(urth) Some Pirate Freedom thoughts and questions

["Fernando Q. Gouvêa"]

thalassocrat at nym.hush.com wrote:

> He's always got excuses, has Father Chris. He's a good, pious man 
> right up until the point when being good & pious gets in the way of 
> something he wants.
> 
> (...)
> His hypocrisy is appalling.)

Oh, no more appalling than the hypocrisy of many religious folk 
throughout the centuries (and I speak as one of them). Yes, he does 
stand faithful to his faith until it gets in the way of what he wants, 
and yes, he then does what he wants. Is that really so different from 
most of us? Wolfe is smart to have Chris transgress in ways we will 
disapprove, rather than by, say, using birth control against the 
teaching of his church.

I'm curious about this emotional reaction to Chris's misdeeds.

> Here's what I think "Chris2" was doing in Cuba, before the time-
> slip.

I think that's fairly easy to guess, though my guess wouldn't include 
the direct connection with his father you think might have happened. But 
the interesting question to me is what he was doing *after* Chris leaves 
Cuba. That, after all, is the part the narrator doesn't yet know about. 
If there's any redemption for Chris, that is the natural place for it. 
Does anything Ignacio says at the end give hints about what he might 
have been doing since he "lost track" of Chris?

Fernando

-- 
=============================================================
Fernando Q. Gouvea
Carter Professor of Mathematics
Colby College                     Editor, FOCUS
5836 Mayflower Hill               Editor, MAA Reviews
Waterville, ME 04901              http://mathdl.maa.org
http://www.colby.edu/~fqgouvea

Politicians do it to everyone.