regshoe

I'm two weeks late to the party (again).

I enjoyed last week's chapters, mostly because it marks a very different shift in the book's tone than before — I think it's quite interesting putting Culloden as roughly the central point of the story, because it allows for a very nice counterpoint to the tone of the first half. The first half starts out in quite a heroic tone and ends in quite a tragic one: it's interesting to see the fallout from that, and the complexities that arise in the aftermath of military defeat. Guthrie's character (more on him later) is quite interesting in that he is a good example of just how complicated the Rising actually was, a far cry from the simple Scots vs English dichotomy that sometimes seems to be presented.

However, I find Keith's own journey in the aftermath of Culloden very fascinating: how he both despises and also, to a certain extent, permits the atrocities that followed, if only by inaction. While Broster does keep his hands reasonably clean by having him as a staff officer, he seems to feel a sense of culpability that he tries to excuse even as he feels ashamed for it, a really interesting character note. While it's present earlier, V ernyyl guvax gung vg'f ng guvf cbvag jr fgneg gb frr Xrvgu'f nzovgvba orpbzr uvf unznegvn, uvf sngny synj. He feels remorse, certainly, but he seems to be able to rationalise the horrible actions undertaken by the British Army as an awful but inevitable consequence of war. Even the sight of the dead woman and child and knowledge that this is not the first, nor the last, time such a thing will happen doesn't make him question whether the army's actions are really justified — he skirts around facing the question head on, even as he feels branded.

Of course, he does have a weakness, in the form of one Ewen Cameron. I find it fascinating how up until the moment he recognises Ewen he is not willing to stop the execution, but the moment he sees that it's Ewen we find out just where precisely he has drawn the line on allowing horrible things to be carried out. I have to say, I do wonder at the whole recoginising-the-Cameron-tartan thing, as the concept of clan tartans is a semi-fictionalised Victorian concept (damned Sobieski Stuarts), although it's entirely possible that he recognises it on the basis of it being like the one he wore earlier (Keith in a kilt is still the funniest part of the book). The first time I read this chapter I couldn't believe my eyes when Keith throws himself between Ewen and the firing squad. It's so capital-R Romantic, Keith riding in, throwing himself off his horse to protect Ewen, Ewen fainting into his arms... the dirty, bloodstained, half-clothed figure which Keith had last seen so gallant in powder and satin, cool, smiling and triumphant... Keith tending to Ewen in the shieling and feeling guilty that he can't tend to him further. Fetch my fainting couch.

For officers, as Major Guthrie must know, were not shot in cold blood — now. That now does a lot of heavy lifting, and it's a great example of how Broster manages to say a lot with very little sometimes. And then Keith having to barter so heavily for Ewen's life — other people commented on it, I believe, but it really makes it understandable why he wishes so badly to go back to Flanders, to 'civilised' war where officers are treated as equals across the lines because they belong to recognised governments. Guthrie is such a bastard, and while I hate him and want to see him thrown off a cliff I also enjoy just how much of an awful man he is. One of the things I find fascinating about Broster's writing is the juxtapositions she sets up: Guthrie's speculations over Keith's guilt over seducing some female relative of Ewen's, and Keith's desire to save Ewen's life for an entirely different reason (well, perhaps not entirely different. But I rather think that Guthrie has the wrong end of that stick, and probably all the best for Keith, because if Guthrie suspected something between Keith and Ewen he would not be kind about it).

The shieling chapter is absolutely gorgeous. I didn't think that Broster would actually have Keith go back to tend to Ewen — surely that was a step too far. And yet she DID. I like how Keith, whose temperament does not seem to run to gentleness, is, in fact, quite capable of tenderness, helping Ewen eat and drink, reassuring him... I find it quite lovely how Keith asks Ewen's permission to tend to his wounds. It's such a quiet, intimate scene. And then, when Ewen faints... But five minutes saw the end of the snatch of feverish slumber, for Ardroy woke with a little cry and some remark about the English artillery which showed that he had been back at Culloden Moor. However, he knew Keith instantly[...]. It's a small shift in their relationship, but a significant one, especially when you consider that ng gur irel raq bs gur abiry, jura Xrvgu vf qlvat, jr unir gur ybiryl dhbgr: Nf ur jnf yvsgrq, Xrvgu pnzr onpx sebz n zbzrag’f qernz bs n fuber jvgu ybat terra ebyyref ebnevat ybhqyl haqre n oybbq-erq fhafrg, gb cnva naq qvssvphyg oerngu naq Rjra’f nezf. Ur xarj uvz.

There is so much I like about this chapter. I'm a little prejudiced towards it because I have sat with it, writing alongside it for my fic, but it's so wonderful, Keith acting as the Good Samaritan, Ewen having his faith in humanity restored somewhat after those awful, heartbreaking weeks. And then Keith trying, and failing, to work out just what his relationship to Ewen is — it's sublime.