and Photogen as they flee the clutches of Watho. Free, married, and united with the parents of Photogen (not Nycteris, her parents are a mystery!) Aurora wonders "how even the wicked themselves may be a link to join together the good."

This could be interpreted as pure universalism (seeing as how it is MacDonald), but I believe certain truths can be healthily gleaned from this story, and it can be enjoyed on multiple levels.

Feel free to improve on my poorly constructed sham of an allegory, or bask in the light of my brilliance, either way is fine with me.