Voyager - By Diana Gabaldon

Please discuss Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager ONLY in this thread. Thanks!
The SPOILER Thread can be found here.


PART 8 – On the Water
CHAPTER 42 The Man in the Moon

While at sea, neither Jamie nor Claire is especially busy, so they have the chance to spend time together walking about the deck and pointing things out to one another, like sunsets, schools of fish and dolphins. The moon is huge and seems close enough for them to speak to the Man in the Moon. They discuss the fact that men were preparing to go to the moon when Claire left the 20th century.

Then, Jamie brings out the pictures of Brianna. They talk about how beautiful and clever she is. Then, Jamie asks about one where Bree is in a bikini splashing a male friend. He is uncertain about the morals of her time, and Claire thinks about how intimidating he would be to any potential boyfriends. They talk about whether Claire should have stayed with Bree, but Claire insists that she is a grown woman who can choose whether or not to marry and is capable of supporting herself. Jamie assures her that he knows she was a great mother.

Claire tells Jamie about the letter she wrote to Bree before she left. She collected papers and documents as well as family photos and mementos. She also wrote a long letter about her family and medical history and everything she could think of that she’d learned during her life that might be useful. The most important thing was to tell Bree how much she loved her and that she didn’t regret the years of raising her, despite being separated from Jamie. It was a difficult process, getting the letter written, filled with second thoughts about going through the stones, but eventually she finished it. One thing she wrote was that Bree shouldn’t try to change a man and shouldn’t let a man change her. Jamie assures Claire that he wouldn’t change her for the world.

- The chapter title, The Man in the Moon, clearly refers to the face that can be seen in the light and dark areas of the moon. Jamie and Claire’s discussion of that also flows into a discussion of men going to the moon, which might be more a man on the moon rather than in it, but I think it may be an additional meaning. Then, at the end, Jamie is leaning against the rail and “his head was dark against the moon” so I thought Jamie was sort of the Man in the Moon too.

- They talk about how distant the moon is and what a nearly impossible journey it would be to get there (impossible in the 1700s certainly, but perhaps not in the 1960s, though they hadn’t gone by the time Claire left). That can be compared to other nearly impossible journeys: their present journey to find Young Ian; Claire’s journeys through time; any journey that would allow Jamie to meet Brianna in person. The likely impossibility of the last is why Jamie spends so much time looking at the photos and asking Claire all about his daughter. Can you think of other seemingly impossible journeys?

- It’s nice that Claire and Jamie finally have some time to talk and just spend together. Not quite as much privacy as they might like, especially since they aren’t sharing a cabin, but some time to catch up. Though, even with this, we know that there is one big secret Jamie still keeps from Claire. Do you think this was a time when Jamie should have told her “the rest” as it were?

- What do you think of Claire’s letter to Brianna? Do you have any idea what you’d write to your children (if you have any or can imagine you did) if you never expected to see them again? I have no idea. And, Claire talks about remembering every little detail about Brianna. Honestly, my memory is not that good. I’ve forgotten an amazing amount. Is it only me? Does everyone else remember every detail?

- When Claire says that Bree can choose whether or not to marry and if she does it will be for love, not need, Jamie points out that Claire originally married him for need. Claire responds that she came back for love and asks if he thought she needed him any less only because she could feed herself. He assures her that he didn’t think that. That is, of course, true – that they married for need and the love came later (or at least the acknowledged love or a deeper love). How do you think that might affect how each of them feels about whether, or under what circumstances, Brianna might marry? [Not that they would expect to know about it if it happens since she is 200 years away from them.]

- What do you think of Claire’s letter to Brianna? Do you have any idea what you’d write to your children (if you have any or can imagine you did) if you never expected to see them again? I have no idea. And, Claire talks about remembering every little detail about Brianna. Honestly, my memory is not that good. I’ve forgotten an amazing amount. Is it only me? Does everyone else remember every detail?

My thoughts exactly! I started feeling like such a bad mom reading this part -- I can't remember all these little details! The way her ear looked from behind when she was happy? Ha!

But really, I was very moved by this, and more impressed than ever by Claire's courage in saying good-bye to her child, supposedly forever. I love the parting words of advice:

"Stand up straight and try not to get fat."

So glad I'm not the only one. I was definitely feeling like a bad Mommy reading some of that.

Great summary ABL

I always consider this to be a reflective chapter, with confidences shared-

Claire unburdening her guilt at leaving Brianna behind..
Jamie's fascination at space travel which was just as incomprehensible to those who lived through those early days of moon exploration...
I laughed at Jamie's indignation over Brianna's swimsuit...and the thought of him as an indignant father warmed my heart

I think this chapter reiterates how precious are our memories-

Claire's precious keepsakes of her parents, cherished for their sparsity, and her "bone deep" longing for the mother she didn't remember..
Claire tenderness in her letter to Brianna so that she despite her absence from her life she would have a mother to remember

I think if it came down to it - we could all write a letter like that to our children/ loved ones..

Thank you for a wonderful summary, ABL.

Maybe it is just my perspective. I think that this is one of the best chapters in all of DG's writings. This is a wonderful opportunity for Jamie and Claire to get to know each other better. They have lots of time on their hands and relatively few responsibilities. Perhaps their awareness of each other is heightened by the unfulfillable (?) sexual tension, not too different from premarital dating back in the days when "good girls didn't"? It is ironic that it is Jamie's pronouncement which sets their bounds here. Maybe he is being punished for still failing to be honest with Claire?

To discuss Brianna's situation as a single woman in these circumstances really lends a certain edge to the discussion. DG tries to make the reader aware of how incomprehensible for Jamie is the difference in life for women then to now. (Maybe younger readers cannot comprehend the changes in the last fifty or one hundred years?) Two examples of the differences between their times are the technologies which produce the pictures which Jamie is holding and the possibility of travel to the moon.

I like your question about other differences between the two times. Certainly Claire had a chance to reflect on what she was giving up in the 20th C. Do you think that she shared her deliberations about the conveniences of running water and a hot bath and electricity in this time with Jamie? How incomprehensible is Claire's control of "wee bugs" with her own vaccinations and the medicine that she thought to bring along?

As for what Claire writes to Brianna, it is worth remembering that Claire had weeks, if not months, to consider her quest for Jamie and the impact on Brianna as well as herself. I would compare that time to being told by a doctor that I had X amount of time to live. Claire could relate to that situation in her own medical practice.

For those reading this with young children still, your perspective is a bit different. You are busy living life and making dreams. Claire has (mostly) raised Brianna. That maturity allows her to be more reflective and think about her legacy. That legacy can be a letter or a lifetime of memories for most of us.

This discussion does point out Claire's sacrifices to obtain her dream of a life with Jamie. How fortunate we are that DG is allowing us to share this dream! If we can take that awareness and improve our awareness of our dreams, we can get true value from a mere work of fiction (to take a message from another thread).

Jamie's touching reassurance of Claire's mothering is appropriate and endearing.

Great discussion and summary on this chapter! I see the truths in all of your thoughts. Claire would have been more attentive to Brianna's looks because her father was dead for all intents and purposes and she looked extremely like him. How many times would Claire have stared at this mirror of her Jamie and memorized every detail. Her letter, as repoman points out, is more of the type that someone writes on their death bed. How to compress a lifetime of thoughts into one letter and make it count for all of eternity?

This chapter is perhaps more intimate between J&C than any of their bedroom scenes. It is quiet and reflective and perhaps Jamie felt that it belonged to him, Claire and Brianna, and wasn't a place or time for William to enter the conversation, but he had to be thinking about him when he thinks of Brianna. Perhaps he thought that a better time would present itself for that discussion or perhaps he thought that he left all of that part of his life back in Hellwater and shut it off forever.