Re-reading BEES (Part 8)

Here's Part 8 of my series of posts about my reactions on re-listening to Diana Gabaldon's GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, Book 9 in the OUTLANDER series. (The other posts in this series are here.)

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

If you haven't read GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, there are SPOILERS below! Read at your own risk!

One of the subplots in BEES that I have been paying closer attention to on this re-listen is the whole story arc involving John Cinnamon. I had a rather negative reaction to his character on the first reading, and I wanted to see if my opinion of him has changed, now that I'm going through the book much more slowly and trying to pay attention to the details.

I just finished listening to the scene in chapter 124 ("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face") where William says goodbye to him, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about John Cinnamon and his role in the book. Has my initial reaction changed? No, not really.

Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion, and you're certainly free to disagree! I know a lot of readers loved the character, but I'm not one of them. <shrug> In the rest of this post, I'll try to explain why.

First, a little background, for those of you who may not remember where we've seen John Cinnamon before. He is the bastard son of Lord John's cousin Olivia's husband, Malcolm Stubbs. There are two references to him in the books before we meet him in BEES. The first is from "The Custom of the Army," where Lord John literally buys the half-Indian baby from his grandmother and takes him to a Catholic mission in Quebec.

“Has the infant a name, sir?”

“A--” He stopped dead. The boy’s mother had surely called him something, but Malcolm Stubbs hadn’t thought to tell Grey what it was before being shipped back to England. What should he call the child? Malcolm, for the father who had abandoned him? Hardly.

[....]

“His name is John,” he said abruptly, and cleared his throat. “John Cinnamon.”

(From "The Custom of the Army", in SEVEN STONES TO STAND OR FALL by Diana Gabaldon. Copyright © 2010 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Lord John sends money to the orphanage over the years for the boy's welfare, but otherwise he has no contact with him. Many years later, William encounters John Cinnamon in Quebec, and mentions him in a letter to Lord John:

We had a Guide for our Journey between St. John and Quebec, a Man of mixed Blood (he had a most remarkable Head of Hair, thick and curly as Sheep’s Wool and the color of Cinnamon Bark) who told us that some of the native People think that the Sky is a Dome, separating Earth from Heaven, but that there are Holes in the Dome, and that the Lights of the Aurora are the Torches of Heaven, sent out to guide the Spirits of the Dead through the Holes.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 24, "Joyeux Noel". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

William, of course, has no idea that Lord John has any connection to this young Indian with the distinctive hair. So he's very much taken aback when he arrives at Mt. Josiah in BEES and encounters John Cinnamon. It turns out that Cinnamon is a friend of Manoke, Lord John's Indian cook, and he's come to Mt. Josiah to see Manoke.

"It was the only place I knew to start looking.”

“Looking for what?” William asked, baffled.

“For Lord John Grey,” Cinnamon said, and William saw the broad throat move as he swallowed. “For my father.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 12, "Erstwhile Companions". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

It's not true, of course -- Lord John is definitely not his father! -- but that introduction to John Cinnamon serves an important purpose. We learn immediately what Cinnamon wants: to find out about his real father, and possibly form some sort of connection with him. This desire to know more about his biological father is the primary motive for John Cinnamon's whole story arc, and it's certainly a believable one. Many adopted children in our own time share that same deep curiosity about their origins. John Cinnamon explains his intentions to Lord John as follows:

“I did not expect, nor do I seek”--he added, with an inclination of his head--“any recognition or...or material assistance. I suppose it was in good part curiosity. But more, perhaps, a desire for some sense of...not of belonging; it would be foolish to expect that--but some knowledge of connection. Just to know that there is a person who shares my blood,” he ended simply.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 32, "Lhude Sing Cuccu!" Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Diana Gabaldon commented about John Cinnamon's role in the story in a post on TheLitForum in June 2022:

So once he was a part of William's story--well, the sole point on which these two young men converge is Lord John. Which led to interesting considerations as to how each of the young men felt about Lord John--and beyond that, about their father issues; John Cinnamon has never had a father; William has two, and is not happy about it.

So we work along and it becomes almost instantly clear what John Cinnamon's feelings/fears/identity concerns are. And they parallel and/or mirror William's, thus putting William's perspective into a different shape than it might have been otherwise.

[....]

Just in terms of practicality, John Cinnamon provides William with a buddy/traveling companion, which is always a good thing to have in a "journey" or "quest" sort of story. Basically, though, William and John Cinnamon just got along and talked naturally and just merged fairly seamlessly into the story.

That's helpful, up to a point. But Diana's comments don't really address my main issue with this character. Looking at John Cinnamon's story arc over the course of the whole book, my impression is that he seems to achieve his goal with almost no trouble at all. I can't think of another character in the OUTLANDER series (major or minor) who gets what they want so easily. It makes it hard for me to view him as a real person rather than a fictional character.

Cinnamon is unquestionably a nice guy, but he seems to be living a charmed life, or at any rate, he's very lucky, because everything seems to work out perfectly for him without his having to try very hard. I wonder if I'm getting this impression because his storyline contains very little conflict?

John Cinnamon's mistaken assumption that Lord John is his father creates a brief conflict with William, but that's resolved almost as soon as it arises. He gets along well with William after that, turning out to be a genial, likeable traveling companion. I did like the idea of giving William someone his own age to talk to, particularly someone who is also trying to come to terms with his paternity. It's interesting to compare how the two of them deal with these questions of identity: Who am I, and where did I come from? Certainly it's something that William is still struggling with!

But John Cinnamon's path toward achieving his goal of making contact with his father seems almost effortless, with the exception of one minor incident. He's captured for a short time by a press-gang (chapter 97, "An Excellent Question"), but he manages to escape. That episode was so brief that I wasn't worried that he was in serious danger.

Cinnamon was somewhat embarrassed at being rescued from the Saint-Domingue navy and had been taking particular care not to be a nuisance since the adventure.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 101, "On the Road Again". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Later, he takes a gamble, sending the portrait Bree painted of him to Malcolm Stubbs in London. Definite potential for conflict there -- how will Stubbs react, confronted with this indisputable evidence of his bastard child? I was really surprised that Stubbs accepted it, and him, so enthusiastically, without any hesitation at all.

I cannot tell you with what Emotion I beheld your Portrait. Indeed, my Bosom is so animated with Feeling that I think my Heart must burst, between the Pressures of Guilt and Joy--yet I thank you from the Bottom of that squalid Heart for your gallant Action and the Courage which must lie behind it. Let me first beg your Forgiveness, though I do not deserve it.

[....]

And let me next--assuming that your Forgiveness be granted--beg that you will come to me. I am astonished by the Strength of Feeling caused me by the Sight of your Face, captured in Paint and Canvas, and even more by the Need that has grown in me to see your Face truly before me. I can but hope that you would also like to see mine.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 124, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

So, no conflict there either. Stubbs gives him a priceless gift in return, telling him that his birth name was Michel.

And then John Cinnamon sails off to England, presumably to live permanently with his newfound father and family in London.

It's a rare example in these books of a character who faces no serious obstacles to getting what he wants. I found that rather strange.

Before you say, "But his mother died when he was an infant and he was abandoned by his father," yes, of course I know that! It's true that his life got off to a rough start, but the experience doesn't seem to have affected him very strongly. Compared to other orphans in the books -- Fergus, for example, or Fanny -- he seems to have been well cared for, showing no signs of abuse or neglect. Diana Gabaldon confirmed that impression in a post on TheLitForum here:

Fwiw, John Cinnamon actually had a reasonably happy early life. He was only a baby when his mother died, and he grew up in the care of Catholic priests in Canada, who gave him food, shelter, clothes, education, and possibly affection, as well. But any orphan wants to know the truth about his or her origins, no matter what that truth is.

So I'm left with the following question: Does John Cinnamon have ANY flaws, at all? Even on re-reading, I can't find any. This young man strikes me as almost an angel, with so many good qualities that I actually find him hard to like. (Ironic, because John Cinnamon is nothing if not likeable. <g>) That's been my impression since the first time I read the book, and it didn't change at all on this re-listen. I find myself pushing back (mentally at least), looking for something in his character (or his actions) that is less than perfect, and not really finding anything.

And for that reason, the character doesn't really work for me. I've said for years that the fact that the characters in these books have flaws and imperfections, that they make mistakes, that they are just as fallible as the rest of us, makes them seem like real people. (For example, see my essay titled Jamie Fraser: a fallible man who learns from his mistakes.) John Cinnamon seems to be an exception, and I wonder why. I found myself constantly being pulled out of the story by the cynical voice in my head going, "Oh, come on! This is much too easy. Nobody's life goes that smoothly."

What about the rest of you? What do you think of John Cinnamon? Please leave a comment here or on my Outlandish Observations Facebook page and let me know.

Look here for the other posts in this series. I'll post more of my thoughts on re-reading BEES in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!