regshoe | Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapters 1-2

Tha's bahn' to catch thy deeath o' cowd...

Welcome back, everyone, and happy new year! We embark on the final Part...

Next week we'll continue with chapters 3 and 4 of Part V.

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From:

regshoe

Epigraph notes: The epigraph to Part V is from Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Later in chapter 2, 'Thou art the same and thy years shall not fail' is a quotation from the Letter to the Hebrews.

The passage about Ewen's love and grief for the Highlands as he thinks he's seeing them for the last time is an utterly gorgeous piece of writing, and one of my favourite parts of the book. Strongly written, significant relationships between characters and places are something I always like in fiction, and my goodness, this is a good one. Aaargh. And, as Broster points out, chapter 5.1 follows much the same route along which we met Keith back in 1.1—and what a contrast in the style of the descriptions that provides. We're a long way from those elephants...

And the paragraph where Ewen is thinking about Keith is very lovely too. '...already as a friend, and with wonder', awww. Ewen's ongoing bewilderment at Keith's actions almost seems like a parallel of Keith's own failure to understand his own motivations earlier on—which is interesting, when Ewen understands very simply and naturally what was for Keith the key realisation which made sense of everything, that he feels friendship for him. In any case, I quite agree with Ewen's 'all honour to him for it'—indeed!

The meeting with the girl who gives Ewen the sgian is such a powerful moment. We've already seen Keith's reactions to what the victorious Government forces did to their defeated enemies after Culloden—now we see it from the other side, both for the Highlands generally and for Ewen personally.

A general 'oh, poor Ewen!' for everything he goes through in these chapters—all that pain and exhaustion and heartache. But impressive feats of physical endurance under highly discouraging conditions are a feature throughout Broster's writing, and it was surely something she knew about from her own experiences of war.

Mr Fosdyke and Mr Prescott! I love them—they're some of my favourite minor characters in the book. And Lassie too, of course. :) The combination of good nature, sympathy and independent-mindedness expressed by Mr Fosdyke in explaining his motivations for helping Ewen is great, and says so much in a short space. And they're funny, although Fosdyke's joke about the heads on Micklegate Bar is rather a dark one. The line about Alison's prayers and Ewen's 'simple and straightforward faith' is very sweet—but this time through the book, it struck me that perhaps there's a parallel here with Keith's painful struggle with prayer after he parts from Ewen in chapter 4.7. If these angelic Englishmen—who provide another demonstration of the power of kindness, compassion and personal honour even amidst political divides and cruelty—are indeed an answer to prayer, it seems fitting that it might be 'the prayer in [Keith's] heart' as he thought, as far as he knew, so fruitlessly of Ewen two chapters ago.

And there's even more lovely, beautiful sense of place towards the end of chapter 2! The description of Ewen's return to Ardroy while he thinks the house has been burnt, followed by the revelation that it hasn't been and Ewen's entry into the house like a 'ghost', creates such a strong and evocative mood, with its slow, almost dreamlike progression and its careful abundance of detail. The sparing of Ardroy from the devastation might perhaps have been a little convenient and/or indulgent on Broster's part as an author, but between the beautiful writing and, again, the already-established themes of individual compassion and honour amidst brutality, I think she makes it work. And Aunt Marget! Their reunion is such a lovely moment. <3

Edited Date: Jan. 1st, 2022 08:19 pm (UTC)

From:

osprey_archer

The sparing of Ardroy is one of those things that ought to feel too convenient or indulgent, and yet it's so beautifully written that it works. It's a brief reprieve for Ewen after a time of great darkness in his life - the collapse of his cause, the death of his foster brother Neil, his imprisonment (and all the agony of that time he believed Keith had betrayed him and he himself had betrayed Lochiel) - and although he has escaped to home for now, he knows that he will have to leave his beloved house and loch to be truly safe.

So what comes across is not "our protagonist's house is protected by the special forces that protect protagonists and their things," but the sense that for once the chances of war have turned in Ewen's favor rather than against him - after a long string where they've turned over and over against him.

Also, I love the description of Aunt Margaret and company tending the smoking fires so that it would look to all the countryside as if Ardroy is good and burnt. It seems so in character for her, and also very characteristic that she might touch off a spark of humanity in an English officer so he'd purposefully set the fire badly.

From:

sanguinity

I agree about Aunt Margaret taking care to fake the burning of Ardroy! Really all through these chapters, we have so many people being clever and brave and good -- the girl, Fosdyke, Jan, Aunt Margaret, Marsali... I love everyone in this bar.

And Lassie is such a good girl to find Ewen! I know Ewen wouldn't have hurt the dog, but I could still very much feel Fosdyke's distress that Lassie might get stabbed by the rebel she flushed. Why that fear should be so agonizing to me given everything else, I don't know, but it was very important to me that in all this desperation and heartbreak, this one happy creature should be allowed to keep her happiness.

From:

killclaudio

Me too, I wouldn't have been able to handle it if Lassie had been hurt. She's just being a good girl! And I like that part of the reason Fosdyke decides to help Ewen is because he refused to hurt her.

From:

sanguinity

There's something so straightforward about the dog's point of view: "Here is a person in distress! Come help the person in distress!" Which is the way it should be, honestly, and isn't nearly often enough.

From:

killclaudio

Exactly! Dogs are such great role models, honestly. ♥

From:

friendofthejabberwock

I also really liked how Fosdyke helps Ewen partially because he doesn't harm Lassie -- he has excellent priorities. :D

From:

killclaudio

Lassie is a good judge of character, and obviously Fosdyke knows it. ;D

From:

regshoe

Really all through these chapters, we have so many people being clever and brave and good -- the girl, Fosdyke, Jan, Aunt Margaret, Marsali... I love everyone in this bar.

Aww, yes <3

Lassie is great. Amidst all the difficulties of these chapters, a dog simply being a good dog and showing kindness and liking towards Ewen, and being shown kindness in return, does stand out as a terribly important thing—I think because, as you say, it's so simple and straightforward a piece of goodness.

From:

regshoe

That's very true—Ewen has already lost and suffered so much that, even after his escape, sparing him this one thing doesn't come across as overly special or protagonist-y.

Yes, Aunt Margaret and the household spending the day tending the fire of damp wood is a great bit of description—I'm sure she enjoyed it!

From:

sanguinity

Oh, well-spotted that it could as easily have been Keith's prayers as Alison's -- yet another parallel between the two of them. The bit in 5.1 about Ewen's wedding night being holy, which is also how he describes the night in the shieling, is another one, I think.

And I said much earlier in rot13, so I'll say it again here: it's a beautiful bit of writing to have Ewen traveling the same route Keith did. Not only as an exercise in contrasts between how the two characters see the landscape, but it ALSO beautifully sets up Ewen's escape. Broster didn't just randomly declare that you can't see the bridge from the road, exactly where it would be most convenient for Ewen's escape: she materially demonstrated it for us right back at the very beginning of the book. Beautifully, elegantly done, that.

From:

regshoe

Oh yes, that is a very good point! Ingenious, Broster. :D

From:

hyarrowen

I hadn't thought of the two Yorkshiremen (and dog) being the answer to Keith's prayer. What a lovely idea. I love the picture of Mr Fosdyke wanting to take his meal by the river too. An unexpectedly poetical disguise for this angel in disguise.