Chapter 25 Summary

"Forget the Bastille"

Tom Crick returns the narration to his history class, who are very attracted to his story about Mary and the eel. The students are prepared to forsake the study of the French Revolution for Crick's personal and now prurient story of Mary.

Chapter 25 Analysis

Crick makes the point that History is not always fact - it permits exploration around a body of fact, that it is important to be curious.

"About the Eel"

Like the chapters concerning the Fens and the Ouse, "About the Eel" is a very detailed natural history / biology essay concerning the eel, its habits and its characteristics. Tom Crick develops in chronological form the research into the eel's abilities to reproduce, and the animal is described both as a phallic reference and as sexless.

Important to the Fens, Crick describes how the local cathedral church, "Ely...