Excerpt from Morryster's Marvells of Science

Position and Context

Weer reads an excerpt from this book while waiting to talk to Louis Gold in Gold's bookstore. When he sees him, Weer confronts him about forging the Boyne diary. This book was also presumably forged by Gold.

Note:

Morryster's Marvells of Science is a book mentioned in the stories The Man and the Snake by Ambrose Bierce and The Festival, by H.P. Lovecraft. It is not, however, real.

The Story

The excerpt Weer reads contains various facts about devils, angels, Heaven and Hell. Weer learns, among other things, that though it is a mortal sin, a man can summon angels or devils; that Heaven and Hell repeat themselves "over and over again, always different and yet always the same"; that all devils believe themselves handsome and relatively good; and that if they are both evil, a murderer and his victim become one devil after death.

Interpretation

A lot of facts are mentioned in this excerpt, only some of which seem to have greater significance for the novel Peace. One of the pertinent facts seems to be that all devils believe themselves relatively good; Weer also believes himself good, despite having caused at least one death. Another seems to be that Heaven and Hell repeat themselves, "always different and always the same"; this seems to support the interpretation that Weer must relive his afterlife as a ghost over and over, until he repents his sins and finds salvation through Jesus, and it holds out some hope of his eventually doing so.

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