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Date Posted: 12:58:45 01/30/08 Wed
Author: Karen Henry
Subject: Wow! Very well said, and I agree with a lot of what you're saying (more inside>>>>)
In reply to: Oleander 's message, "Ok I went way long-->" on 12:32:35 01/30/08 Wed

Jamie is, at the time of BOTB/Haunted Soldier, deep in what I refer to as his "half a person" mode. He has so little to live for, so little control over his own destiny, at this point in his life, that I find it heartbreaking just to watch him. Separated from everyone he loves, with the loss of the Ardsmuir men still fresh in his mind (for which he blames John), grieving (always!) for Claire, tormented by guilt over Geneva's death, he is not really living, merely existing from day to day. "Half a person", as he and Claire will later refer to it. He's in no condition to respond favorably to any overtures of friendship Lord John might make, no matter how well-intended.

You're right in saying that Jamie must "turn away from this side of himself- his identity as a leader, an educated man" -- in short, from the very things he has in common with John -- in order to survive day-to-day at Helwater. He should, by rights, be John's peer, his equal, and yet their positions are not at all equal (as John observes again in Haunted Soldier, when he struggles just to find a way to address Jamie in the opening to his letter).

There is so much unresolved between them as of the end of BOTB; I can easily see how it might take an entire novel (SCOTTISH PRISONER) to explain how they finally do become friends. I suspect Willie will play a large role in that.

Karen

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