"The lad has work to do, and if you frighten him that way, he sure won't be of much use."
* * * * * * * * * *
Maybe I can give Randolph St. Cosmo the benefit of the doubt by assuming he knows the only way to get Lindsay to stop hassling Darby is to argue the capitalist benefits gained by not torturing the young boy. "We aren't going to get our money's worth out of him, Lindsay!" But you know what? I'm in no mood to be charitable. Buttering up your target to get the reaction you want out of them is tacit approval of the way they're acting. What kind of a lesson is Lindsay learning from this? That it's okay for him to hang crew members over the side of the ship as long as they've finished their work for the day.
Boy howdy how I'd love to swear right now! By heck! Poo!
Even in this adventurous crew of young Victorian lads, we see a rank and file class system that treats the lowest kids on the rung as simple capital to be exploited, completely ignoring their humanity! It's disgusting and I won't be any part of it except to enable it by continuing to read the book! I suppose if I were really adamant to fight back, I'd put the book away and have no part in helping Randolph and Lindsay treat Darby poorly. But if I did that, I would also be denying Darby the chance to get back at them! So, for Darby's sake, I will continue to read Against the Day and hope that he eventually tosses Lindsay over the side of the Inconvenience.
I had a cousin who was reading Garth Ennis's comic book series Preacher who suddenly abandoned it partway through. I asked him why he stopped reading it and he said it was because he didn't like how Arseface was being treated as a huge joke by everybody, especially by Garth Ennis! I then pointed out that my cousin was the greatest monster of all because he left Arseface in the terrible part of his life with no hope of bettering his lot. In my cousin's Preacher, Arseface's life was an utter tragedy. He never became a rock star. He never became happy. He never got to see the arc of his life tend toward joy. I won't let that happen to my Darby!
Oh man. I hope Darby doesn't die! If that happens, will I be accused of murder?!
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