Michael is alone with his thoughts in The Space Between Section 13. It’s not a good place for him to be.
This chapter helps me understand the previous one a little more. I couldn’t understand why Joan was so hard on herself, and then this section has Michael realizing how much sherry she drank and how little she would normally drink. Of course the alcohol would have fueled those thoughts!
Breaking down The Space Between Section 13
Onto this section itself, though. Michael is now all alone. He realizes that he can’t take Joan to the convent just yet. Could you imagine a tipsy nun?
However, I think that there’s a slight selfish reason for not wanting her to leave at the moment, and I don’t blame him for being selfish. In fact, Joan wouldn’t think of him as selfish if he spoke to her. Michael is grieving, and he’s struggling with the quieter moments in life.
This is the first time he’s going to his bed that he shared with Lillie. She’s no longer there, and he’s struggling to face the loss without her. He drinks heavily to cope with that grief and loss. Maybe he can numb all the feelings.
We know that Michael isn’t the first character to use alcohol like this. Claire has an issue with drinking heavily when she is grieving. The problem for Michael is that there won’t be the way out of the grief in the same way there was for Claire. Jamie came back to her after it revealed that he wasn’t on the ship he was supposed to be on. Michael’s wife isn’t coming back.
Could this chapter be used in a TV series adaptation
Should this story be used as a TV episode or even limited series, we could end up seeing this section used. I could even see it being extended a little, giving us some flashbacks of Michael and Lillie together as he remembers her. This would allow us to understand the loss that he’s feeling, and it will give us a chance to know who Lillie is.
We could also see the start of the section used for some humor. We’d need the message that Joan has drank too much sherry, and that’s an easy inclusion with a conversation between Michael and the maids.
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