Re-reading BEES (Part 9)

Here's the 9th and final installment 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 MAJOR SPOILERS below! Read at your own risk!

One of the hardest parts of re-reading (or re-listening to) Diana Gabaldon's books is revisiting the most emotionally intense or traumatic scenes. Wentworth, for example, or the farewell scenes in DRAGONFLY, or Roger's hanging, or Claire's abduction and rape in ABOSAA. For me, the whole sequence at Kings Mountain where Jamie gets shot and nearly dies is certainly one of those!

On my first reading of BEES, I was absolutely terrified that Jamie might die, for real. I kept saying to myself, "There is no safety net in this book. Absolutely anything might happen." In the 3 1/2 years since BEES came out, I've read through my detailed notes on this part a number of times, "re-living" my initial reactions, but until last week, I had only read or listened to the entire sequence in the actual book, from beginning to end, maybe twice, and not at all since 2022. I had such an intense emotional reaction the first time that the thought of going through that again scared me a little.

But I never (ever!) skip over scenes on re-reading or re-listening. I always make the effort to push through that difficulty, the fear and dread of what's about to happen, because I think it results in a richer and more rewarding experience. And I suppose I feel that if the characters can get through this, the least I can do is go along for the ride. Not just to bear witness, but to get a better understanding of how this experience has affected them. Because one thing I've learned over the years is that the most traumatic events in these books have permanent effects on the characters, and I'm sure we'll see some of that in A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT (Book 10).

Here are a few things relating to the events at Kings Mountain that struck me on this re-listen:

Jamie's last words to Claire, just before the battle:

“Look after her, Roger Mac,” [Jamie] said, then cupped my face in his hands and kissed me, briefly. His hands and face were pulsing with heat and I felt a sudden coolness when his touch left my skin.

“Tha gràdh agam ort, mo chridhe,” he said, and was gone.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 145, "The Mirror Crack'd". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"Tha gràdh agam ort, mo chridhe" is "I love you, my heart," in Gàidhlig. So Jamie made sure that his last words to her were "I love you", just in case he didn't come back. It's a reminder of his promise to her in that wonderful last line in FIERY CROSS.

“When the day shall come, that we do part, [...] if my last words are not ‘I love you’--ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 111, "And Yet Go Out to Meet It". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I like that very much!

Here's something else I never noticed before:

It was no more than minutes now, and he kent from Randall’s book what would happen to Ferguson. Spare him knowing what’s coming to him... Let it be a Scot, at least... He hadn’t time to think more, before his sight fixed on the checked shirt and his finger tightened on the trigger. He took a step sideways, barrel following his target, and something snagged round his foot.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 146, "The Curse is Come Upon Me". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie's full attention had been focused on Patrick Ferguson, in command of the British troops. Jamie's finger was on the trigger of his rifle, waiting for the right moment to shoot him, and that's one reason why he didn't notice the snake.

Also, he was standing there with a rifle aimed straight at Ferguson. No wonder he was shot multiple times! The Redcoats naturally were trying to protect their commander. In my total panic the first time I read this part, that never occurred to me, but it makes sense.

And speaking of total panic:

Jamie's smell had changed, and that frightened me badly. [....] I could smell Jamie’s sweat and his blood--God, the blood, it had saturated my bodice and stays and the fabric stuck to me and to him, a thin crust of hot stickiness, not the cut-metal smell of fresh blood but the thick stink of butchery. The sweat was cold on his skin, slick and nearly odorless, no vital reek of manhood in it anymore.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 147, "A Lot of Blood". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This bit absolutely terrified me on the first reading, because I thought Jamie was literally turning into "dead meat" right in front of us (!!) I still find it unnerving just to read that description.

I love the way Claire absolutely refuses to give up trying to save Jamie, no matter what! Her determination never wavers for a second through the whole ordeal. It gave me something to hold on to, the first time, when I was panic-stricken and terrified that Jamie really was going to die.

The other thought I have had more than once since the book came out is this: All the eyewitnesses (other than Roger and Ian) who saw Jamie at Kings Mountain that day assumed that he was mortally wounded. Whoever wrote the contemporary accounts of the battle would naturally assume that, too. Frank has nothing to go on except those historical accounts, and so he made that same assumption, that Jamie didn't survive the battle. If history is only what people wrote down (as Diana Gabaldon has noted before, a number of times), then those historical accounts are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

One final thought about what happened at Kings Mountain. Ever since I first read BEES, I've been intrigued by the repeated references to a mysterious, beautiful Blue....

"Blue. It's not empty. It’s beautiful."

[....]

"Blue. So beautiful. It’s not empty."

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 147, "A Lot of Blood". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I've always loved that, especially the second one. It's a poetic thought, almost a haiku. When I mentioned that on TheLitForum recently, Diana Gabaldon replied,

That repetition of "Blue..." is because it's a mental conversation between Claire and Jamie. (It might be spoken, too, but no way of making that distinction and keeping the sense of mystery.) One of them says it, and the other repeats it, with a different emphasis.

We still don't know what exactly that Blue represents, but I think it's related somehow to Claire's healing powers, to her use of the healing blue light. You may recall from OUTLANDER Episode 207, "Faith", when Master Raymond healed Claire following the miscarriage, she also had an overwhelming impression of "blueness".



I am specifically referring to the shot in the bottom right-hand side of this image, where the flying bird sort of morphs into a beautiful blue abstract image, and the overall sense, from Claire's POV, is of BLUE, surrounding her.

"Blue. So beautiful. It’s not empty."

I think of that every time I look at that big, BEAUTIFUL, BLUE book on my shelf, most definitely NOT empty, but full of everything I love about OUTLANDER and the characters. <g>

Finally, I wanted to share a few thoughts about Percy's actions in the last part of BEES. As Lord John has noted more than once, Percy is a coward. In their last meeting aboard the Pallas, John asked only one thing of him:

"[If] you meant what you just said, then for the sake of any love you’ve ever had for me--go and tell my son that I love him.” He badly wanted to shout, “For God’s sake, tell Willie what’s happened! Tell him to go to Prévost and get help!” But Percy was terrified of Richardson--and everything else in the world, he thought with an exhausted pity--and to ask him to risk something like that was likely to make him run away, get drunk, or cut his own throat.

“Please,” he added, gently.

It was a long moment, and he imagined he heard the wingbeats of the pelicans passing soberly over the river below, but Percy nodded at last and stood up.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 151, "A Message in a Bottle". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

They say their final goodbyes, and the next time we see Percy is at the house in Savannah where William and Amaranthus are staying. Percy looks exhausted and ill, but he manages to convey the news that Lord John is being held captive aboard the Pallas.

"I didn’t abandon him!” he cried, seeing William’s frown. “I--I would never have left him, but I could do him no good, and I thought--well, he told me, in fact. He told me to go and to find you.”

[....]

“And what did he tell you to say when you did find me?”

“He didn’t...say...exactly. I mean, there wasn’t time for a message..."

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 152, "Titus Andronicus". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I actually made an involuntary growling noise when I heard that in the audio version this time. That last line from Percy makes me yell at the book, "Coward!! You had ONE JOB! All he asked you to do was to deliver that message, and you couldn't bring yourself to do that." It makes me furious! Especially the thought that if John dies before William and Jamie can rescue him, John will never have heard that last message from William.

I do think that Percy redeemed himself (for the most part) by letting William know the extreme danger Lord John is facing, and that Richardson is responsible. But I admit that I was not unhappy to see him go, at the end. (There's been considerable debate on TheLitForum on the subject of whether Percy is in fact dead, but I personally have never had any doubt.)

Finally, I have to say that I loved the last scene in the book, with the celebration of the wedding of the Higgins and Hardman families. This is one of the very few things I guessed right about, on my first reading of BEES. After the scene in Chapter 84 where Silvia divorces Gabriel, I thought, "Hmmm....Silvia will need a man to provide for her, Bobby needs a wife..." The fact that it's basically a "Brady Bunch" scenario -- a widower with three boys, marrying a divorced woman with three girls -- always makes me smile.

What did you think of the last part of BEES? Please leave a comment here or on my Outlandish Observations Facebook page and let me know.

I hope you've enjoyed my thoughts on re-reading BEES. Look here for the other posts in this series.