The Flip Side of Forgiveness

15/10/2018Jan Ackerson Leave a comment

In my last post about forgiveness in Outlander, I mentioned this snippet of dialog—Jamie to Claire on the subject of forgiving her rapist:

“And if ye could forgive him, he needn’t die, ye’re saying? That’s like a judge lettin’ a murderer go free, because his victim’s family forgave him.”

I had a feeling as I was writing that this dichotomy between forgiveness and justice would have to be revisited. Sure enough, as soon as I posted the blog, I got some thoughtful “But what about ______ ?” comments. So today, we’re getting the flip side of forgiveness, and an attempt to answer the questions:

In the Outlander universe, when is forgiveness not necessary or possible? What situations call for vengeance?

I’m going to stick with Jamie’s character in my response. Because Jamie.

While I don’t suppose that Jamie ever sat down and formulated a Personal Code of Justice, he was a Highlander and the son of a good and moral man. He wasn’t always consistent about who got roses and who got thorns, but I believe that in the instances below, Jamie was motivated by honor, tradition…and selflessness.

Yep, selflessness. Here we go.

In Outlander, when Jamie thinks that Claire is probably incapable of bearing a child, he says to her:

“I can bear pain myself, but I couldna bear yours. That would take more strength than I have.”

That’s nothing to do with vengeance—just illustrative of Jamie’s essential selflessness. He’s only in his early 20s there, but he’s already developed the virtue of putting others above himself. We see this in DIA on a greater scale, when he attempts (twice!) to save the Lallybroch men from slaughter, and later in Voyager, as Mac Dubh caring for the men in Ardsmuir. So keep that characteristic of selflessness in mind as we consider some of the people who suffer from Jamie’s vengeance. (I’m not considering deaths in war or battle, self-defense, or heat of passion killings—just those that can legitimately be considered acts of revenge because of a previous wrongdoing.)

Black Jack Randall – In ch. 31 of OL, Jamie says to Claire:

“I’ll tell ye this, mo duinne. One day Jack Randall will die at my hands. And when he is dead, I shall send back that book to the mother of Alex MacGregor, with word that her son is avenged.”

At this point, Randall has viciously whipped Jamie, but the events at Wentworth have not yet occurred. Still, Jamie’s anger is more on behalf of the hapless Alex MacGregor and on behalf of Jenny and Lallybroch. Later, at their near-fatal encounter in France (the duel), Jamie attempts to kill Randall not for the torture and rape he suffered in Wentworth, but for Randall’s abuse of Fergus. Jamie eventually (probably) kills Randall at Culloden, but since we book readers don’t know yet exactly how that transpired, we’ll have to leave it on the table as to whether that was revenge for his own torture or simply a battlefield killing. Yes, I know what they showed on Starz. Doesn’t count.

Danton, the Duke of Sandringham’s servant – Jamie kills him (again, book, not TV show) in revenge for the rape of Mary Hawkins and the attack on Claire.
Murchison, the guard at Ardsmuir prison – Jamie, perhaps with the help of one or two other prisoners, drowns Murchison because of his constant cruelty. It’s my opinion that this was an incident of opportunity, and that Jamie did this in his role as de facto chief for his men at Ardsmuir. Would he have done this if Murchison’s cruelty was reserved for Jamie alone? Hard to say. Jamie does occasionally occupy some morally ambiguous territory.
Richard Brown’s gang – In ABOSAA, Jamie utters perhaps the three most chilling words in all the Outlander books: “Kill them all.” The raiders—except for a few who we’ll visit in a moment—die because of their offenses against Claire.
Claire’s nameless rapist – This is the feckless fellow that Claire sees at the end of MOBY, three years after her abduction. She realizes not only that he escaped the killings (see above), but that he is the one man who actually succeeded in raping her. Jamie cheerfully toddles off to take care of him, and though it happens off-page, it was certainly the epitome of revenge killing—because of wrongs done to Claire.

Similarly, when Wendigo Donner is discovered to have also survived the kill them all raid, his life was forfeit—but when Jamie kills him, it’s in defense of his home and all who are present there.

Stephen Bonnet – Of course, it isn’t Jamie who kills Bonnet, although he has the chance to do so on Okracoke, at the end of Echo. Instead of killing him on Brianna’s behalf (which would have been consistent with the poor dudes above), he offers that honor to Brianna, whose sufferings at Bonnet’s hands were even greater than Jamie’s. What’s the difference? In the other cases, the wronged ones were not capable of carrying out their own vengeance. Too young, too frightened, not present, too dead, bound by an oath not to kill. But Brianna is more than capable; the choice is hers. She chooses mercy—of a sort.

So. Some excerpts from the Highlander’s Big Book of Justice:

Honor your oaths.

Forgive when you can. It might take a while, but it’ll keep your soul pure.

Keep forgiving. Sometimes it wears out.

Forgiveness doesn’t erase justice. If an opportunity for justice presents itself, take it.

If you are responsible for people who can’t avenge their own wrongs, you must do it for them.

Defend those who need defending. Be prepared to defend with your life.

Surround yourself with those who will stay by your side in the cause of justice. Family, clan, true friends. Defend them, too.

[Got any ideas for future blog posts? I prefer to write about the books: themes, characters, events. I welcome your input!]

***

Jan Ackerson is a retired teacher, a writer and editor, and an absolute cuckoo about all things Outlander. You can find her on a much-neglected Twitter account (she’s mostly there to follow the Outlander gang) @janackerson1, or on Facebook (Jan Worgul Ackerson). Her book of micro-fiction, Stolen Postcards, is available at Amazon or https://bofapress.com/collections/all.

Comments or Questions? Send your comments to contact@adramofoutlander.com or call the voicemail line at 719-425-9444.

The Outlander book series is written by Diana Gabaldon. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook

Picture attribution – ChurchArtPro and Creative Commons

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No Violets Here

01/10/2018Jan Ackerson 5 Comments

The Outlander books are a huge tapestry, and there are threads of many colors—various themes—that run in and out of every inch. Some of the threads are family … home … courage … faith … duty … and one bright thread woven throughout is that of forgiveness.

In DOA, Jamie and Young Ian beat poor Roger senseless and give him to the Iroquois as the result of a string of horrendous miscommunications. When Roger eventually returns and takes up residence on Fraser’s Ridge, he and Jamie circle each other awkwardly for a time. Roger has several choices to make, including returning to his own time. He chooses forgiveness, and soon Jamie becomes a beloved father figure.

Claire’s decision to forgive involves one of the men in the gang that abducts and rapes her. When she encounters him, surprisingly still alive years after the killing raid by Jamie and the men from the Ridge, she spends most of three chapters at the end of MOBY finding a path of forgiveness. Her role model in the process is Jamie; she has spent years watching him forgive Jack Randall.

Brianna, too, chooses to forgive her rapist. In her case, it’s Stephen Bonnet, and her decision is at the urging of her father, who writes to her:

“For the sake of your Soul, for the sake of your own Life, you must find the grace of forgiveness.”

Ironically, at the time when Brianna reads this note, she and Jamie are estranged because of his actions with Roger—and eventually, she will forgive Jamie for those, too.

So Jamie is the needle pulling the thread of forgiveness through the Outlander tapestry. For Jamie, forgiveness is a process, and it’s beautifully shown in chapter 48 of DOA. After an emotional encounter with Brianna brings his own mostly-buried trauma to the surface, he walks outside in the night and wrestles a bit with the shade of Jack Randall. Finally, though, he is able to say:

“Go in peace…you are forgiven.”

He knows that he has to convey this to Brianna:

…That only by forgiveness could she forget—and that forgiveness was not a single act, but a matter of constant practice.

Jamie’s forgiveness of Jack Randall is a defining moment for him. On more than one occasion, he expresses doubts to Claire about his own basic goodness. He knows that he has a great capacity for violence and that he deeply feels the need for revenge when he (or someone he is responsible for) has been wronged. He knows, too, that he’s capable of manipulating others for his own purposes. Perhaps more than any of his positive attributes (and Jamie has many), his ability to forgive is the one that most differentiates Jamie from other men. It is not a sign of weakness—it takes considerable strength to forgive.

Forgiveness, however, doesn’t mean saying to the one who has done wrong that their actions were just dandy—that you really don’t mind what happened. Jamie’s not likely to buy into the axiom that “forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it”—he’s not particularly interested in shedding a flowery fragrance anywhere. Rather, forgiveness is a decision to keep the wrong actions of others from blackening one’s own soul. To Jamie, forgiveness is possible, but justice is still necessary.

“And if ye could forgive him, he needn’t die, ye’re saying? That’s like a judge lettin’ a murderer go free, because his victim’s family forgave him.”

There are many more examples of Outlander characters forgiving wrongs done to them:

Claire forgives Malva for having betrayed her, calling Malva the “child of my heart.”
Bree’s forgiveness of Stephen Bonnet extends to a second offense against her and ends with a mercy killing.
Jamie forgives Claire for her sexual acts with the king and with Lord John (although he admits that he may well remind her from time to time).
In The Scottish Prisoner, Jamie also forgives Lord John for a terrible conversation, with the simple words te absolvo.
Jenny forgives Claire for any number of perceived wrongs against Jenny’s men, including failing to heal Ian.
It appears that Frank forgives Claire for—well, for everything associated with her ‘abandonment’ of him. It wasn’t possible for his forgiveness to reach Claire during the stretch of their difficult marriage, but he demonstrated it through his love of Bree (and his behind-the-scenes workings; we’ll get more of those in the next two books, I think).
With the help of Claire and Brianna, Young Ian comes to a place where he can forgive himself for the failure of his marriage to Emily.

I want to mention one example of unforgiveness, and how it’s a black thread in the Outlander tapestry. Arch Bug’s unwillingness to forgive Young Ian for his wife’s death totally consumes him, and eventually leads to his own violent demise.

What’s our takeaway, then? Well, this is a blog, not an advice column, and you’ll have to work out for yourself the role that forgiveness may take in your life. But indulge me for a minute while I use this platform to address young William Ransom.

William. Dude. You need to forgive your papa. He did what he did for you. Think of what you have learned from this good man who loves you: loyalty … honor … soldiering … love of family. And now think of James Fraser, and find forgiveness for him, too. ‘Mac’ sacrificed everything he had when he walked away from you at Helwater, and he, too, did it for you.

From both your fathers, you can learn what it is to be a man.

[Coming soon: part 2, in which we discuss vengeance and justice, and when forgiveness just doesn’t cut it.]

***

Comments or Questions? Send your comments to contact@adramofoutlander.com or call the voicemail line at 719-425-9444.

The Outlander book series is written by Diana Gabaldon. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook

Picture attribution – ChurchArtPro and Creative Commons

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Hard to Kill

03/09/2018adramofoutlander 4 Comments

Why is Jamie Fraser hard to kill?

Jumping in with both feet, and putting forth some speculation about Jamie the p’tit chat and Jamie the something else. Here we go…

In chapter 10 of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Jamie recalls a fortune teller in Paris who told him that he’d die nine times, like a cat, before he’d rest in his grave. (This always makes me think of Miracle Max in The Princess Bride, declaring that Westley is only “mostly dead.”) A few chapters later, he and Claire count the times when Jamie almost died:

At the abbey, after the events at Wentworth Prison
After Culloden, when his leg wound festered
After Laoghaire shot him and his wound became infected
When Dougal hit him in the skull with an ax
The rattlesnake bite

All these near-deaths have a few things in common: the wounds could easily have been fatal, they would certainly have been fatal without medical intervention, and they would almost certainly have killed most men (hold that thought…).

With that in mind, has this list been added to in subsequent books? Jamie’s life has certainly been in danger—actually, when is it not? A few instances to consider, all from An Echo in the Bone:

In chapter 2, Mrs. Bug shoots at Jamie with the intent to kill him in defense of the hoard of gold. She grazes his thigh, but the injury isn’t serious. I’m going to give this incident a pass; while any wound in this period might be fatal due to infection, this one seems not to have troubled Jamie much.
In chapter 31, Jamie receives a small wound near his collarbone thanks to Capt. Stebbings of the British naval ship Again, the injury seems minor, but Claire realizes almost immediately that it has nicked the subclavian artery. Jamie could easily have bled to death, and Claire fears that he still might. She intervenes, binding the wound and giving Jamie strict instructions to be verra, verra still. He doesn’t die. I’m inclined to add this close call to his list of nine lives.
In chapter 62, Jamie is injured at the Battle of Saratoga. While the gruesome sword injury to his hand isn’t necessarily a fatal one (although Claire eventually decides to amputate a finger), Jamie comes quite close to death at the hands of a scavenger and her son while he’s lying, wounded, on the battlefield. Only Claire’s very determined intervention prevents their slitting his throat. Hesitantly, I’m going to add this event to the list, too.

The difference between these three incidents and the ones Jamie and Claire agree on is that in all the others, Jamie actually seemed to be dying—he was feverish, fading fast. So maybe these don’t count at all…what do you think?

Nothing much seems to threaten Jamie’s life in Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, if I recall–other than fighting in the Revolutionary War, riding spirited horses, breaking and entering, living on a mountain, hunting, building, eating sketchy food, drinking sketchy alcohol, hanging out with generally unhygienic people, being a traitor, and existing in the 18^th century.

So. If my additions to the list match up with Diana Gabaldon’s (which isn’t at all a sure thing), Jamie has used up seven of his nine lives. That means (to no one’s surprise) that he’ll be at risk of dying twice more in the final two books. Poor Jamie—you’d think by this time he could just relax at Fraser’s Ridge and grow a slight middle-aged paunch!

As to my earlier assertion that these injuries would almost certainly have killed most men—

https://www.facebook.com/506969696007909/photos/a.511500908888121/621597664545111/?type=3&theater

By Alex Oliver

Well, Jamie’s not most men, is he? I’ve got a theory that I’ve been kicking around in my head ever since I started reading these books a few years ago, and I’m fully prepared for it to be shot down as totally ridiculous. But hear me out…

DG has never hesitated to bring the supernatural into her storylines: ghosts hang around quite frequently, along with zombies, time travelers, fortune tellers, seers, strange blue auras, and any number of other-worldly phenomena. One of these that’s brought to our attention now and then is Nayawenne’s assertion to Claire in chapter 20 of The Drums of Autumn that she’ll find her ‘full power’ when her hair is white. If you’ve read all the books (and The Space Between), you have a pretty good idea of what Claire’s full power will look like.

But what if Jamie is also just a wee bit supernatural? Granted, he’s not a time-traveler, but there are a few hints here and there that he’s attuned to the mysterious. He has very accurate dreams of the future. He has an encounter with ancient gods in chapter 37 of The Scottish Prisoner when he buries Quinn at Inchcleraun. DG frequently mentions things about Jamie that differentiate him from other men: he seems to be able to see in the dark…his hands are always warm, and he’s mostly impervious to weather…he can inspire others to follow him, sometimes with just a sentence or two. Any of those could just be characteristics of a noble romantic hero—but add to these exhibits the fact that he’s also notoriously difficult to kill, and (to me) the theory starts to make sense.

If I’m right, and Jamie is some sort of, I dunno, demigod (?), I’m not sure what that would imply for the ending of the series. I do have a theory about Jamie’s ghost from Outlander, but that’ll be for another post.

Those of you who’ve been in the Outlander universe longer than I have will undoubtedly be happy to set me straight on my theory and to suggest alterations to my ‘nine lives’ list. That’s fine. Be gentle.

Jan

Comments or Questions? Send your comments to contact@adramofoutlander.com or call the voicemail line at 719-425-9444.

The Outlander book series is written by Diana Gabaldon. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook

Any images are from Wiki Commons. Click on picture for attribution link.

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There’s The Two of Us Now Voyager Week 8

28/09/2016adramofoutlander 4 Comments

Voyager Podcast Series

Chapter 24

This IS THE anticipated chapter. Everything in Voyager up to now has been leading here. In “There’s The Two of Us Now,” Voyager read along week 8 podcast, Claire wakes in the stone circle under a rowan tree. It’s rainy and her mind is discombobulated. When it finally clears, Jamie is her point in place and time. Claire must get to Edinburgh from Inverness to see if A. Malcolm Printer is still in business.

Anticipation builds, the story unfolds in a unique way. Claire finds herself on Carfax Close after a mere two day journey to Edinburgh.

Will he be there? Will he want her to stay? Will she find him enough like the man she left behind? …
Listen to this podcast!

Where can you find the podcast? You may listen to the podcast above or through the iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play apps. You may also listen directly here.

What’s Coming up? Week 9 covers chapters 25-26.

How can you participate? To have your questions, comments for the regular read along, or Outlander Science Club results submitted for an upcoming podcast, email or call in to the listener line 3 days prior to airing for inclusion (see schedule below). Join the weekly Twitter chat Wednesday nights at 6pm PT/9pm ET to discuss the previous latest podcast chapters using the hashtag #ADoO. Follow the science prompts each week, research the topic, then share on ADOO or Outlander Medicine’s social media or call in to the ADOO message line 719-425-9444. Comments or messages may be included in the podcast or a written post. The hashtag to use is #OutlanderSciClub.

The Outlander book series is written by Diana Gabaldon. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Karen Daugherty, the Emergency Physician behind Outlander Medicine can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

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Je Suis Prest S2 E9 Preview

30/05/2016adramofoutlander 3 Comments

“Je Suis Prest”, S2 E9 is guaranteed to be action packed as Jamie rallies the men and turns them into soldiers. We see the reappearance of Uncle Dougal and expect to see many of our favorites return (Angus Mhor, Rupert MacKenzie to be sure). Jamie, regardless of birth order is a born leader. His skills will be tested to their limits, as time marches toward Prestonpans and then the inevitable, Culloden Moor. There’s no doubt, he’s the right man for this challenging job.