tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7379581147262228210.post3818300977151078589..comments2024-03-26T13:17:29.405-04:00Comments on Outlandish Observations: Tom Christie's sacrificeKaren Henryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07635855088490793965noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7379581147262228210.post-28543155957215661952022-04-26T21:47:57.458-04:002022-04-26T21:47:57.458-04:00I think that Me. Christie has proven himself to be...I think that Me. Christie has proven himself to be a man of compassion. He’s all caught up in the organized religion bulls—-. The quality of a human starts with compassion. I hope that he gets to be exonerated for the crime.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04370654096308748477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7379581147262228210.post-84171780426336791142008-09-15T15:52:00.000-04:002008-09-15T15:52:00.000-04:00I remember Claire saying "The sins of the fathers ...I remember Claire saying "The sins of the fathers shall not be visited upon the children" but I think in this case, the sins of the children were visited upon the father. <BR/><BR/>MitziMitzi H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16746339245819447740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7379581147262228210.post-75601480363186067232008-09-13T22:30:00.000-04:002008-09-13T22:30:00.000-04:00For me, this has always been an emotionally touchi...For me, this has always been an emotionally touching scene. I also see Tom as really having had an epiphany that surprised me, yet it made sense to me after the shock wore off. He not only loves Claire so intensely that he would give his life for her, but he feels responsible for sustaining her life at the cost of his own because of what has happened. <BR/><BR/>I personally felt, as I read ABOSAA, that he should feel responsible. I wanted him to have to answer for what happened to Claire. Diana manages to satisfy this feeling for readers, but she does it so poetically. Tom doesn't go down the way most "humorless, repressive, and tiresomely dogmatic "men do in popular fiction or movies. He doesn't die running for his life with the readers cheering "Ha! He deserved that!" Instead he does something that surprises us and, in true Gabaldon fashion, leaves us marveling, once again, at the complexity of her characters.<BR/><BR/>It is ordinary characters doing extraordinary things,like Tom Christie, that makes Diana's books so real to me - so human. Now I do agree that I don't know many people who would make such a sacrifice as Tom's, but when you consider all he has lost, all the damage that has been caused, his love for Claire and his epiphany along with his feelings of responsibility, well that kind of complexity in a character is very real to me.Diane M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05235754355858953561noreply@blogger.com