[Reading Journal] Neverwhere 4~6

“NEVERWHERE”  Chap. 4~6

             “There are two Londons. There’s London Above─that’s where you lived─and then there’s London Below─the Underside─inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world.” Through chapter 4 to 6, the author tried to demonstrate how the world below London looked like by showing the changes in Richard’s mind and the people who lived underground.

             When Richard first came into the underground world and started his journey, he didn’t recognize how dangerous it was. However, during the way to the market, he sees and feels to the bone how London Below is unsafe. He regrets he chose to rescue Door and became a member of the underground society. The narrator continued showing Richard wanting to go back to his own life. For example, while Door and the Marquis are auditioning the bodyguard, Richard experiences homesickness. He thinks London Above is a world of safety and of sanity that no one needs to fight, while someone who is part of London Below should be fighting dangerously. Continually in chapter 6, he writes a diary in his mind and he highlights the words saying “I want to go home.” At the same time, he feels superior to London Below. In the market, he feels a deep distance between underground people and himself. Actually, before he came to the underworld, he was a normal person who had a job and his lovely fiancée. By contrast, people in the underworld are different with him, they are alienated people.

             Some of the characters in this part symbolize and represent London Below. One of them is Anaesthesia. She was born in upworld but since her uncle hurt her, she ran away and helplessly came to London Below. Most of the people who came to London Below might have suffered from something similar to Anaesthesia. Another example is Door’s family. They were all killed by someone. Door is the only one who was survived. According to the message that Door’s father left, he wanted Door to avenge the family. He must have died full of hatred. Most people in the underworld cannot live their own lives. They would have grudges against somebody who suppressed them, mistreated them, and made them come to London Below. Sellers in the market also show real aspects of London Below. They sell nightmares, weapons for arming oneself, rubbish, and lost property. I thought that nightmares mean their sufferings, weapons mean they want themselves to be safe, rubbish symbolizes that they are abandoned people, and lost property symbolizes their lost normal lives.

             In short, the author depicted London Below more closely in chapter 4~6. He frankly showed the way people live underground by describing dark, dangerous, and angry faces of it. Additionally, Richard compared the world below the ground with the world above the ground.