GRGR(1): Pirate's voice

[LBernier at tribune.com]

Jody comments on Pirate's racism:

     
     Cockney or no, there is also the question of just how racist Pirate 
     is, e.g., beginning with..."-it was during his Kipling Period, 
     beastly Fuzzy-Wuzzies far as eye could see, dracunculiasis and 
     Oriental sore rampant among the troops, no beer for a month, 
     wireless jammed by other powers who would be masters of these horrid 
     blacks, God knows why..."
     
     Not that it would be surprising if Pirate were a racist, or 
     anti-semitic for that matter, but is that a correct reading of the 
     above?
     
Well, of course he's racist - not intentionally, perhaps, but he is a 
product of his day, and thus would have the traditional view of blacks or 
Indians as savages - "beastly fuzzy wuzzies" indeed.  I doubt Prentice 
has ever had any real interaction with non-Europeans, and so would only 
subscribe to popular opinion of those races, having no other way to think 
about them.  A-and it's common knowledge what the British think of those 
devilish Latin cultures - Both Fawlty Towers and Monty Python and the 
Holy Grail come to mind . . .

I don't think, however, that his racism is pointed out other than to 
establish his character's as a rather ordinary 1940's British citizen, 
albeit one with an extraordinary faculty.

Jean.