The third and final book of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant opens with TC back in his house. He is in bed dreaming and he is awakend by a phone call from his lawyer who warns him that the people of his little hamlet are upset with him for his last little escapade into town and they are looking to take legal action against him to get him ousted from their territory. She says that, although she dislikes him, "...just thinking about you makes me squirm..."she feels it is her duty to warn him that what the townfolk are doing is illegal and that they are going to try to have Haven Farm zoned for industrial use which would make his property prohibited.
TC, mistaking her for Elena and still in a drowsy haze, tries to apologize for not helping her. Uninterested in anything his lawyer has to say, he hangs up on her. After realizing he has slept for 30 hours, he walks around his house in a haze, reliving what has occurred in the Land - his guilt eating away at him as sure as his leporsy does. He attempts to call Joan but cannot remember the number. She wouldn't forgive him anyway for not answering her the first time, he reckons. He toys with the idea of calling the doctors and going back to the leprosarium but denies the urge. He sees himself as a lost soul. If ever there was a time when TC would have committed suicide, this is it. He is at his lowest point.
He desperately needs - something. He calls information to get the number of the bar where the girl called him "Berek." He gets her on the phone where she informs him that she DID NOT say "Berek" but "Berrett." He calls the Department of Defense to look up ol' Hile Troy and meets a dead end. No Hile Troy.
The major hesitated, then said, "Mr. Covenant, we have no blind men in this department. Could you give me the source of your information? I'm afraid you're the victim of-"
Abruptly, Covenant was shouting, ragin. "He fell out of a window when his apartment caught fire, and he was killed! He never even existed!"
In fury and rage, TC demolishes his house, no longer able to contain himself. He runs out of his house to the shed where he used to use as a writing room and finds that it has been vandalized, and not by him. He stops in his tracks and says to himself I am not a violent man. I think this is a very interesting insight into our boy Tom!
He flees into the woods and finds himself on the outskirts of town, unable to deny his need for people. He is lonely and desperate, crying to himself "Help. Help me!" He moves in between the houses, searching for one, any one, which might offer him some faint possibility of consolation. My heart bleeds for Covenant in this part! He is so lost and lonely and unable to find sympathy.
During the next few days, TC decides to fast as he has done before. I think he uses this as a kind of settling move to get him re-focused on his reality (like how he shaves with a straight razor and his half-hand). He also denies himself sleep.
However, every night he drove into town with the hope that he might have the courage to knock on someone's door and that someone would welcome him.Guilt began in dreams.
Then, one night, he hears sounds. He goes toward them to find a tent revival mass/meeting of christians. Everyone is praying for forgiveness. TC watches for a time to the tired, old reverend. The impression I get from this person is that he is a bible-beating con man. As this reverend preaches about sins and forgiveness and God's almighty power, TC moves to the front of the tent, asking for forgiveness, saying that he is ill and has committed crimes.
Then, he tells them he is a leper. With that, TC is hauled out of the meeting, falls to the grass, and finally gives into the urge to vomit. He goes back home and He had remembered hate He is angry. He sees a bag by his mailbox and remembers that yesterday was the day they dropped off food to him (to keep him from coming into town). He bites into a bun and is cut by a tarnished razor blade that someone had so kindly but there for him. He goes into the house and looks in the mirror and begins to laugh like a madman. He flees from his house yet again to the woods to find a child who is screaming because she is being threatened by a timber rattler. As TC moves down the slope toward her, he looses his footing and hits his head on a rock. He feels himself being summoned back to the Land. No! he cried. No! Not now! He could not fight it."Help my unbelief."
"Son, that is not enough. You know that's not enough." Dr. Johnson's sternness changed to righteous judgment. "Do not dare to mock God. He will cast you out forever. Do you believe? Do you believe in God's own health?"
"I do - "Covenant struggled to move his jaw, but his teeth clung together as if they had been fused by despair - "I do not believe
And thus ends the first chapter of The Power that Preserves. This chapter truly makes me despise the people of the town. Their cruelty is unsurpassed. Really, is Lord Foul so bad in comparison to the people of that town? Are they not evil? I also think that this chapter gives us a much better view of Covenant. Of his dispair and loneliness.
I will stop now. This is a long enough post as is!
I never seem to get the quote thing right even though I know how to use it! Stay tuned for the next chapter, Variol-son, coming soon.
) winter has decended on the Land and it is being felt in Revelstone.
