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A review by bkoser
Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester
4.0
Horatio Hornblower is one of my favorite fictional characters.
Hornblower is always thinking about how others think about him. He patterns his behavior on the crew's expectations of a captain. A paradoxical example: fear of his crew makes him act bravely. (Not necessarily a vain fear; mutiny is always a possibility for a weak or hated captain.) How much does the motive matter? Not at all to the crew, of course, but to Hornblower's soul? Aristotle said you become brave by doing brave acts, so maybe you can't answer that question until the end.
Hornblower is always thinking about how others think about him. He patterns his behavior on the crew's expectations of a captain. A paradoxical example: fear of his crew makes him act bravely. (Not necessarily a vain fear; mutiny is always a possibility for a weak or hated captain.) How much does the motive matter? Not at all to the crew, of course, but to Hornblower's soul? Aristotle said you become brave by doing brave acts, so maybe you can't answer that question until the end.