The Innocence of Father Brown

In the short story “The Flying Stars,” the precious diamonds known as the “Flying Stars” are a motif supporting both The Duality of Human Nature and The Psychological Approach to Solving Crimes. When Sir Fischer gives the diamonds to his goddaughter, Ruby, as a Christmas present, he explains that they were named the Flying Stars “because they’ve been stolen so often” by criminals (50). This foreshadows them being stolen by another big criminal, Flambeau. When he steals the Flying Stars, Father Brown finds him and asks him to give them back, telling him that he could potentially destroy an innocent man’s life if he steals them and that, even if it does not happen now, Flambeau will eventually suffer for the crimes he commits. Taking this to heart, Flambeau gives Father Brown the Flying Stars and abandons crime for good, having understood that Father Brown knows the intricacies of morality and has seen the suffering that human sin and evil can bring.

The hammer of God, in the short story of the same title, is a symbol of the human self-righteousness that masquerades as divine judgment, supporting The Duality of Human Nature and The Psychological Approach to Solving Crimes. The hammer appears near the body of the murdered Colonel Norman Bohun. Simeon Barnes, though not the killer, views the hammer as a tool of justice by God to punish the colonel, an idea that the colonel’s brother, Reverend Wilfred Bohun, supports. Father Brown discovers that Wilfred killed his brother with the hammer in a “righteous rage” (124). As a devout man, Wilfred wanted to kill his brother for his blasphemy, and though he initially hesitated, he soon after snapped and threw the hammer at the colonel. The hammer, in Wilfred’s mind, was “God’s thunderbolt,” a weapon for God to bring vengeance on the wicked (124). In the moment, Wilfred wanted his brother’s wickedness punished by God and quickly; thus, he took vengeance, appealing to his anger and committing the crime and sin of murder.