Rereading Voyager: Significant Quotes and Foreshadowing (Chapters 40-43)

I have finally finished rereading Voyager, and this post will be about passages that reveal more about the series in general. Some of them foreshadow future events.

Once reunited with Jamie, Claire muses about the series of events she had been through in a small time frame.

I had not dared to think what life might be like once I had found Jamie, lest I not find him after all. Then I had found him, and in quick succession, had contemplated life as a printer’s wife among the political and literary worlds of Edinburgh, a dangerous and fugitive existence as a smuggler’s lady, and finally, the busy, settled life of a Highland farm, which I had known before and loved (Voyager, ch. 40)

Of note is how she mentions how she loves living in Lallybroch. I have speculated in one of the most popular posts that I have written that she might be buried at Lallybroch. Here is the link: Symbolism of the Blue Color. The following passage from book 2 resembles that there is a connection between Lallybroch and Claire.

. . . “Well, it’s only I was thinking, seeing ye come down the hill wi’ the basket on your arm, how bonny ye looked wi’ the sun on your brown hair. I thought you looked as though ye grew there, like one of the saplings – like ye’d always been a part of this place. . .” (Dragonfly in Amber, ch. 31)

Of course, there are old ruins around Lallybroch. Is Claire a reincarnation of somebody who used to live in Lallybroch in prehistoric times, even though evidence about it lacks in the books? Did her ancestors (Raymond?) live there?

In chapter 41, Voyager, Mr. Willoughby has a conversation with Claire trying to figure out which year Jamie was born. He speculates that Jamie could be a rat since he is lucky and smart. Of course, Mr. Willoughby is the traitor among the smugglers who have been trying to kill Jamie on two former occasions as narrated by Fergus (and he has no issue killing some villains in book 3). No wonder Jamie comes across as lucky to him. Jamie could also be a dragon since he is passionate and lusty. However, it is revealed that Jamie was born in the Year of the Ox. One characteristic of people born in this year is stubbornness. The following link has more information about the personality of the oz. The article also describes that oxen often become chiefs.

Chinese Zodiac -Ox

The following passage emphasizes a relationship between traveling to the moon and the past.

“. . . It’s rocky, and barren, with no life at all – but very beautiful, with cliffs and mountains and craters – you can see the craters from here; the dark spots.” I nodded toward the smiling moon, then smiled at Jamie myself. “It’s not unlike Scotland – except that it isn’t green” (Voyager, Ch. 42).

This description from Claire’s point of view establishes a physical similarity between Scotland and the moon. However, it is Jamie’s question to Claire that foreshadows that Brianna will travel to the past to meet her father.

“Will she walk about on the moon, d’ye think?” he asked softly, . . .(Voyager, Ch. 42)

At this stage, a voyage to the moon or the past is farfetched to both Jamie and Claire.

In chapter 42, Voyager, Claire leaves documentation for her daughter in a box, including a portrait of herself and a letter. The documents contain information about the background of Claire’s parents. Furthermore, she reveals Brianna’s actual ancestry, her real grandparents, medical history, the Frasers and Jamie as her daughter’s biological father. One wonders what could happen if all this information falls into the wrong hands.

. . . – what ironic whim had prompted Uncle Lamb to save that? More likely he had never opened the box, but only kept it, in a scholar’s blind faith that information must never be destroyed, for who knew what use it might be, and to whom?

 

The following passage has a reference to Claire’s evolving healing powers by touching. Note the reference to the blue color. She visualizes the healing process when treating Duncan’s case of constipation.

. . . hands on his chest, and saw in my mind the pink-flushed grainy surface of a healthy lung. “Breathe out, now,” and felt the color fade to soft blue. No rales, no halting, a nice clear flow. . . (Voyager, ch. 43)

It seems that one of Claire’s evolving skills will be determining an illness by visualizing in her mind the conditions inside the body. One wonders whether Claire would be able to heal not just by touching, but also by seeing things inside the body.

Finally, the following quotes reflect how the relationship between Roger and Jamie will be initially (Voyager, ch. 42).

. . . I had seen Jamie as lover, husband, brother, uncle, laird, and warrior, but never before in his guise as a ferocious Scottish father. . .

. . . he would have frightened the living daylights out of any lad bold enough to try to court her.

Thanks for reading!

Sources

Gabaldon, Diana. Dragonfly in Amber. New York: Bantam Dell, 1993. Print.

– – – . Voyager. 1994. New York: Bantam Dell. 2002. Print

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