Posted by John Nichols on October 23, 2005 at 23:57:31 from 70.191.148.241 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Re: Day by day - Nancy's Role. posted by John Wilson on October 23, 2005 at 23:34:29:
I agree with you on Dick. He is without doubt the perfect character in AR's written work. His leadership shows through in a crisis when he can forget the self doubt a lot of scientists have. His ability to get on with Dixon is I think AR's ackowledgement of Dick's special place. No-one else achieved such a break through and just by being himself.
A common theme at Univerities amoung people I would consider to be good academics is
"one day they will discover I don't belong here." Very few academics one can look at and know they belong, and Dick is in that class.
Of course I have long held the theory that Dot would make the Perfect Wife, provided that you found a nice girl just like Dot for Dick, so that you could separate them effectively.
Of course there is the converse view - he could have killed himself several times and certainly he does not appear to be afraid to get down to the 1 in 6 risk level that defines a heroic figure. In some ways he reminds me of a 30's Beowulf.
Sailing offshore in a 15' boat without floatation and no life jackets is at the 1 in 6 risk level, unfortuantely or fortunately the intrepid sailors were probably not aware of that fact.
Of course if asked to boil eggs he is hopeless.
JMN