Prophet Song

The Garda National Services Bureau (GNSB) is the regime’s secret police force and symbolizes corruption and inhumanity. With a bureaucratic title that gives the agency an air of authority and legitimacy, the GNSB is the first antagonist in this novel. The GNSB represents the first manifestation of authoritarian power, setting the stage for human rights violations and police violence. Eilish senses this shift after two officers visit early in the novel: “This feeling now that something has come into the house […] seeing how it stood with the two men and came into the hallway of its own accord, something formless yet felt” (3). She later learns that she is right to feel a sense of foreboding: Its officers act on behalf of the new regime, arresting people without charge for violations such as protesting and holding (or killing) detainees in secrecy. In fact, the GNSB builds its power upon secrecy. The more secretive it is, the more frightened people are. This fear gives the GNSB more power because its officers act without accountability. As the novel goes on, the GNSB become just one part of a large infrastructure of abuse of power. Thus, the introduction of the GNSB is a foreshadowing of further violence and violations of human rights.

Truth is an important motif in Prophet Song, supporting the theme of The Tyranny of Authoritarian Society. In this novel, the principle of truth is destroyed. Eilish is a scientist and therefore bases her understanding of the world on fact: “[T]he real work of a microbiologist is […] seeking evidence, testing hypothesis against reality, against whatever an individual might seek to believe, the answer true or false is found in the result” (13). However, her knowledge of and faith in facts is quickly overturned when the fascist regime makes fact, reality, and truth impossible to decipher. As Simon tells Eilish, “if you change ownership of the institutions then you can change ownership of the facts, you can alter the structure of belief, what is agreed upon” (20). The regime warps facts into their own version of the truth, such as accusing Larry of inciting rancor against the nation. Because the regime is extremely secretive, there is no truth to analyze or explore, only silence. Silence is the absence of any concept—truth or lie. However, not having truth in their lives makes citizens even more afraid. Psychologically, the absence of truth is destructive because it suggests that there is nothing stable or trustworthy in life. Carole Sexton identifies the absence of truth as the source of true horror. It is not just that her husband has been arrested and never returned, but that she has no way of finding out if he is even alive. Not knowing is the real torture, and this torture helps the state keep control over people. Carole becomes a shell of a woman because of the absence of truth.