The cave at the Black Jaws
Gideon claims that he was rescued and nursed back to health by the Devil in a massive cave on the Keldo River.
Magical and otherworldly
Gideon鈥檚 description of the cave makes it seem magical and otherworldly. It is totally unlike what we may expect the Devil鈥檚 home to look like.
We are told that the cave is incredibly huge, deep and cavernous and Gideon cannot believe that it has never been discovered before. At the centre of the cave there is a bright fire burning and food cooking on a spit. Strangely, the dwelling looked like a junkyard
, with old-fashioned and battered and dirty
furniture and ramshackle
household implements surrounding the fire. There is no sign of the opulence, wealth or splendour we might expect to find.
As with the Devil's tatty trainers, the description of the Devil's home suggests someone who has fallen on hard times.
Hell
Deep in the cave, Gideon is able to see a distant, red light
and he walks for hours trying to find the source:
down into the bowels of the earth
Eventually, he comes to a bulging hatch
which emits intense light
and terrible pounding
. Gideon is convinced that this is an entrance to Hell, and certainly it suggests a place that is much more like traditional imagery of flames, heat and suffering.