From: maureenw@sco.COM (Maureen Wilkes)
Subject: Re: MOSQUITO COAST (minor spoilers)
Organization: SCO Canada, Inc.
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 15:10:19 GMT
Keywords: n

In article <1992Aug19.092727.13499@colorado.edu> paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:
>In article <1992Aug18.150852.27055@sco.COM> maureenw@sco.COM (Maureen Wilkes) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug14.084727.9895@colorado.edu> paulchem@tigger.cs.Colorado.EDU (Icarus) writes:

>>I thought he was a pompous, maniacal, condescending jackass, who 
>>used his family for experiments and forced them to worship him as a
>>God by usurping all power from them.  What was so right about denying
>>the children an education, denying them socialization, denying them the
>>right to share in deciding their destination, treating them as little 
>>more than slaves to his every whim?  His behaviour was abominable throughout
>>the story, it only varied by degrees.  Father was the archetypical 
>>Western dominator.
>
>1] Father, as you call him, did the right thing in a very real sense
>   by helping the family survive every crisis that they faced.
>   The author manages to hide the fact that these crises are created
>   by Father himself by diverting our attention with more crises.

Well, the fact that Father created the crises wasn't hidden very well..
that was my opinion from the start.  Helping someone after putting
their life in peril is not heroic behaviour.

>   
>   You see, as the reader starts the book at the first chapter,
>   the reader has no idea whether apocalypse is really around the
>   corner or not. The reader has no way of knowing the insanity 
>   that is driving the man.

But it seemed obvious to me that there was no apocalypse around the 
corner.  The man was just plain antisocial!  His belief that modern
society was apocalyptic was no more sane and believable than the 
similar beliefs of evangelists.  (Disclaimer To Protect My Soul:
I'm saying these beliefs aren't believable to ME.  Not that they
should be discounted by everyone.  Please don't sentence my soul
to the Agnostic vs. Atheist thread!) 

>   If the world as we know it was ending
>   in two weeks time, and we had positive proof for it, I would
>   for one, have no hesitation in teaching my family basic survival
>   skills instead of learning in a school or socializing.
>   At that point in the novel, the reader can make no assumptions.
>

Yes, IF there was positive proof.  But Father's idea of proof was
that K-Mart only sold tents made in Korea and fruit prices were
inflated.  This reader made the assumption that Father was full 
of hooey.

>   I admit I might have been influenced by Gore Vidal's Kalki
>   and its handling of apocalypse.

I'll have to read that and see how it affects my view.

>   In the context of impending doom, Fathers behaviour was the only
>   possible path. That he is shown to be insane later is what makes
>   his actions abominable.

I guess my reaction to Father was based on similar characters I have 
suffered in "real" life.  I have known others who, unable to participate
as members of our society but too intelligent to recede into la-la
land, invented all sorts of fantasies and mad theories to justify their
refusal to integrate.  Interestingly (though not a basis for drawing
conclusions), they were all scientifically gifted.  

>   
>   That is only an opinion of course.

Indeed.  But that's all we've got.

>>It was poetic justice.  He had condemned sea birds as scavengers, as the 
>>lowest form of life, when in fact he and his family lived as scavengers,
>>raping and, eventually, destroying the land.   
>>Served him right to die by the subjects of his contempt.
>
>2] Poetic justice is bad style in a book, however much it pleases us.
>   Especially contrived poetic justice. :-)
>   This is a matter of personal taste , I just dont like bad guys being
>   punished and the good rewarded so blatantly.
>

My apologies to everyone in this newsgroup for that bit about "poetic 
justice".  I don't quite know what got into me...must've been the ghost
of my pathetic and tiresome 12th Grade English teacher.  I cringed when
I realized what I'd written, but by then it was too late.  Yes, it was
rather contrived, a "here's the symbolism, folks!" kind of ending, but
I so desperately wanted Father to die by then that I was cheering the
birds on.  I'd make a good rugby fan, wouldn't I?


                   Maureen "Get him!" Wilkes