SOME IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTICE AND REMEMBER CONCERNING HOW THE ZMM NARRATOR & PHAEDRUS ARE DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT.

The ZMM Narrator, Is Always Being Realistic & Pragmatic & True To The Real Situation As He Sees It: Even Knowing => “ I’m Not Giving Him Strength. I Never Have Been. I’m Killing Him. ”
…Consider This =>

…“ I say, "Chris, I think it’s time to talk about some things you don’t know about."
He listens a little. He senses something is coming.
"Chris, you’re looking at a father who was insane for a long time, and is close to it again."
And not just close anymore. It’s here. The bottom of the ocean.
"I’m sending you home not because I’m angry with you but because I’m afraid of what can happen if I continue to take responsibility for you."
His face doesn’t show any change of expression. He doesn’t understand yet what I’m saying.
"So this is going to be good-bye, Chris, and I’m not sure we’ll see each other anymore." ” …

And, If We Contrast The Above ZMM Narrator’s Treatment Of Chris, With That Of Phaedrus, We See A Direct OPPOSITE =>
Phaedrus, Knows What Chris Needs, And Is Clearly Supportive To Chris. But At Some Points, What Phaedrus Says Can Not Be True Nor Accurate to The Real Situation.

… Phaedrus has been long suppressed BY THE NARRATOR !! AND In the awful, drismal, discouraging, cold, dense fog … with this crisis and Chris's extreme distress …plus the Narrator's total defeat and “want to run for the cliff, … and thus immediately & permanently escape & end it all, …. Finally, Suddenly, Phaedrus Speaks Directly To Chris!

…“Everything is all right now, Chris.
…That’s not my voice.
…l haven’t forgotten you. .. Chris’s rocking stops.
…How could I forget you?
…Chris raises his head and looks at me. A film he has always looked through at me disappears for a moment and then returns.
…We’ll be together now.
…The whine of the truck is upon us.
…Now get up! ”
“…The whine of the truck is upon us.
…Now get up!
… ”Chris slowly sits up and stares at me. The truck arrives, stops, and the driver looks out to see if we need a ride. I shake my head no and wave him on. He nods, puts the truck in gear, and it whines off through the mist again and there is only Chris and me. ”
NOTE:
…Here we should especially note that the Truck Drivers offer of help is “waved off”, and The Narrator, not realizing that Phaedrus is going to constructively help Chris, says with a seeming PERMANENT FINALITY =>
…“… and there is only Chris and me. ”
……..Do these Metaphorically relate, telling us that, for the Narrator, no one can help. They are alone in their inability to resolve their conflict.

ZMM Narrator’s “High Point”, Point Cabrillo Dr, about one travel mile Southwest of Caspar, CA.


Concerning ZMM “Climax Scene” Passage "Don’t cry, Chris. Crying is just for children." Which In ZMM Is In Italics But Not Bold.
…David Buchanan, Sept 16, 2020, Writes =>

I very rarely check my email these days but happened to see your exchange today (Sept 16).

I'm not sure what the question is, exactly, but can offer my two cents in a general way. It seems that many readers were troubled by the way Chris was treated but I suspect Pirsig was an old-school German dad and that's just not how middle class Americans treat their kids. RMP's own father was probably even colder.

As I read it, Chris was miserable because he knew on some level that his real father was missing and had been replaced by an imposter who central concern was looking sane and staying out of the psyche hospital. Instead of speaking the truth at all costs, as Phaedrus would do. The Narrator was a cliche spewing, people pleasing, phony. He tried to bury Phaedrus once and for all and Chris knew it. Maybe he was the only one who knew it. That's what was killing him.

By integrating Phaedrus into his personality he saved his son and himself. Chris could have his real father back and merger of Phaedrus and the Narrator meant he could have his mystical truth and still live in this world. And if Phadedrus' truth is heard, it redeems the world, thus the analogy to Christ. For Pirsig, in real life, he was an Orpheus figure rather than a Christ figure but mythologically speaking, they both preform, that world redeeming function, through death and resurrection. It's a classic story, to say the least.

Maybe the line about crying is the narrator speaking, as if the integration was still unstable and Phaedrus hadn't been fully integrated at that moment. It does sound like something the Narrator would say, whereas Phaedrus would insist that people are allowed to have and to express their feelings.

When Quality becomes central, the affective domain of consciousness is added to a strictly rational mind and thereby improvs our thinking. Quality is the front edge or starting point of the overall cognitive process and so we couldn't really put our feelings aside even we wanted to.

For whatever it's worth,

David B
……..
Two hours later in a reply email Lee Glover wrote => That was worth a lot David. Wonderful analysis. It aligns with what I have concluded but much better stated.
*************************

(Photo = 117 1704cz2 2 HsgCpyFmClimaxScnPix}ReUse}MoReNarrVsPhae01 ...... ZMM Page = 367 - 368...... WayPt =-463x 0090 ft)