regshoe | Flight of the Heron read-along: Part I chapters 5-6

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Well, I think there's a lot to discuss in this couple of chapters!

I do like the scene with Alison and Keith, she first trying to figure out the 'enigma', and then Keith, after being so sardonic all through last week's chapters, so earnest and concerned for Ewen (after initially seriously doubting his good intentions, ' Alison met his eyes, and they convinced her of his sincerity')—

—and it's not just an act of sincerity that he's putting on for the sake of being courteous to a lady, because she noticed how nobly sad he was looking while he was gazing out at the loch before he saw her—

—but misunderstanding both Ewen and Alison so badly! For all that he's their enemy, Keith seems to feel very little actual political enmity towards the Jacobites as a party, here or anywhere else in the novel; he simply thinks they're wasting their effort and risking their lives pointlessly, 'blinded and besotted' into actually believing in their political aims, which to Keith is as silly as believing in other people. It's perhaps an interesting view for someone whose job is to take an active part in fighting against them!

I also like the religious details we get in chapter 5. A quick historical summary for anyone who's not familiar with the background here: after the Reformation the established church in England is Anglican, basically Protestant but also kind of Catholic but very importantly not Roman Catholic; that of Scotland (the Kirk) is Presbyterian, rather more Protestant. A minority in Scotland are Episcopalian, theologically similar to the Church of England but institutionally separate; there are also Roman Catholics in both Scotland and England, as well as various smaller Protestant sects. The more Catholic denominations—including the Scottish Episcopalians—tend to be more in favour of the Jacobites, and the Jacobites' Protestant enemies like to portray them as trying to bring the country under the tyranny of Rome. Anyway, pasting 'James' over the 'George' in religious books is something Episcopalian Jacobites really did! Keith and Aunt Margaret's conversation about sermons and Morning Prayer is good fun; as for Bishop Jeremy Taylor, he was a seventeenth-century Royalist clergyman and famous writer on religious subjects; and, not to give anything away, he will return later on...

Bringing those two subjects together, 'the analogy which occurred to him' is an... interesting moment—perhaps a subtle comment from the omniscient narrator on Keith's political scepticism?

I absolutely love Keith's constant refrain in these two chapters of what are these feelings?? why do I CARE about him so much???. Poor man really doesn't know what to do with genuine emotion, does he—and for much of chapter 6 he's lost in a very confused mixture of the sincerity of chapter 5 and more sardonic teasing of Ewen, which by now Keith has turned into quite an art, with 'pleasure of pursuing it'. But Ewen does get his own back with that little comment about High Bridge, and I love the interplay between them, wobbling as it does between enemies and friends, sincerity and sarcasm—the bit where Keith actually tells Ewen what he's been so confusedly thinking about him for the past several days, '"I vow ’twould give me pleasure to think that we might one day encounter each other again."', thinks that Ewen won't take this as meant genuinely and immediately veers off into joking about it is a lovely bit of conversational complexity. 'Enigma' was the right word! But yes, 'civilised young barbarian' and 'my own young Achilles' and so on—no, Keith, I'm sure I haven't a clue why you're so sorry to say farewell to Ewen either...

Even at the end of the chapter Keith looks at Ewen 'with a smile which held both amusement and liking'—and his note mixes sincere liking, the honour of a soldier and a good deal of snark.

Keith dressing himself up in Ewen's Highland clothes is also good fun! Here is a video demonstrating the complexity and general usefulness when worn correctly of the plaid—although this is a belted plaid/great kilt, where kilt and plaid consist of a single piece of cloth, whereas Ewen wears a separate kilt or philabeg, which was becoming more popular by this point in the eighteenth century.

From:

sanguinity

I like your observation that Keith's bitterness about love not only distances him from personal relationships, but also leaves him unable to comprehend the sincere feeling motivating the Jacobites.

It's perhaps an interesting view for someone whose job is to take an active part in fighting against them! Is it? He strikes me very much as a professional soldier, aiming himself where he's pointed, and not having much feeling about any of it. It's a profession, no more and no less.

And yes, so many feelings! And so many possessives for Ewen: "my Warrior," too along with the rest.

his note mixes sincere liking, the honour of a soldier and a good deal of snark. I shook my head over that. Had to lob one last dart, did you, Keither? Just say you like the man, and stop pulling his pigtails.

I did feel bad for Ewen on finding his prisoner had fled, though. There's something almost domestic about their arrangement over the previous week (Keith offering his cloak to Ewen!), and I daresay Ewen had settled into the seeming of it, and momentarily forgot its truth. Poor Ewen! I suspect Keith is right, that the experience has taught Ewen not to make that oversight again, and I hope that in one of their subsequent meetings there will be more domesticity between them...

Flight of the Heron read-along: Part I chapters 5-6

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