Q: “Policemen in Chesterton’s essay behave exactly like our own policemen.” Elucidate.
Ans: G.K. Chesterton was wandering in a forest. Just for fun, he threw his knife at a tree. Two policemen appeared and accused him of damaging the tree. But when they learnt, he was a writer, a journalist and the guest of some VIP of that area, they acquitted him.
From this incident, Chesterton draws a conclusion. The. moral of this story is that the policemen were not honest in the performance of their duties. He says if a tree is an important thing, and it is a crime to murder a tree, the policemen should have arrested him. First, they are rude” because they think that the writer is some unknown, ordinary poor man. But when they come to know of the writer,his profession and his connections with, the wealthy people, they get polite. These facts have nothing to do with the question of whether the writer has been guilty of damaging the tree.
If damage to the tree was a crime, the policemen should have been honest in their duties. But they do not arrest the writer not because he is innocent but because he is a journalist and has relations with the most august fashionable and rich people of the area.
The writer thinks if he was not doing any harm to the trees the policemen should not have stopped him for interrogation. In both the cases, their behaviour is illogical. They! ignore the rich and well-connected people and arrest the poor! people just to satisfy the law and extort money. The incidental essay shows that the policemen in Chesterton’s essay behave exactly like our own policemen.
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