Why, on Earth, does Raoul make his "Pierre, I'm not your father confession" in English? He is French, Pierre, to whom he is directly speaking, is French, Erik, the third person concerned, is French. Father Joe who may not be concerned personally here, but is a close friend of de Chagny's and Pierre's mentor, is known to speak French fluently. The answer seems to be: so that Cholly Bloom could understand - which is, of course, necessary for the author, but definitely not for Raoul. Bloom is merely their acquaintance of the last few days - given the very private matters discussed here- a complete stranger who just happened to be there by accident, and to make things worse- a reporter which means he could publish an article about the illegitimate son of a wold-famous opera singer and Manhattan misterious millionaire the very next day (he didn't do that but he could have). Besides we know that Raoul's English was broken and in an emotional moment like that it's natural for a man to speak in his native language (especially when he's also surrounded by his natives) and not the one he hardly speaks. It's hardly probable that Raoul would think of Cholly in a moment like this .
- For that matter, you should also wonder how Cholly understood Christine and Erik's conversation in Battery Park if he didn't speak French? The two of them had even less reasons than Raoul to speak English. It seems quite obvious that two Frenchmen, holding a private conversation, would speak French. Also, the letter Erik wrote to Christine asking for the last meeting, should be in French as well.
