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

[charverz.livejournal.com]

Yes, very early on in AF's writing Dartmouth stopped taking young teenagers. She mentions this in the foreword to one of the books.

The teenaged midshipmen of Hornblower and Forester (and into the First World War) became a thing of the past.