My Outlander reread project is not much about chapter summaries but the discussion of certain details (that did not get my full attention the first time I read them) and foreshadowing.
About Frank
The following passage is an indication of how Claire’s relationship with Frank was once she came back from the past.
. . . “We didn’t always get on, you know that, but . . . yes. We respected each other; that counts for a lot. And we liked each other, in spite of everything. Yes, I do miss him” (ch. 3).
There was affection and respect but not to the level of deep love. Frank and Claire would have been perfect as friends but not as husband and wife. Of interest is how Claire in this passage seems to select her words to avoid offending or hurting her daughter who loved Frank.
In regards to Frank’s “presumed” ancestor, Black Jack, Roger speculates that he was not probably buried at Culloden. The dead from the English side were sent home (ch. 4). Later Roger discovers in one of the Reverend’s journal entry that Black Jack was buried at St. Kilda. He was not sent back home. Was there anybody from his family left to claim his body? Was he estranged from his family?
It is interesting to note that Frank continued to praise Black Jack even though he was more likely aware of how perverted he was because of Claire. The following passage from Brianna’s point of view demonstrates indirectly Frank’s dislike for Jamie for “stealing” his wife.
. . . “Daddy always admired him; said he was one of the few interesting people in the family tree. I guess he was a good soldier; Daddy had lots of commendations and things he’d gotten” (ch. 5).
Frank acquired an excellent reputation as a historian. However, because of convenience, he opted to omit details in order to transmit a favourable image of Black Jack to Brianna. This is something that academics would never do (or at least try not to do). Of course, it is possibly hard to demonstrate that Black Jack was a pervert since all the historical documentation tends to show the opposite. His high position allowed him to do whatever he wanted with his victims. Of interest is the fact that Frank did not want to believe the truth. Is this the main reason why he continued to consider Black Jack interesting? Claire relates:
. . . There had been a lot of murmuring in corridors – and shouting, now and then – but he had given up asking me for the truth. And I, in frail health and sick at heart, had given up telling it to him (ch. 5).
It is easier for the superstitious mind of the eighteenth century to believe Claire. However, since logic rules the mind of people in the twentieth century, Claire’s story does not make sense.
Interesting details
In the first chapter, Roger MacKenzie is tidying up the Reverend’s house. He is thinking of giving away many objects that his great-uncle collected throughout his life. Some of the items include badges given to beggars as license by parishes back in the eighteenth century, the “gaberlunzies”. This is a reference to Hugh Munro.
Claire is telling Roger about the modern Druids, and that Mrs. Graham used to belong to a group of them. She recounts the Druid dance she and Frank witnessed before going through the stones. Roger finds it really hard to visualize Mrs. Graham as a Druid. All he knows about the ancient Druids is that they burned sacrificial victims in cages. This is a reference to Geillis’s subsequent murder of her twentieth century husband. Of interest is the fact that later Claire reveals to Brianna that she is looking for somebody that she has not seen in twenty years. That person is Geillis. Of course Claire does not reveal the name at this stage, but just a summarized description of her.
. . . “It isn’t the Druid ladies I’m after, so much. There’s someone I used to know in Scotland that I wanted to find, if I can. I haven’t an address for her – I haven’t been in touch with her for more than twenty years – but she had an interest in odd things like that: witchcraft, old beliefs, folklore. All that sort of thing. She once lived near here; I thought if she was still here, she might be involved with a group like that” (ch. 1).
The topic of conversation then switches to Roger’s stunning green eyes, a colour he shares with his ancestor, Geillis.
Another scene of interest takes place when Brianna and Roger are at St. Kilda. She mentions that the kirk was built on top of an earlier building (church or temple). This explain why the kirk is not easily accessible. This is common all over Europe. Old churches in the Mediterranean can be found on top of hills, and it is not easy to reach them. In one of my husband’s land properties, there is an abandoned church that can only be accessed from the sea. It is possible to walk to this building, but it is far away from towns and in the middle of nowhere. These old buildings are evidence of syncretism. The established new faith was based on the old beliefs. This is further reflected when Roger explains to Brianna that the carved visage of St. Kilda is a modification of an older “pagan” god. This scene is followed by the kiss between Brianna and Roger while facing the location where an altar used to be. This foreshadows their marriage in the future / past.
At Culloden Moor
- Bonnie Prince Charles left behind a sterling silver picnic set.
- White heather is for luck and kingship. Together with the white rose, it was also Bonnie Prince Charles’s emblem. I wrote a separate post about the significance of this flower. Here is the link: White Heather and its Association with Claire
- Roger tells Brianna about the story behind the Well of Death. One Highland chieftain died there. There is a reference to this event in The Fiery Cross when Archie Hayes relates how Jamie saved him from being killed by Murchison:
“Ye dinna recall how ye struck Murchison across the head, just as he was set to bayonet me on the ground? And then ye picked me up and carried me from the field, awa to a bittie well nearby? One of the chiefs lay on the grass there, and his men were bathin’ his heid in the water, but I could see he was deid, he lay so still. . . (ch. 7)
Obviously it seems that Murchison remembered what Jamie did to him at Culloden, and tried to make his life miserable at Ardsmuir.
My favourite quotations
. . . Her face was flushed from the whisky, and her eyes were the most unusual light golden-brown color, he thought – like amber in crystal (ch. 2).
. . . I dropped peacefully into sleep, to dream of kilted Highland men, and the sound of soft-spoken Scots, burring round a fire like the sound of bees in the heather (ch. 3).
. . . And the voice of my dream still echoed through ears and heart, repeated with the sound of Brianna’s sleeping breath.
“You are mine,” it had said. “Mine! And I will not let you go” (ch. 4).
. . . Sufficient unto the day, the Reverend’s voice seemed to murmur to me, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. And then I slept (ch. 4).
I added the last phrase due to the fact that the Revered used it to soothe Claire. In Drums of Autumn it is revealed that Frank also used the same phrase to soothe both Claire and Brianna to sleep. This happens when Claire is having what I consider to be a hypnagogic communication with Frank.
Sources
Gabaldon, Diana. Dragonfly in Amber. New York: Bantam Dell, 1993. Print.
– – -. The Fiery Cross. 2001. New York: Bantam Dell. 2005. Print.