Donal Grant: Chapters 55 - End

Taking charge of the castle, Actura  has the secret area deep within completely renovated and rebuilt. Lord Morven returns, is amazed to find the area cleaned and fresh.  He has moments of confusion, on the one hand questioning in his mind whether he had really murdered anybody and on the other being seized with deep regret for his sinful past.  He meets with Actura and, receiving her complete forgiveness, is reconciled to her.

DO YOU FIND  THIS SCENE IN CHAPTER 57 SATISFYING, OR DOES IT STRIKE YOU AS UNREAL? 

Donal confronts the earl and, defying his supposed authority, tells him he is an intruder in the castle and should leave, but then, seeing he is becoming seriously ill, helps him to bed and ministers to his needs.  Donal keeps trying to get him to repent, telling him he will have no peace until he begins  “ . . . to look like the image in which you were made.”

There is much of GMD’s theology here.  By repentance and faith we awaken the image of God within ourselves and begin to understand that “God is good” and he will begin to “have his way” with us.  The earl is “as far from a good man as man could be” but he repents and cries out for God to save him.

Actura us dying, but she and Donal marry, thereby giving the castle to him.  But, not wanting to be burdened with it, he conveys the entire property to Mr. Graeme, the factor, and, taking Davie with him, establishes a school in the old Morven house in the nearby village. 

ANY REACTIONS?  DO YOU FEEL READING THE NOVEL WAS A PROFITABLE EXPERIENCE ?  IF SO, WHAT WAS ESPECIALLY MEANINGFUL TO YOU?

We will turn next to the collection of C. S. Lewis's essays, God in the Dock


Comments

Tim M said…
Yes I enjoyed the book. It caused me to think more deeply about our relationship to God and man and was a well written story that kept me wanting to read longer.

It did seem like he hurried thru this last part. In juxtaposition with our current culture the option of mercy on Lord Morven seemed unreal ... Yet how refreshing and right it seemed. How much we've lost by hiding behind the "authorities."

There was much I didn't understand about ownership, marriage, rights, and wills. I suppose mostly this was due to the times. But at certain places it sounded like Arctura no longer owned the castle once she got married or that her will was null and void after marriage. Nothing was said specifically about consummation of the marriage. What happened later in life for Donal raised more questions. And why did Arctura have to die?

Thanks for introducing me to this book. I enjoyed it.
March 6, 2022 at 8:29 AM
Rolland Hein said…
Yes, Tim, I quite agree. I think Actura dies so GMD can avoid the social problem--very strong in the Victorian period--of having to elevate Donal somehow so that socially he could be her husband in the castle.

Anyway, its a fine novel for the strength of GMD's Christian insights and how he applies them.

Now to Lewis, a very different writer, but a fine presenter of solid Christian thought.
March 8, 2022 at 8:42 AM
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