How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
A government functioning in its Pelagian phase commits itself to the belief that man is perfectible, that perfection can be achieved by his own efforts, and that the journey towards perfection is a along a straight road. Man wants to be perfect. He wants to be good. The citizens of a community want to co-operate with their rulers, and so there is no real need to have devices of coercion, sanctions, which will force them to co-operate. (1.4.1)
The Pelphase that Tristram describes to his students is firmly in place when the novel begins. However, little does Tristram know that things are about to take a very dark turn.
Quote #2
'Brutality!' cried Tristram. The class was at last interested. 'Beatings-up. Secret police. Torture in brightly lighted cellars. Condemnation without trial. Finger-nails pulled out with pincers. The rack. The cold-water treatment. The gouging-out of eyes. The firing-squad in the cold dawn. And all of this because of disappointment.' (1.4.1)
According to the cyclical model of history that Tristram teaches his students, the transition between the Pelphase and the Gusphase will always be terrible and bloody. As the State realizes that citizens do need to be coerced into doing what they're told, its methods will get more and more aggressive.
Quote #3
'Shock,' he said. 'The governors become shocked at their own excesses. They find that they have been thinking in heretical terms—the sinfulness of man rather than his inherent goodness. They relax their sanctions and the result is complete chaos. But, by this time, disappointment cannot sink any deeper. Disappointment can no longer shock the state into repressive action, and a kind of philosophical pessimism supervenes.' (1.6.1)
According to the cyclical model of history that Tristram teaches his students, the terrible violence and bloodiness that marks the transition from the Pelphase to the Gusphase always results in a sense of deep social pessimism. Although the State will eventually stop exercising direct violence against its citizens, it also will have lost its sense of the value of human life.