Just as Mary takes out Judge Swan, Sissy takes out Shad Ledue. It’s telling that even a loyal Minute Man like Ledue doesn’t get a fair hearing in the Corpo courts. Just as Ledue wielded arbitrary power over others’ lives and livelihoods for so long, Tasbrough now wields arbitrary power over his. In fact, Tasbrough’s snap decision suggests that he isn’t imprisoning Ledue for breaking the law, but rather for failing to bring him in on the graft scheme. In other words, when Tasbrough sends Ledue to jail, this is just another example of one fascist official undercutting another for personal benefit. The anecdotes about Isham Hubbard and Father Perefixe are clever jokes for the careful reader. First, Hubbard’s move will turn the Jessup house from a bastion of liberal resistance into the nerve center of Corpo power in Fort Beulah. (This is a metaphor for how fascism enters and takes over democratic institutions.) Second, Father Perefixe is from Canada and has been talking about moving back ever since Windrip’s election. But, ironically enough, he’s now the only remaining New Underground activist who
hasn’t left.