(urth) So Where DID the Guard Go?

[William Graham]

LOL!  It figures-  four sentences in and I have to commit to reading
another thousand pages to get half an answer!  That's Wolfe for ya!

-WHG3


On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 7:34 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com> wrote:

> William -
>
> I believe that this question is answered in the "Short Sun" trilogy. At
> least tentatively.
>
>
> On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 2:48 PM, William Graham <cyfyguy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello folks,  I've been reading the lists for ages-  thanks for the help.
>>  I'm now one my second 'hard read' through BOTNS after half a dozen or so
>> 'casual reads' since its publication.
>>
>> I get tripped up on the fourth sentance.
>>
>> Roche indicates, "The guard has gone".
>>
>> The popular discussion on this page has historically been "Who asks, 'But
>> why would the guard leave?' ?"  in the next paragraph.  While that
>> discussion is very useful for introducing us to Wolfe's love of removing
>> the net from underneath his readers' high wire, I cannot seem to find any
>> place where those who have gone before have asked the more basic question:
>>
>> "Yeah, where DID the guard go?"
>>
>> The obvious answer is that he's patrolling, a possibility supported by
>> the fact that Vodalus fires his weapon, but never indicates at whom.  The
>> issue however is that our apprentices are surprised to see the guard gone.
>>  If leaving his post to patrol were common, why the confusion over his
>> absence?
>>
>> V doesn't seemingly fire at the volunteers, the dialog between he and
>> Badger and Thea support this, and only three of the volunteers (those
>> pursuing Eata) could have possibly arrived at the site before Sev anyway.
>>
>> So where's the guard, and why did V fire his weapon?
>>
>> -WHG3
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
>
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