Talk:Tharkay

I thought I read somewhere that Tharkay was part Chinese and part British. He is certainly part Chinese based on what I've read in BPW but I think now I might be making up the British part. Can anyone else find a reference? -- Strangerface 11:57, 3 December 2006 (PST)

Black Powder War: George Staunton in Macao, describing Tharkay to Laurence and Granby: "His father was a gentleman, I believe a senior officer, and took some pains with his education; but still the man can not be called reliable, for all the polish of his manners. His mother was a native woman, Thibetan or Nepalese, or something like; and he has spent the better part of his life in the wild places of the earth." Rose 17:23, 28 November 2008 (PST)

I have removed a paragraph from the section referencing Tharkay and Laurence flying in search of Temeraire during the occupation of London, viz. the comparison between Temeraire being caught by a gust of wind in the mountains, and Laurence's metaphorical struggling with his code of honour and its demands. It is at best a weak attempt at literary interpretation, and belongs more on a blog, or in a forum, than in a wiki-type article. -- (why isn't my name indicated after I save this change? James Sunderland)

Similarly, I've removed some of the flight-of-fancy material, as well as some non-pertinent narration, in the section where Tharkay confronts Laurence about the latter's guerilla tactics. There is no conceivable need to make the fanciful comparison to Dorset lancing a boil. If one were to split hairs upon it, it's an inappropriate analogy because when a boil is lanced, the immediate reaction is flinching and perhaps a hiss of pain, but nothing profound. Here it's precisely the opposite, Laurence shows no outward reaction for a while yet, but his mind is in turmoil and remains so for quite a while to come. This point, by rights, need not even be debated -- hence the sentence has been removed.