Posted by Peter H on March 11, 2002 at 18:50:13 from 213.122.160.120:
In Reply to: Re: Free Speech was Titty posted by Eric Abraham on March 11, 2002 at 14:35:53:
I agree with much of with Eric’s analysis. Incidents in the novels have surely got to be interpreted in the light of the characters created by the author and their behaviour, and that includes emotional behaviour. There is far more emotion under the surface in AR’s text than one first imagines. To me, that is what governs the character’s actions, and that seems relevant and real, whereas ‘deconstructivist’ theories about social pressures and indoctrination seem to be a very small tail wagging a very big dog! All the ‘pigeon’ theories I have read ignore the fact that Roger was the youngest, the ‘ship’s boy’, and inevitably the favourite with the others, as youngests usually are. Nancy sent the pigeon to him with a glint in her eye – I just know why she did it. (It reminds me a little bit of the kindly and protective attitude which Long John Silver showed to Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island – this existed because Jim was a sparky young lad, otherwise he would have been shot at with the rest of them.) The question could be raised – suppose Titty had been the youngest, would she have been sent the pigeon? Yes I think she would, although her character and her relationship with the others would have been different from the start, and this is too hypothetical to take very far. In any case, Titty was AR’s favourite, so she has enough going for her already.