Peter

[jackmerlin.livejournal.com]

This was mentioned in the last thread but two,but I thought I'd start a new one rather than add on an old. Is Peter a "poor copy" of Giles? We see him so much more from the inside whereas apart from a few lines at the end of RAH we never see Giles except from the outside. Peter has fears obviously but makes a point of making himself do the things he fears.And he is of course at the age of teenage insecurities etc.
I sometimes feel Peter's 'tragedy' is that he seems to have the potential to be a good teacher or farmer,(just to give two examples) but will end up in the Navy because it's the family tradition, and therefore is almost as limited in his life choices as the girls.Not that he won't do well in the Navy, I'm sure.

Comments

[owl]

exactly the sort of crisis, incidentally, that the Navy include in their training to see if people panic during it
Which f the many Marlow crises are you referring to with this?

[coughingbear]

I took this to mean 'the boat thing', when Peter did definitely panic and knows he did. And of course he pointlessly puts himself and Nicola in danger during the storm at the beginning of the book (I think that's right, isn't it? He knows how dangerous it is and she doesn't). He does do a lot better in the crises during the rest of the book, though.

I don't know - I really struggle with the idea of Peter as an officer, though he is of course only young, and being compared to characters like Nicola and Rowan who are already highly competent and good at bringing out the best in other people. I can see Peter doing well at something that might involve risk, but I think he would be better doing it by himself. A war photographer, maybe.

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

I definitely meant the boat thing. In fact, all Peter's interactions with boats (TMATT, RAH) end up in life-threatening near disasters, which does not, to me, augur well for his career choice.