Gideon

Roy C. Lackey · 08 Jan 2009, 20:09 · from 2009-January.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 14:09:39 -0600
Subject: (urth) Gideon
References: <009401c97160$4fce77a0$cecc4a0c@rclackey>
	<496606E5.2060908 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <00c801c971cd$0d0c15e0$09cf4a0c@rclackey>

Dave Tallman quoted and wrote:
> > Gid used Reis' ego to engineer his downfall. That's the beauty of it.
Reis
> > would set himself up to fail, with a little nudge from Gid and help from
> > Gid's friends in high places.
> >
> > If Gid was aware of Reis's scheme to get the Navy to do the dirty work,
then
> > that would be a very good reason not to come to the island to pick up
> > Cassie. The tempest might strike at any time, as it did. When Gid
delivered
> > Cassie to the island, he told her the secret of his success: "Never set
> > yourself up to fail. Never!" (223)
> >
> If Chase was aware of Reis' scheme (whether or not he suggested it),

I would think it very probable that Chase was aware of a fleet of Navy ships
in the area, since he was in contact with the president's advisor, John.

> and
> did nothing for Cassie other than possibly give her the eleventh-hour
> airlift by Death's Visitors, he appears in a far more sinister light
> than I've been seeing him.

At the start of the novel, Gid seems to be a pulp hero, but he faded out of
the last quarter of the story. Reis started out as an old-time villain, but
by the end of the story he seemed to be fighting the good fight, even though
tainted by personal aggrandizement.

[snip]
> In an interview, Wolfe said the book was about freedom, and Gideon was
> the most free character. That could mean the one most unconstrained by
> morality.

Exactly. But I wouldn't call him immoral; amoral is closer. He has a
personal code of honor that he lives by. (He won't take what he thinks he
hasn't earned, which is why, even as Gil Corby, he bristled at the idea of
accepting "charity" from Cassie. [157] ) So he is not amoral in the sense
that a fairy is said to be amoral. His personal ethics are closer to human,
but they are not congruent.

-Roy

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