When Pito is facing impending execution and Anatole tells Pito he’s there to help him, why do you think Pito cuts him off, rejecting “false hope” (p. 32)?
Maybe Pito was trying to be a martyr, protecting the princess. Dying for love wasn’t considered to be bad way to go - he still had his honor.
I think Pito was resigned to his fate.
I really felt that Pity was the most intelligent of the three main characters. He may have been considered a class or two below Tullia and Anatole, but I felt he had not only common sense but more every day intelligent than the other two. He quoted passages from books, and was more well informed than most of his class.
Dashed hopes are painful and hope of any kind would interfere with his ability to accept his fate.
Carol_N, I agree Pito had book learning and common sense. Unfortunately, he was born into a low level class so often he had no real say on circumstances. A powerful metaphor.
I feel it was Pito’s way of protecting himself. He didn’t want to get his hopes up for something that, at that time, he thought was inevitable (death).