“The Heart of the Matter” by Graham Greene is the story of Henry Scobie, a major in the colony of Africa. Racism is rampant; slavery is common and religious drive is taken seriously. Scobie is a pious man, not outwardly – he refuses to attend mass with his wife – but from inside. He takes his job seriously but takes his moral drive even more seriously and deals with criminals with a compassionate heart.
His long marriage with Louise has come to a stage where they are more friends than lovers, yet the moral drive to love pervades Scobie’s consciousness. Louise called him Ticki lovingly and is a sensitive artist. Scobie is sad that he can not support her artistic impulses and introduces her to Wilson, a recruit. Yusef, a shady criminal and lender, Ali, Scobie’s servant, Father Rank are some other characters that populate the first half of the book. Green keeps pace with the intrigue of Henry’s desire to fulfill a wish of Louise, something that is going to require much money, much more than what Scobie would be able to earn through his job. There are plenty of other options, including corruption, that Scobie does not want to take.
Helen Rolt enters the book’s second half, and the narrative becomes more complex with Scobie’s relationship with her. It also becomes more complicated because Scobie has chosen to send Louise on the journey she wants to take by taking a loan. Wilson’s relationship with Louise and his hatred for Scobie create more problems. Greene handles the pace masterfully and never lets it slacken, despite many monologues and philosophical conversations between the characters.
The novel’s central theme is the conflict between the morality one preaches or understands verbally and the morality one practices. Greene shows this conflict by the situations his characters land up in and by their decisions. He also shows it by the conversations. There is a conversation between Father Rank and Scobie where Father Rank confesses to Scobie that he cannot save any living being by his counseling. Morality is difficult to practice and almost impossible to teach. Scobie struggles with his demons, does mostly fine by taking the right decisions, tough decisions that are right at the edge of morality, yet falters at many crucial moments. Greene succeeds in moving beyond stereotypes and creates rich characters in their emotional composition and are not black or white.
The book is written in a third-person pov, mostly Scobie’s pov. Yet, the choice of a third-person pov allows Greene to create a distance between the narration and the reality of the moment. He shifts the pov to some other omniscient kind of pov when it is suitable for him by extending his range of narrated details, thereby creating a rich tapestry of scenes. The scene where Wilson and Louise go for a walk at the insistence of Scobie is one such scene. These scenes add much to the story taking it beyond Scobie’s world.
Scobie’s conflicts, the choices he has to make, the relationships he builds, and the guilt he goes through are common in modern life, and hence the book feels contemporary. Greene creates the milieu of the small town with finesse, though the scenes take place in a very small physical geography, and the world is tiny. He also brings the area’s culture alive by the conversations between the people and highlights the complex relationships even a small community of people can carry. His use of language is masterly, and he brings forth the unseen with his words. The relationship between the locals and the white rulers is very much there in the background, but Greene takes it for granted and does not make it a significant part of the story.
The underlying tone of the book is melancholic and philosophical. A recurring theme is people’s weakness in front of the passions that rule them. Knowledge of what is right and wrong – the moral and ethical understanding – only makes things worse for the sensitive person since he knows what is wrong and cannot remove the same from his behavior. It is, therefore, better to be unaware than to be sensitive. Greene also explores the catholic lifestyle with some passion and makes it essential to his overall discourse. Faith is an integral component of a person, yet it does not save when needed. Greene, in one of the internal dialog of Scobie, makes God powerless in front of the human desire of going on the wrong path. Religion, therefore, is powerless in front of the dark desires of humans, but so is intellect. Greene is not fatalistic. Scobie makes several crucial decisions, yet he cannot get what he wants, which is only to lead a moral life and see other people happy. It may seem from this paragraph that the book would be a dull sermon, but it is not. Greene weaves all this stuff in dialogs, in situations, in descriptions. He certainly deserves the tag of one of the best writers of all time.
To conclude, this is a must-read for any serious reader. It is a slim volume packed with insights on human behavior, religious struggle, love, emotions, relationships, and duty. It is a lesson on how to bring forth characters through conversations and make them multidimensional. It gives you the pleasure of reading a great story narrated with finesse. I just paused and read the sentences multiple times with admiration of Greene’s excellent use of language. Rated 5/5 with a strong recommendation of must-read.
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