{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/138",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "sflovers",
  "thread": {
    "id": 138,
    "subject": "Ending of Wolfe's FREE LIVE FREE",
    "messages": 3,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1996-09-10T16:24:37+00:00",
    "last": "1996-09-14T01:54:53+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v21-403-20@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Michael Straight",
        "address": "straight at email.unc.edu"
      },
      "date": "1996-09-10T16:24:37+00:00",
      "subject": "Ending of Wolfe's FREE LIVE FREE",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "SPOILERS\n\nAt the end, what did the salesman see that was the \"sign\" that the old man\nhad told him about?  I love Wolfe's subtlety, but occasionally I just\ntotally don't get it.\n\nAlso, am I alone in interpreting that last scene as the other three having\nalready used the device and become their \"improved\" selves, whereas the\nsalesman had waited to get his son first and was about to \"merge\" with\nhimself by stepping through the door?\n\nMichael Straight"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v21-403-21@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "adam louis stephanides",
        "address": "astephan at students.uiuc.edu"
      },
      "date": "1996-09-13T01:42:01+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: Ending of Wolfe's FREE LIVE FREE",
      "in_reply_to": "<sflovers-v21-403-20@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "SPOILERS\n\nMaybe there's a subtlety I'm missing (it's been a long time since I've read\nit) but my guess would be that the \"sign\" is just the literal sign saying\nFREE LIVE FREE referred to on the last page.\n\nAdam"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v21-404-2@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "adam louis stephanides",
        "address": "astephan at students.uiuc.edu"
      },
      "date": "1996-09-14T01:54:53+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: Ending of Wolfe's FREE LIVE FREE",
      "in_reply_to": "<sflovers-v21-403-21@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "SPOILERS\n\nstraight at email.unc.edu (Michael Straight) writes:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Also, am I alone in interpreting that last scene as the other three having\nalready used the device and become their \"improved\" selves, whereas the\nsalesman had waited to get his son first and was about to \"merge\" with\nhimself by stepping through the door?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "That's my interpretation too.\n\nWhile we're on the subject, I have to admit that certain aspects of the\nending, and of the chronology of Whitten's life, puzzled me.\n\n1) Why are there two Whittens (in addition to \"Ben Free\") in 1983?  The\nyounger Whitten (the man in the duffle coat) is there on his second trip\nwith the gizmo for the government.  What is the older Whitten doing there?\n\n2) When \"Ben Free\" reappears on January 14, 1983, where did he come from?\nHe didn't come from the frontier, because he left the frontier for the last\ntime before he hid the gizmo in the wall, and that was presumably before\nJanuary 14, 1983.\n\n3) A minor point, but the witch tells the others that \"Today I defrauded a\ncertain one, the namesake of one who possesses much authority, below\" in\nChapter 52.  Is there a demon named McAlister?  Or is there some joke\nregarding McAlister's first name (which I don't remember ever being stated)\nwhich I missed?  Or did she defraud somebody else that day?\n\nAdam"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}