37 pages • 1 hour read
Thomas MertonThe Seven Storey Mountain
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1948A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3, Chapters 9-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Chapter 9 Summary: “The Sleeping Volcano”
In Harlem, Merton becomes friends with a Russian baroness named Catherine de Hueck who runs a place called the Friendship House, which provides services to the local community. He then returns to St. Bonaventure’s, but he feels he must leave, a move which Father Thomas endorses with resignation when Merton says he might not be cut out for the priesthood. He hitchhikes to New York, but on his way, they have an accident that delays them. He returns to St. Bonaventure’s and sees his draft number has been pulled now that America is in the war. He explains this to Father Thomas who helps him prepare to go to the monastery. Before leaving, he rids himself of all his earthly possessions and even burns his novel manuscripts. When he arrives at the monastery in Kentucky, he is greeted by a Brother who informs him he has been praying for Merton.
Part 3, Chapter 10 Summary: “The Sweet Savor of Liberty”
At the monastery, Merton is told some tall tales to prepare him for the cold inside the monastery once he joins, and he believes this, going as far as to open the window in the icy cold and sit without a jacket to accustom himself. Carrying the burden from his past, and a recent convert, he is afraid he won’t be able to join the Trappists. However, they embrace him and encourage him. compel him with the idea that he may save many souls. Later, Merton is given this chance when a man with no knowledge of Christianity appears with the desire to join, but he recognizes the honest fervor in his eyes and toils to educate him and deliver him to salvation. During his time in the monastery, his brother, John Paul, had gotten pulled into World War II, and by the end, Merton reveals he’d died, and the book ends with a prayer-like poem to his brother.
Part 3, Chapter 11 Summary: “Epilogue: Meditatio Pauperis in Solitudine”
Describing his devotion to God, Merton explains he still struggles with his new and old identities, or true and false selfs. He has many battles to face with his former self as his spiritual journey is exactly that: a journey. He invokes murdering one half of himself to allow the other to live, which is a sharp pivot in tone from the previous sections but shows how much Merton still grapples with his spirituality. When he went to Father Abbott for direction, Father told him to keep writing poetry. He considers the state of America and the role of the monastery in Kentucky’s role in the greater landscape of Catholicism and whether one can truly and should lead a fully contemplative life. He resolves that God knows everyone and knows their nature, and this journey is about a quest for his self-identity. He was never looking for himself. He was looking for God. He ends with a section spoken to him by God about what life holds for him and his purpose.
Part 3, Chapters 9-11 Analysis
This final section culminates in the marriage of creativity and spirituality when Merton enters the Trappist Our Lady of Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky, which he describes as “a school in which we learn from God how to be happy” (409). The idea of Merton as a life-long student shows how far he has come in his journey: from the teenager who had all the answers to the man who had only one (See: Themes).
Still, old fears and insecurities plague Merton because he wants his dream so badly and is afraid the monks won’t accept him because of his past. When he broaches this fear and considers whether he is worthy to be a monk, the Father asks him, “Who knows how many souls are depending on your perseverance in this monastery?” (421). He also compels Merton to keep writing. This is such a clear acceptance of art as a spiritual act by the Trappist monks, and it showcases how this encouragement brought forth the book itself. Merton is able to see all his struggles and life form a coherent picture and meaning. Even though Merton is transformed, he still remains much the same, and there is beauty in that revelation: that he was always spiritually primed for God’s love, and that is part of his message, that everyone is. He still retains exactly who is, the child of artists who loves to write. He still keeps his sense of humor, like appreciating the way the monks “kidded with one another in sign language” (420). He understands deeply that the spiritual struggle is a lifelong journey and even points to some dark thoughts around this like in the Epilogue when he suggests there are two parts of him vying to be the sole survivor.
Merton isn’t some pure, untouchable monk who is God’s chosen. He is simply a man who lived a colorful, vivid life, which was shaped by the influences of those in his life and the art around him, whether that be literature, paintings, propaganda, or churches. His autobiography is likely so successful because his story has so many relatable qualities, and he approaches religion with a kind of benevolence, like it’s a gift—not that he can give—but one that the reader already has in some neglected corner of their soul that he wants the reader to open and appreciate. His heartful, honest, yet deeply insightful and intellectual tone paired with the convergence of these themes make his purpose evident by virtue of the existence of this work: that he lived such a complicated life and took the time to share it as authentically as possible in the hopes he can help readers.
