"'What is honor to a Terran?' Draun snorted." (p. 594)
The Terran in question is the prisoner of war, Philippe Rochefort, who is supremely honorable. Anyone who deals with Rochefort, either as friend or as foe, has to start with that fact - just as it is also evident that Draun himself is blinded by prejudice.
The first casualty in any war is the truth. I once argued in a fanzine letter column that every state should be secular and was immediately denounced for advocating an Islamic state! That is an obvious contradiction/non sequitur but it fitted the context and the assumptions of my antagonist. The process is: "I strongly disagree with and dislike what someone has said. Therefore, I should denounce it in the strongest possible terms - even at the expense of completely misquoting it!"
Clearly, Draun cannot be trusted to quote accurately anything said by Rochefort. Later, Draun will get his wish. He will die killing Terrans. If he had survived the war, then he would have had to fight a duel with Arinnian. "They who live by the sword..."
I hang my observations on Poul Anderson's passages. Everyone else is welcome to do likewise.
1 comment:
Well, when Tribe X is assaulting your home and trying to kill you and your family, a certain amount of prejudice is understandable...
Post a Comment