Blog Entry #9- Caesar's Column (15-end)

In the second half of Donnelly’s novel, the plot undergoes many changes beyond the scope of the daily toils of Maximilian, Gabriel, and Estella. The novel opens up to the greater questions associated with civilization’s progression, and begins to incorporate the main characters, including Christina, into the global final act that is the fall of the world’s empires.

Interestingly enough the novel spends a disproportionately large amount of time detailing the meeting and ultimate marriage between Maximilian and Christine. Why are four chapters are dedicated completely to this side plot, yet the relationship between Gabriel and Estella is only briefly mentioned here and there? There appears to be something more significant to the former love story. The story of Christine could be developed into a separate story if so desired, and certainly details the realities of the social situation. What is Donnelly saying by introducing a character as pure and uncorrupt as Christine? Is her remarkable forgiveness something to be admired as a strength, or condemned as a weakness in a time where compassion has few representatives? The fact that she forgives the man who stabbed her in the throat is incomprehensible to me. Turning to the later chapters, I feel that there are many ideas and questions presented with the construction of Caesar’s Column in the center of the city.

The symbolism of the column is indeed vast. I cannot help but think of Trajan’s column in Rome, immortalizing a great victory with a granite façade etched with Romans in combat regalia. In both columns there is an immortalization of a victory, and in both columns there are people depicted. In the case of Caesar’s Column, this is taken quite literally, and certainly evokes an uncanny feeling. What does it say about Caesar and his brotherhood that he would use people, many of whom were loyal to his cause or completely innocent, in his construction? For civilization, the edifice represents the culmination of human deviation from the ideal; where even fundamental distinctions between friend and foe are of little consequence and each is equally cast into the void. In that regard it is very fitting that the novel is titled as such; for the column, stands as a warning of human corruption, and a permanent record of their misguidance. Much can be learned from Caesar’s Column, and the survivors of this disaster as they go about constructing a new and better civilization.