Wahl, Governor of Luna, passes the open door of his daughter, Pilar's, room while she is speaking on a visiphone to Erann, grandson of Brandir, thus great-grandson of Dagny Beynac and great-great-great-grandson of Anson Guthrie. Pilar shivers, changes color, breathes, "'Oh, Erann,'" (p. 407) and reaches for the screen. Erann's smile is "...seductive as Lucifer...," (p. 408) at least in Pilar's father's estimation.
Having previously thought that:
"It had seemed good to promote friendship between the races..." (ibid.)
- Wahl now plans to:
"Get this thing stopped before the damage was irretrievable..." (ibid.)
- even by sending:
"...the girl, the innocent child, to school on Earth, where she would be entirely among humans." (ibid.)
Pilar is fourteen, too young for sexual consent but not far off. When she reaches that age, what happens between her and a young man, whether Terran or Lunarian, will be a matter for them. Her parents need to help her to prepare for adulthood but not to "Get this thing stopped..." by resorting to racial segregation.
14 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
FOURTEEN was the legal age of consent in the HARVEST books? WAY too young, IMO. Age 16 is the rule in most of the states of the US, and I think even that is too young, I would prefer age 17.
And I lean more to Gov. General Wahl's view of the matter, not yours. Also, Erann had been told by HIS grandfather, Brandir, to manipulate/seduce the hapless Pilar.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
No. We are not told what is the age of consent. I just said that it was not far off since I do not regard two or three years as a very long time.
What constitutes consent and what is the appropriate age for it differs enormously between cultures and will differ more in the future, assuming that we have a future.
I agree that 14 would be too young in our civilization here and now.
At this stage in the narrative, the reader does not know of Brandir telling Erann to manipulate Pilar. Whal is simply overreacting to an overheard telephone conversation.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood! But two or three years FEELS like a long time for many 14 years old children.
Yes, ages of consent does differ widely in many times and cultures. But, even in times when women generally married much younger than nowadays, I recall reading of how the Catholic Church tended to resist that. Canon law may have specified age 14 as the minimum age a girl could legally marry, but the Church preferred that to wait till at least age 16. So, I still frown at age 14!
The Governor General may have been overreacting, but for reasons I sympathize with! And Wahl had good reasons for feeling frustrated with the Lunarians.
Ad astra! Sean
Besides, that's not "racial" segregation in our sense. It's -species- segregation.
Indeed. Species segregation.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Considering how Lunarians and unmodified humans could not interbreed, to say nothing of how psychologically different the two species of hominids were, some degree of "species segregation" was inevitable.
Ad astra! Sean
As the poet said, "good fences make good neighbors".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! Sometimes fences and WALLS are necessary!
And that reminded me as well of how furious I am at "Josip" for his bungling refusal to maintain those "fences" at the southern border! The chaos there as what amounts to a barbarian invasion of the US goes on there OUTRAGES me. For what little good it does, I have protested more than once to my left wing Democrat House representative about that!
Ad astra! Sean
Yup. Note that Greeks and Turks spent centuries killing each other fairly continuously, until 1923.
That was when the last Graeco-Turkish war ended with the "population exchange" -- mass ethnic cleansing, in fact.
The result has been profound peace.
Greeks and Turks don't like each other any better; they just have less opportunity and occasion for mutual slaughter now.
The exception was Cyprus, where British power maintained the old close interpenetration... until 1974, when the Turkish invasion imposed the same sort of separation.
Result: peace.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I understand your argument, but mass slaughter and ethnic "cleansing" are not good things! If the British Empire prevented Muslims and Hindus, Muslim Turks and Greeks, etc., from killing each other while it ruled, I say that was a good thing!
And how long can the division of Cyprus last? More likely than not one side or the other will try to get control of the entire island, and are we then going to have to expect more slaughter and "ethnic cleansing"?
Ad astra! Sean
Cyprus has been pretty stable. As I said, the parties don't -like- each other more, and both would probably like to see the other wiped out... but neither is an immediate irritant and threat to the other, not on a day-to-day basis.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And if nothing better can be hoped for, in the foreseeable future, I hope that "stability" on Cyprus lasts.
And we see Cyprus in Anderson's novel ROGUE SWORD, when a French dynasty, the Lusignans, were ruling there.
Ad astra! Sean
Yup, and ruling rather badly, most of the time. The Crusader states were all sort of examples of how Western European feudalism could go wrong in a strange environment.
Sicily did much better.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, the Lusignan kings of Cyprus were harsh rulers, as ROGUE SWORD makes plain! But I thought the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem evolved into a fairly mild regime? Can't comment about the County of Tripoli or the Principality of Antioch.
Anderson thought very well of Knights Hospitallers, by contrast!
Ad astra! Sean
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