The Unexpected Answer
by René Magritte (1933)
“Butterflies and Hurricanes”
Written by Matthew Bellamy / Performed by Muse
(From the 2003 Absolution album)
Change everything you are
and everything you were
your number has been called
Fights and battles have begun
revenge will surely come
your hard times are ahead
Best you've got to be the best
you've got to change the world
and use this chance to be heard
your time is now
Interlude
Don't let yourself down
don't let yourself go
your last chance has arrived
Best you've got to be the best
you've got to change the world
and use this chance to be heard
your time is now
Mohandas Gandhi is credited with the famous line, “You must be the change you wish to
see in the world.” As a culture based on the idea that one person can truly make a difference, we
are conditioned to believe through families and early education that we can achieve anything we
want. However, at some point in our lives, reality sets in, and we are stuck with the understanding
that, often, we are the victims of circumstances, circumstances that are frequently completely out
of our control.
Still, that doesn’t mean we don’t do our best to test what the Fates throw our way.
Sometimes our means of playing the hands we are dealt vary from the traditional rules. Clearly
this is the route that Mrs. Hubbard and her co-conspirators face during their murder of Cassetti in
Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. A grieving mother and grandmother, Hubbard
(or Linda Arden) decided to take justice, justice that was denied her and the others who grieved,
into her own hands.
But how? Linda Arden was an actress, not an assassin. So she knew she would have to
rely on that which brought her the greatest success in life – her thespian skills. Masterfully
assuming the alter ego of Mrs. Hubbard, Arden nearly dupes the undupable Hercule Poirot. The
task was difficult enough to begin with; the unexpected appearance of Poirot certainly raised the
stakes, making Hubbard’s stellar performance even that much more critical.
Muse’s “Butterflies and Hurricanes” is simplisitic in its lyrics, but not in its message. The
song is a direct call to action telling us to “change all that we are” because our “number has been
called.” Change is always difficult, but Hubbard rises to the occasion knowing that she (and her
companions) must “be the best” in order to “change the world.” In this case, the world is changed.
How did this one act of private vengeance change the world? The answer to that lies in
the origin of the Muse song title. It references the mathematics “chaos theory,” also known as the
“butterfly effect.” The basic concept is that one simple action could have far-reaching effects
somewhere else. Hence, the slight breeze created by the fluttering of one butterfly’s wings could
build to be the power of a hurricane miles away. The murder of Cassetti does exact the revenge
that the passengers so desperately wanted, but it also insures the safety of other families from
suffering a similar fate.
It is hard to imagine the trauma that Arden must have felt during the ordeal of Daisy
Armstrong. A mother’s love is a powerful one, probably making the deaths of Daisy, Toby, and
Sonia Armstrong even more unbearable. The feeling of helplessness must have been
overwhelming. I know in my life I have felt many moments of helplessness. As a father, husband,
older brother, friend, and teacher, I am expected to provide answers, protection, guidance, and
strength, whether I have it in me or not. I am pushed to meet challenges head on, because that is
what others expect me to do. As the matriarch of her family, Linda Arden was forced to lay aside
her own grief and look to the grief of others. She was forced to make a difficult choice.
René Magritte’s The Unexpected Answer shows Arden the path she needed to take. Many
of Magritte’s (1897-1967) paintings focused on doors and what was found within them. In this
particular piece, the door has a large, unusual hole in its center that leads to darkness. Darkness,
in my mind, represents the unknown – very often our biggest fear. Linda Arden didn’t know what
would come of her mission. Would she feel relief? Disgust? Justification? Or nothing at all?
There was only one way to find out.
The natural course of opening a door is taking the knob in one’s hand, turning it, and
moving on. When the door is locked, however, what is our next step? In these times we are forced
to become the key. If motivated sufficiently, we break through the door with our actions, will, and
courage. Arden sized up the situation and created her own path. Her question was, “How do I
avenge my family’s death?” Her “unexpected answer” was to act, and act she did.
The musical piece and the painting connect perfectly together. The locked door is a dead
end – the “last chance.” The song says, “Don’t let yourself down.” It doesn’t focus on how you
will appear in the minds of others, but in your own mind. We are always our own worst critics,
and we owe it to ourselves to live a life without “what ifs” and to answer the doors of opportunity
when our “time is now.” We may never receive the same opportunities again.
The old saying of “two wrongs don’t make a right” seems to apply to this book. I don’t
believe that Agatha Christie (or for that matter Poirot) would condone murder, even murder in the
event of revenge. I do not condone what the characters have done, but there is something to
respect in Arden’s determination. (“Society had condemned him—we were only carrying out the
sentence.”) She admits to her crime and is willing to accept the consequences for her actions.
When Arden’s “number was called,” the question was asked, and the “unexpected answer” came.
Perhaps that is why some questions are never meant to be asked in the first place.