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Date Posted: 18:36:47 01/24/08 Thu
Author: JessieR
Subject: Yea—Claire’s concern about Malva is not really about corporal punishment; she sees Malva as an adult rather than a child and worries that a grown man beating the naked bum of his grown daughter could be sexualizing the act: “”Perhaps he [meaning Tom] does…other things to her,’” Claire tells Jamie. I also agree with you that the lateral pass to Jamie is driven by the exigencies of the plot. In the “Woodears” chapter, not only does Malva get to be alone with Jamie, she also gets subtly demonized by the recurring trope of the snake. Malva will help bring ruin to the Eden that Jamie and Claire made on Fraser’s Ridge, and DG has to begin convincing the reader that Miss Christie is wicked enough to do so.
In reply to: pamelalass 's message, "Yes, Jessie, I agree there are other possible scenarios that would have remained consistent with what we know of Claire, and I think her 20thc sensibility was causing her to sense something more awry than Malva receiving thrashings from her father. So my question about why we don't see her get more involved is less about the beating she observed and more about her suspicions that the beating, which I think took place outdoors where it could be witnessed, was a symptom of something much worse that could have been going on inside the Christie house. She only had a vague sense about this, but if it was just about corporal punishment I actually don't think she'd have sent Jamie, because she knows he holds the traditional 18th c view on this form of discipline. The way Claire's concerns are expressed, to me it seemed she suspected something was really wrong, so I was surprised that her intervention was so indirect, given her usual "damn the torpedos" approach. >>" on 17:24:38 01/24/08 Thu


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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Ah, Jessie, you are such a marvelous teacher. I noticed the snake but didn't think beyond the fact. The scene is much richer if I think about Eden too. -- Carol P, 20:34:55 01/24/08 Thu


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