The character of Falkland suggests a kind of Confederate hero in nearly every sense, though as reader I cannot confirm his hypocrisy or if he has taken his pride to a truly psychotic level.

However there are so many clues as to compel me to read, and keep me in perfect sympathy with Caleb.

Falkland was a man of high honor and virtue who interested himself in the well-being of others so as to go above and beyond himself in their protection, to the wrath of the man tormenting them, a man who hated him and it cannot be denied that Falkland hated in return.

Even when Falkland attempted to make peace there was more show than sincerity. His high-handedness was even more instigation for Tyrrell's wrath, and of course Falkland knew this. After the fact of Tyrrell's death and Falkland's acquittal of his murder, it is easy to see how little clues of his showiness and high-handedness revealed themselves in the narrative.

Another complication in the story is that the narrative was given by Collins, and without knowing Collins' true opinion of Falkland we cannot determine if the story was biased against him. This long narrative was an interesting feature and device of the novels from this time, and many novels exist entirely within the span of one long-winded story.

I have met people who seem capable of talking for hours at a time, but not one who would reproduce a narrative with such attention to dialogue and detail on the spur of the moment, in a chance encounter. I wonder if this was considered unrealistic in the time. Certainly it is thrown out of popular fiction, like so many scientific theories debunked from text, but like spontaneous generation and the like, I find myself wanting to play with the theory.

Labels: reading notes