(urth) PF as YA

[Henry Eissler]

Fernando Q. Gouvêa wrote:
>
> Is Chris intended as a sympathetic character? I think that to some 
> extent he is, though Wolfe has never really written a character that 
> was a "good guy" in every way; he knows that all of us have flaws. One 
> of the things Wolfe was trying to do in PF, I think, is to complicate 
> our sense of what is right and what is wrong by having a young man be 
> formed in an utterly foreign culture (piracy in the 17th century). 
> Things we consider horrible are routine for him. Things we consider 
> routine (see his comments about his life as a priest) are horrible to 
> him. I know it's easy to just say Chris is a "bad guy", but most of us 
> haven't been shot at and had to fight for our lives. Could we? If we 
> could, should we? Nor have we been hungry and had to decide whether to 
> steal.
    For what it's worth:
    It always seemed to me that PF was about situational ethics- or 
rather, morals.  I didn't walk away with the impression that Chris 
considered the horrible things he and his crew did to be anything less 
than horrible.  It took a long time and a lot of pushing for him to 
finally become a pirate, even with his gangster background.  After that, 
he did everything in his power to influence his crew and anyone he came 
into contact with to be better, more devout people.  Just like so many 
other Wolfe protagonists.
    Bram Burt was a privateer.  Chris took his orders directly from 
Burt.  Essentially, they were at war with Spain.  This was the situation 
he'd been thrust into- that God placed him in.  He made the best of it, 
and tried to be the best man he could be within it.  And I believe that 
Father Chris knew that no good man would be likely to understand or 
forgive the life he'd led.  That only God could be his judge.  And would 
be.  And perhaps had been.
    Anyway, that's my take.  Father Chris knew it was a rougher, tougher 
world than his fellow priests would like to imagine; he wanted to give 
the boys in his care some guidance that they could accept.
    But I never thought of it as a Young Adult novel.  Wizard Knight 
yes.  Not Pirate Freedom.
    ---H