Inhumanity

In Flashman's Lady, as in all the Flashman novels, the narrator, looking back over his eighty-some years, reflects on how he has seen every form of man's inhumanity to man. He is blasé in describing floggings and capital punishment in all its gruesome forms. In London, he is present at a public hanging and describes the festive crowd's disappointment that the condemned man is drugged and silent. Later, he wonders how Londoners would react to the tortures he sees on Madagascar.

On that island, ruled by Queen Ranavalona, who has systematically eradicate half the population, Flashy experiences the epitome of inhumanity. He declares that one cannot appreciate the horror of slavery until one stands on the auction block, but then glosses over the experience. The Queen regularly rapes him, but he registers no reaction because the sex is exhilarating to him. Being marched by the natural amphitheater of...