Per's complex character in Pontoppidan's Lucky Per

At the end of section 7 (of 8) in Henrik Pontoppidan's Lucky Per (1904) the eponymous Per brfeaks off his engagement with Jakobe. Primary reason? She's a "Jewess" and will not consider converting to Christianity. In fact, on his suggestion that she do so (he's been entirely anti-Church his whole life but he's suddenly had a turn of heart upon the death of his estranged mother - in large part because he's fallen under the sway of a liberal cleric and in greater part because he's fallen in love w/ the cleric's daughter, Inga - so much for Per's honesty and loyalty), Jakobe writes a letter that in my view is on the mark: Christianity is a religion of beautiful ideas and ideals but it has led to centuries of racism and oppression and she would not consider converting unless the religious leaders could admit this and atone. So, end of relationship - and he doesn't even know that she's pregnant w/ his child. J goes off to Germany to give birth to the child outside of the purview of her Copenhagen family and community, and Per returns to Copenhagen and, now that he's broken off relations w/ the wealthy Jewish family the Salomon's, he has to seek some other means of support - and hits many roadblocks. Interestingly, he's scaled back his ambitions and is focusing not on building a canal network but on perfecting his patented devices to generate power using currents and tides - an idea that is way ahead of its time! So he is an entirely odd literary "hero," in some ways sympathetic (his rising above his horrible childhood), in some ways heroic (a man w/ a plan), in some ways craven (his constant search for money, his indifference to the environment), in other ways ahead of his time (beginnings of a sense of environmentalism and energy conservation), attractive to many yet in other ways a cad and opportunistic in the extreme. In other words, he's a complex and fully rounded character who encompasses many contradictions and seemingly apposite ideas and ideals.