GRGR 1:2 Pirate's Mistake

[jporter]

Which is probably a more flattering term than he deserves, but
we'll  give him the benefit of the doubt. At any rate, it occurs to
me that Pirate must have welcomed the help of The Firm in
managing his "condition," just as the Foreign Office (F.O.)
welcomed The Firm's lending them Pirate, an asset They had
patiently groomed, and who had become dependent on
Them for his peace of mind- if not his sanity- thus ennabling the
F.O. to deal effectively with Novi Pazar- A debt that would surely
come due at some point in the future.

The Firm replaced "the policeman" for Pirate. He became Theirs.
And I think it was his racism, or classism, at the very least,
which added to his fear of the drooling derelict- "the one you
are afraid of ever meeting." I'm assuming that "you" refers
to the reader, here, but spoken from the p.o.v.  of Pirate, whose
consciousness is guiding the tone of the narrative.

What would have happened if Pirate had been able to quell
his abomination of the derelict and somehow interact long
enough with him to learn something about himself, and his
talent, maybe even learn to control it on his own, instead of
seeking the comforting embrace of Them?

This hairsplitting is interesting because it fleshes out
Their knack for turning and controlling people, and using
them for Their own advantage. It demonstrates how They
prey on people's weakness and fears in order to get what
They want.

 From another angle, it sheds some light on the two halves
of the opening section. Knowing Pirate's foibles and weaknesses,
undercuts his strength and control highlighted then. Perhaps
the garden scene was a little too primeval- it was up on the
roof, after all, a hothouse- not really natural at all- and
producing unnatural fruit "often to lengths of a foot and
a half." The line that follows, spoken by the narrator more
or less directly to the reader, also has a bit of a phony
ring to it:  "yes amazing but true."

Strange fruit from a strange garden- not quite enough to
completely undermine the daylight of the rooftop scene
w/r/t to the dark opening passage, but the start, perhaps,
of an answer to what then seemed like a rhetorical
question:

	How could there be a winter-even this one-
	grey enough to age this iron that can sing
	in the wind, or cloud these windows that open
	into another season, however falsely preserved?

Preserved by the work of others, some far away, who might
themselves have ended up as strange fruit in the fields
and forests controlled by Them.

jody

"A Visitor may lounge in the Evening upon the Platform behind
the Lines, and, as a Visitor to London might gaze at St. Paul's,
regard these more sinister forms in the failing North Light,-
Perhaps being led to meditate upon Punishment, or upon
Commerce..."