The Dark City by Conrad Aiken
"The Dark City" by Conrad Aiken is a slice-of-life narrative that presents a commuter's evening, focusing on Andrew, an executive who transitions from the pressures of his workday to a routine at home with his family. The story unfolds primarily between late afternoon and bedtime, beginning on a train ride where Andrew attempts to distance himself from the burdens of his job while engaging with the evening newspaper. Upon reaching home, he immerses himself in gardening, a task that allows him to connect with his children and reflect on the significance of his everyday activities.
Aiken skillfully intertwines Andrew's external experiences with his internal psyche, revealing a struggle with sanity as he grapples with existential thoughts and the meaning of his life. Through playful interactions with his children and contemplative moments in the garden, Andrew's mind drifts into philosophical musings about creation and existence. The narrative takes a surreal turn when Andrew visually perceives a "dark city" that seems detached from the mortal realm, reflecting a deeper sense of isolation and existential dread. His discussions about this city with his wife, Hilda, hint at a growing disconnection from reality, culminating in an exchange where she questions his mental state. "The Dark City" explores themes of routine, familial connection, and the fragility of sanity within the confines of ordinary life.
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The Dark City by Conrad Aiken
First published: 1922
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: The early twentieth century
Locale: The suburbs of a large city
Principal Characters:
Andrew , the protagonist, a business executiveHilda , his wifeMartha , ,Marjorie , andTom , their children
The Story
This slice-of-life account focuses on a commuter husband, involving only those events that occur between late afternoon and bedtime. The story begins on the commuter train that carries Andrew from the city to the suburbs, where he works in his garden, plays with his children, eats, takes a post-dinner stroll, plays chess with Hilda, his wife, and then prepares for bed. Aiken, however, does not restrict himself to the external plot, which is prosaic in its typicality, but instead includes his protagonist's inner life, which indicates that Andrew has, at best, a tenuous grip on his sanity.
In the first part of the story, Aiken presents Andrew as an executive who attempts to put the "staggering load of business detail" behind him as he "devours" the evening newspaper on the train. When he reaches his station, he begins his walk home and thinks about "news amusing enough to be reported to Hilda." He sees his children playing, and after engaging them in light banter about how much he is needed in his garden, he jokes with his children and wife about having lost the flannel trousers that are apparently part of the "uniform" he wears as he readies himself for the gardening ritual.
Gardening is a welcome respite for Andrew, for whom the "order" is a welcome change from business. With his children, particularly Martha, Andrew has a series of ritualized games in which the actors have clearly assigned roles: The children hide his hoe, he declares himself a slave to the children and to the garden, the children and he personify the plants, and the children and he regard caterpillars as enemies and carefully circumvent the toad, "obese, sage, and wrinkled like a Chinese god." If the garden affords Andrew with the chance to play with his children, it also provides him with the opportunity to drift off into a world of his own, where he can meditate about the meaning of his activity and of his existence. For example, the transplanting of strawberry plants becomes, for him, an analogue to "resurrecting" them and giving them "life" through, presumably, his role as a godlike creator.
At dinner Andrew shares his philosophizing with his family, which is more concerned with "beany" bread pudding and with unripe strawberries. In mock exasperation, he wonders why he and Hilda married and paraphrases William Wordsworth's "London, 1802," suggesting that their powers have been "wasted" by "feeding and spanking." After dinner he strolls on the lawn, and in the gathering darkness he sees, apparently not for the first time, the "dark city, the city not inhabited by mortals." Despite the city's "immense, sinister, and black" appearance, he does not seem upset by his vision.
When Andrew reenters the house, he wakens Hilda, who says that she has been dreaming about Bluebeard. He assures her that he is instead intent on the upcoming chess game, which he soon wins. When Hilda asks him about the "dark city," he gives her an elaborate description of not only the city but also the "maggots of perhaps the size of human children" that inhabit the city. Hilda understandably suggests that he is "going mad," to which he laughingly responds that he is "gone" and that his "brain is maggoty." They then close up the house for the night.