Chapter Thirty-Six Summary

Eugene recalls his conversation with the head of the rioting Freedom Fighters, Alton Darwin. Darwin had told Eugene of his plans to turn the newly-freed republic of Scipio into a paradise where ex-convicts turned Freedom Fighters like himself could make an armed, resistant stand against the occupying American government. He tells Eugene of his plans to turn the surrounding forests into paper mills and furniture companies, thus employing the Freedom Fighters once the fighting is over as craftsmen who can produce goods they sell themselves. Eugene feels pity for Darwin, because Eugene knows from his experience in Vietnam there is no chance of Darwin's men not being slaughtered by the authorities. Indeed, as Eugene states to the reader, Darwin was dead not long after telling Eugene of his grand vision for Scipio, shot to death while ice skating outside his occupied...