One of my favorite quotes of the Outlander Series is in Drums of Autumn, ch. 15:
“What possessed ye, woman, to hit me in the heid wi’ a fish whilst I was fighting for my life?”
The quote is amusing when it is read. It is a comic relief especially after the struggle that both Jamie and Claire had with a black bear. However, there is something more to it. According to Claire, she hit the animal, not Jamie. Furthermore, the animal proceeded in attacking Claire (Drums of Autumn, ch. 15).
. . . I seized one of the trout by the tail, ran forward, and belted the bear across the nose with it as hard as I could.
The bear shut its mouth and looked surprised. Then its head slewed toward me and it lunged, moving faster than I would have thought possible. . .
Was Claire confused during the encounter with the bear? Did she hit Jamie unintentionally? Or, is there an assimilation process taking place between Jamie and what will become his spirit animal eventually in the mindset of the Amerindian tribes?
This instance is not the only one in which Claire confuses Jamie with a bear. His movements are described as bearlike during the fight, and one wonders whether Claire is referring to the bear or Jamie. Here are some examples from the text (Drums of Autumn, ch. 15):
I heard a muffled whoof! that didn’t seem to come from the bear, . . .
. . . I rolled onto all fours, shouting “Jamie!” a the trees, where a large, amorphous mass rolled to and fro, smashing down the oak saplings and emitting a cacophony of growls and Gaelic screeches.
. . . Something was moving under the branches, swaying heavily from side to side, on all fours.
Very slowly, breathing in gasps with a catch and a groan, Jamie crawled out into the clearing.
The subsequent interaction that Jamie and Claire have with the Tuscarora hunters provides more information about this assimilation.
Of note are the similar rituals practiced by the Scottish Highlanders and the Amerindian tribes. There is the gralloch prayer, which is also practiced by the Tuscarora. Second, there is the ritual in which Nacognaweto pours drops of whiskey into the bear’s mouth and carcass. Jamie recognizes this ritual as a charm similar to one in which the Scottish people scatter holy water to the “four airs” of the earth as a protection against evil. For more information about the four airs and the Amerindian shamanistic system, please check the suggested readings that I have outlined for this blog post.
However, there is one ritual in which there is no Scottish / Celtic equivalent, and it involves tobacco. Claire relates:
The older man took the pipe and drew several deep, leisurely mouthfuls, which he exhaled with evident pleasure. Then he knelt, and taking another deep lungful of smoke, carefully blew it up the nostrils of the dead bear. He repeated this process several times, muttering something under his breath as he exhaled. (Drums of Autumn, ch. 15)
To understand the meaning of this passage, one must consider that Native American and Celtic societies were animistic. Both living creatures and inanimate objects have souls. While researching for my published essay about half-ghosts in the Outlander Series, I came across a particular quote made by an archaeologist.
In much of eastern North America, tobacco was not only smoked but cast (as dried powder or compressed leaf mass) into fires, water, and rock crevices. The reason for this was linked to the widespread belief that even inanimate objects had souls, and that spirits inhabited virtually every realm . . . . Spirit beings were particularly fond of tobacco and, hence, were offered the precious substance at every opportunity (von Gernet 67).
Nacognaweto is sharing valuable substances, such as whiskey and tobacco, with the carcass of the bear, an inanimate object. Furthermore, von Gernet mentions that “blowing and sucking of smoke are perceived to be shamanistic metaphors for the transfer of spiritual power” (66). By subsequently sharing the pipe with Jamie, Nacognaweto is transferring to him the spirit of the bear.
Finally, I would like to mention the “dream” that Claire had after encountering the bear and the Tuscarora. It was not a dream. She was under the influence of both tobacco (at that time a different species with a strong hallucinogenic effect) and alcohol. She had sex with Jamie, and she describes him as a gentle bear.
. . . the great bulk of the bear looming over me, . . . My lying limp, pretending death, as he nudged and nuzzled, breath hot on my skin, fur soft on my breasts, gentleness amazing for a beast. (Drums of Autumn, ch. 16).
At this stage, it seems that the assimilation is complete.
Finally, if you are a big Outlander fan, I suggest you check the following group. You will enjoy yourself there.
Outlander – Escape Through the Stones
Sources
Gabaldon, Diana. Drums of Autumn. New York: Dell Publishing. 1997. Print.
von Gernet, Alexander. “Nicotian Dreams.” Consuming Habits: Drugs in History and Anthropology. 2d ed. Jordan Goodman, Paul E. Lovejoy, and Andrew Sherratt. Abingdon: Routledge, 1995. 65-85. Print.