Valland would have made a good counsellor/clergyman for the dying. Smeth's ribs have pierced his lungs and his spine is broken. Valland asks whether he can remove Smeth's suit:
"'I've only had thirty years,' Smeth shrieked. 'Thirty miserable years! You've had three thousand!'
"'Shut up.' Valland's tone stayed soft, but I've heard less crack in a bullwhip. 'You're a man, aren't you?'
"Smeth gasped for seconds before he replied, 'Go ahead, Hugh.'" (p. 33)
Smeth asks Valland to sing and even specifies a song that is very personal to Valland and, after only a very slight hesitation, the latter complies.
What else could have been done? Smeth receives the best possible send-off in the circumstances. Valland is effortlessly good for everyone that he meets.
(The unfortunate Smeth was created - as a fictional character - only so that he could be painfully killed but authors cannot be compassionate towards their characters. Smeth's death is an important occurrence in World Without Stars.)
14 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That's one of the advantages of writing fiction; writers can be as ruthless as they want to be or need to be to their characters.
Albeit I still regret how Stirling killed off Horst von Duckler in SHADOWS OF ANNIHILATION.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes. As I remember, von Duckler was an antagonist? He could have been an ally against a common enemy in a later volume.
Paul.
True that authors CAN be ruthless but I do not like occasional details in some authors about torture.
Kaor, Paul!
Intriguing thought, Horst von Duckler and Luz O'Malley at least partially reconciling, as allies against a common enemy of the Greater German Reich and the Greater US expanded by TR. Perhaps against Japan or the Mad Baron ruling Mongolia?
But I was thinking more of how a von Duckler who survived SHADOWS OF ANNIHILATION, could have knocked some horse sense into German Intelligence if he became its director. Which needed someone forcing it to be more careful and taking its opponents seriously.
There are very, very bad actors in real life who don't mind torture, such as the KGB during the USSR, and so on. Writers wanting to be realistic about how people are likely to behave in conflicts have to take that into account.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, everyone's going to die eventually...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
But I liked Horst, who wasn't such a bad guy. Even Luz liked him!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yeah, but he was on the other side.
"Nothing personal, mate," as a British soldier said in Italy in WWII when he turned a Bren gun on a German trying to throw a grenade.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I can think of ways where Horst might have survived.
I agree, that "Nothing personal, mate" is the right way for soldiers to think.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, that was the general attitude fighting Germans. Japanese were another story. Of course, they mistreated prisoners and fought to the death.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The Wehrmacht, at least generally, honored the Geneva conventions on how POWs should be treated. But I think the UK/US were harsher to Waffen SS troops, refusing to treat them like Wehrmacht POWs.
Correct, how the Japanese regarded POWs, as contemptible creatures deserving no respect. And how Japanese soldiers regarded surrender as utterly disgraceful, fighting to the death.
But Admiral Yamamoto was not like that, ordering all forces under his command to treat Allied POWs according to the rules set by the Geneva conventions.
Ad astra! Sean
The Germans abused women POW's, apparently.
Kaor, Paul!
Not in the least surprising! Women have all too traditionally been treated as war booty by victorious armies. It takes firm and determined commanders, who disapprove of that kind of behavior, to check such abuse.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It wasn't just abuse within the German system. Apparently, it was a systematic policy.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But that's what I meant. I did not have any specific commanders in mind.
Ad astra! Sean
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