I can picture Wolfe in the early stages realising that he's got two options, to either "relapse" in the way it seems he usually does, where he hides away and doesn't do anything, or actively go out to meet it and put all his focus on working, on becoming the person he used to be, and hope that does the trick.
Oh, I like that take on it--and I bet that in this case, when things are so very serious (and so very punching him right in the WWI-post-traumatic-stress), if he had given in to the relapse, it would have been very very bad indeed. So the other option, turning himself back into who he used to be, would be the only one that would keep him sane. I can imagine Wolfe thinking that that young man survived and came out of WWI with his mind intact, so he'd better find/become him again as best he can.
And I think the sweater pretty clearly implies there's at least some level of Archie's In Danger OMG going on too. Poor Wolfe! Archie in danger from war with Germany really must be just about the worst thing he could think of.
Seriously! Archie never had to have the war experiences Wolfe had in his own youth, and then all of a sudden here it is--ready, as far as Wolfe knows (and when he's not in his right mind, he does seem to be imagining WWII as simply WWI all over again), to devour Archie the way it didn't manage to devour Wolfe. In League of Frightened Men, to save Archie Wolfe puts himself in the hands of the enemy; here, it's like he's planning the same thing on a much grander scale.
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Date: 2010-07-20 01:22 am (UTC)Oh, I like that take on it--and I bet that in this case, when things are so very serious (and so very punching him right in the WWI-post-traumatic-stress), if he had given in to the relapse, it would have been very very bad indeed. So the other option, turning himself back into who he used to be, would be the only one that would keep him sane. I can imagine Wolfe thinking that that young man survived and came out of WWI with his mind intact, so he'd better find/become him again as best he can.
And I think the sweater pretty clearly implies there's at least some level of Archie's In Danger OMG going on too. Poor Wolfe! Archie in danger from war with Germany really must be just about the worst thing he could think of.
Seriously! Archie never had to have the war experiences Wolfe had in his own youth, and then all of a sudden here it is--ready, as far as Wolfe knows (and when he's not in his right mind, he does seem to be imagining WWII as simply WWI all over again), to devour Archie the way it didn't manage to devour Wolfe. In League of Frightened Men, to save Archie Wolfe puts himself in the hands of the enemy; here, it's like he's planning the same thing on a much grander scale.