MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver

[Doug Millison]

Mr T:
>Yes, Dixon was a human person, but I'm talking not about the world, but
>the text.
>Dixon is a character in M&D. Is he heroic?

I said:

"I see Dixon as a human being who confronts a difficult situation and does
the best he can do, choosing in the moment to not follow his violent
urges."

By that I mean the Dixon who is a character in M&D, if there was any confusion.


>Is what he does (confronts the Driver and frees some slaves) heroic?

What do you think?


> Is this scene with the Driver his transformation
>scene?

I said:

"I think Dixon sees clearly, with the whip in his hand, that he can either
perpetuate the kind of violence that repulses him when he sees the
slave-driver doing it, or that he can choose not to. I see this as a key
moment in his character development, and in the larger arc of M&D."


>Are there
>signs or anything in the few chapters that remain that show us Dixon
>changed.


Dixon seems to settle into a happy old age, loving family relationships,
after leading a different sort of life earlier in the novel. That's the
sort of good thing that can happen after a positive personal
transformation.   Mason seems troubled to the very end.