Reading Along With Prudence, Part 2: An Introduction to Destructive Cults, and the basis of the UHC

Chapter 1 of Combating Cult Mind Control begins with a description of what Hassan calls a "relatively easy case" involving a young man on the verge of joining the Unification Church (aka the Moonies), the same cult in which Hassan himself spent two and a half years. The young man had attended 3 and 7 day workshops and was on the verge of committing to a three-week program after which many choose to abandon their old lives for full-time cult involvement, just as many of Robin's peers did after their week at Chapman Farm.

Hassan also stresses the importance of educating the public about the dangers of cults that practice undue influence. This knowledge can serve as an "inoculation" against mind control; as he states, "People's resistance is higher when they are aware of the danger."  Prudence echoes this exact idea when she recommends Hassan's book and warns Robin to be careful when going undercover: "Being able to identify their techniques will help you resist them." Indeed, when Prudence describes getting professional support with her ex-UHC patient from "an American therapist who's worked with a lot of cult survivors," it is not a stretch to imagine that she contacted Hassan himself. 

When describing the "nightmare reality" of abusive cults, Hassan describes his clients as:

people who have been systematically lied to, physically abused, separated from their families and friends, and forced into servitude.

He evokes another work of fiction, George Orwell's 1984, set in 

a world where thought police maintain complete control over people's mental and emotional lives, and where it is a crime to act or think independently, or even to fall in love.

Hassan maintains that modern day abusive cults resemble Orwell's dystopia:

In these groups, basic respect for the individual is secondary to the leader's whims and ideology. People are manipulated and coerced to think, feel and behave in a single "right" way. Individuals become totally dependent on the group and lose the ability to act or think on their own. They are typically exploited for the sake of the group's economic or political ends. 

Those of us who spent four grueling months with Robin in Chapman Farm will recognize every one of those elements. I was reminded particularly of Becca Emily Pirbright and her forbidden "pure materialism" love affair. Despite knowing that the story of the Drowned Prophet was a lie, was unable to break away, even when the opportunity presented itself in Norwich. 

Continued...

Reading Along with Prudence, Part 1: Hassan's Combating Cult Mind Control

Like many serious Strike readers, I read the preview of The Running Grave last August. During Strike and Robin's first visit to Prudence, she gives them a copy of Steven Hassan's Combating Cult Mind Control (CCMC), urging them both to read it before Robin undertakes her mission. Interestingly, though we see Strike spending a couple of nights reading the book right after Prudence gives it to them, we never see Robin, the psychology student with an interest in mind control, reading the book, reacting to it, or recalling elements of it once she is undercover in Chapman Farm. Given how many techniques that Hassan describes that the UHC uses, it is odd that Robin never specifically recalls or recognizes any. It was clear from the earliest descriptions in the preview that JKR/RG drew heavily from Hassan's BITE model when designing the fictional cult. I listened to the audiobook of CCMC last September as a way of filling up some time between the preview and the actual book publication.  

Hassan's book both expands one's enjoyment of The Running Grave and teaches a lot about modern day abusive cults and what separates them from legitimate religious, political and business organizations. Dr. Hassan recently commented on TRG on his own Twitter read. This reminded me that I wanted to do a chapter-by-chapter review of CCMC, with a specific look at how parts of the The Running Grave were informed by this volume. In particular, multiple aspects of the fictional Universal Humanitarian Church (UHC) appear to be inspired by Hassan's recruitment into and rapid rise in leadership in Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, or, as they called themselves in Hassan's day, the Moonies. 

Strike and Robin likely read the 2015 edition, although it is possible that Prudence gave them an earlier edition. I listened to the audiobook of the most recent edition, published in 2018 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre. Readers can also access the original 1990 edition here. 

So, without further ado, let's start the read-along with Prudence. 

Charlotte Campbell-Ross: A Psychological and Literary Look at her Life and Death.

The death of Charlotte Campbell-Ross was the central and certainly one of the most shocking turns of events in The Running Grave. For me, it was the part where the book genuinely turned into a "can't put it down" page-turner, and, when I originally blogged about it, I was simultaneously teary-eyed and searching Youtube for "Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead" clips to include. 

Last November, my friend and co-podcast guest Nick Jeffrey published a post suggesting that Charlotte did not kill herself but was instead murdered, probably by a member of her own family. I usually find Nick's arguments pretty compelling, so I read his post thoroughly, digested his arguments and then, most atypically, found myself entirely unconvinced. 

I think there are psychological, practical, and literary reasons to take MiLady Berzerko's death at face value. Forced to accept that "Bluey" wanted nothing more to do with her, intoxicated and drugged, she left a series of voicemails for Strike, initially begging for his attention and, when that failed, threatened the things she knew he valued most---his agency's public reputation and his relationship with Robin. She entered the bath and slit her wrists, probably thinking there was at least a chance Strike would show up, intent on stopping her following through on her threats, but wind up rescuing her instead. After all, he managed to save her when she was locked away in Symond's house. And, if not, her spiteful suicide note, in which she blamed everyone but herself for her misery, would leave a bit of her hate for Strike and her family--including her three-year old twins--to carry forever. At that point, facing life without "Bluey" and finally facing criminal charges for her violent behavior, she was desperate enough to accept either outcome. Her actions were selfish and manipulative, right to the end, and entirely consistent with how her character has been described ever since university. Why do I think so?  The evidence comes after the jump. 

The Emoji Code: Can Science Help Us Crack It?

 Leave it to RG/JKR, mere hours after I write my first blog post in months, to drop another hint that sends the scientist in me down a proverbial rabbit hole.  Prompted by our friends at the Rowling Library, she gave us an emoji "title," just as she had for both The Ink Black Heart and The Running Grave. 

Except, of course, the emoji sequence seems to have nothing to do with the title at all.  TIBH's symbol was, quite simply, a black heart. For TRG, she used a wave to represent the ocean, and a gravestone, a clear indicator of someone drowning off the Cromer Pier she showed us in the Twitter header, and an  reference to the easily-googled George Barker poem that Papa J plagiarized for his first wife's obituary. 

This time, we have a chain, a strand of DNA and a skull, none of which even remotely resemble a "hallmarked man," at least on the surface.  What is going on?

I'll tell you my best guess, in a moment.  But first, I urge you to go read Dr. Beatrice Grove's great essay giving us her take on the actual title. Like me, she made the alchemical connection; unlike me, she included much much more. 

So, the DNA strand sent my scientific senses tingling. DNA testing,  of course, turns up in many murder mysteries; in Strike, it has proved Quine never touched the planted typewriter ribbons the police recovered from his office, and no doubt was necessary to identify the remains of Margot Bamborough. Strike himself erroneously believes it was a DNA test that forced Jonny Rokeby to accept paternity; tt wasn't, since that technology wasn't available in the late 1970's. What came to mind for me first when I saw the DNA next to the skull was some sort of dangerous, or even fatal, genetic disease. We've seen that once already in the series, where Book Four's Lethal White title referred to a fatal condition in white horses.  More on this, after the jump. 

Strike Book Eight is The Hallmarked Man; What do recent hints mean?

Welcome back to the Farting Sofa Faculty Lounge.  I had to take an extensive sabbatical from blogging, thanks to personal and professional obligations and the hassles that are involved in setting up my own business.  Happily, I'm now the proud owner of Freeman Davis Behavior Services, life has settled down a bit and I, like Strike fans worldwide, was happy to hear the news today the Strike Book 8 will be titled The Hallmarked Man. 

These images are only the latest in hints that have been dropping over the last few weeks.  Rowling has changed her twitter header three times since February 1st. The first was a picture of the coat of arms on the Freemason's United Grand Hall in London.  The second was of La Coupee, a bridge connecting two parts of Sark, a Channel Island, and the third a sterling silver model ship made by the famous Pairpoint Brothers of London and currently selling for more than $42K. 

The tweet announcing the book title was also Sark-related: the collage depicted above that includes a lovely silver bracelet JKR received from her husband as a souvenir of her recent trip there. She has confirmed that at least a few chapters of The Hallmarked Man will be set on the Channel island. 

What could this all mean?  Well, the two items of fine silver suggest the meaning is the original one for "hallmark":  a stamp put on British precious metal goods that certified the purity.  Fans who were expecting Strike, Robin and friends to turn up on greeting cards, as commemorative Christmas ornaments or perhaps in a cheesy TV holiday movie will be disappointed. 

But, the notion of fine quality silver will no doubt delight the folks at Hogwartsprofessor.com, and other literary alchemy fans. If Strike himself is to be the Hallmarked Man, it suggests the albedo-purification process that was so apparent amid all the river and baptismal imagery of The Running Grave will continue, and perhaps be completed in the next book. Of all the major ideas presented so far, this is most consistent with Kathleen's brilliant "Strike Extended Play" and sets the scene for a two part nigredo in TB and IBH, a two-part albedo in TRG and THM and then completing the alchemical cycle with bookk 9 and 10 as a paired rubedo, or perhaps a citrinitas- rubedo combination.  I particularly like the idea of  citrinitas, or yellowing phase; something there really wasn't time for in the Harry Potter series. 

This certainly fits with what we've seen so far: Strike was emotionally broken down in TB and physically broken down in IBH. He clearly is healing and purifying himself in TRG, with his smoking cessation, weight loss and baptismal purification he undergoes after Charlotte's death.  I highly recommend you listen this week's Strike and Ellacott files, with guest Kurt Schreyer for a beautiful analysis of that scene,  Plus lots of Shakespeare!

In any case, metal stamped with a hallmark has undergone refining and purification, so, even if the Hallmarked Man winds up being at the center of the major mystery, we can still hope that the title will apply to Strike as well, just as the "Superior Man" epigraphs of TRG did. Silver is a classic albedo color, along with white and water, so a sterling silver ship seems a promising herald of albedo, too. Maybe we'll even get a return of the swans. As for me, I'm still hoping the "silver minnow" memory will resurface.  

Another bit of trivia: the makers of the silver ship, the Pairpoint brothers, had offices in Soho, not far from Denmark Street, including on Rupert Street. 

According to Jung, just as albedo involves the resolution of the animus/anima conflict, with men embracing their feminine side and vice-versa, the citrinitas is the place to encounter the "wise old man" (or woman) archetype. This could mean Ted still being around to impart some potential wisdom before he succumbs to his vascular dementia, or maybe even a crucial bit of information from Strike's own Deadbeat Dad, Jonny Rokeby. If one of them plays the grey-beard advice-giver in Book 9, then dies, it would fit whith the Double Wedding Band model (see here and here) in a couple of ways. 

• First, this would have the mentor/father figure dying in Book 9 (which is Book 6 of ring #2) just as Dumbledore died in Book 6 of Harry Potter.  
• Second, would also set the stage for Book Ten to open with Ted's (or Rokeby's) funeral, which ties the 1-4-7-10 linkage to gether , with 1 opening with an engagement, 4 with a wedding, 7 with a christening and 10 with a funeral. 

But what about the Freemason building?  I suspect that will relate in some way to our heroes' major mystery. As some have pointed out, the United Grand Hall is a popular event venue, so it is possible a visit there would have nothing to do with the Freemason organization itself. But, the most interesting thing about the Freemasons to me is their association with police corruption in the 1970's, apparently as a result of some Met cops being in the same lodges with career criminals. This makes me think of gangsters like Mucky Ricci, whom the police were clearly powerless to stop and makes me wonder if the mystery will involve some dirty cops, past or present.  If so, that could certainly complicate things for Robin and Murphy.  More importantly, it could be a connection to some of themes of TB, which also involved looking back at police work in the 1970's.  That would be an interesting link between the two Book 5's of each ring.  

Any other thoughts as to what the twitter headers might mean?  We still are no closer to knowing a publication date, though JKR tweeted on February 21st that she had completed Part 6.  But, Rowling being Rowling we have no way of knowing if that is part 6 of 7, 9 or many, many more.

Stay tuned.