Outlander - Diana Gabaldon [418]
30. Although Claire appreciates Jamie’s protectiveness, she is sometimes quick to assume that he shares what seems to be a widespread 18 c. attitude that women are not intelligent enough to master certain skills; for example, using heavy pistols (348). Chastened, she realizes the men are right that a sgian dhu is a better weapon for her, and they teach her how to use it properly—to good effect when she kills her attacker in Chapter 20, “Deserted Glades.” But her most difficult and complex adjustment to 18 c. mores—and the one most readers find most controversial—undoubtedly concerns the beating she receives at Jamie’s hands following her rescue from Black Jack Randall at Fort William for her disobedience in refusing to stay in the copse where Jamie had ordered her to stay. Her independent streak and determination to return to her husband Frank, despite the growing love she feels for Jamie, endanger Jamie’s life and the life of his men far beyond what she had imagined. Re-read Chapter 21 and 22. Was Jamie justified in beating Claire? Why or why not? Did it affect your response to his character? When you read Jamie’s anecdotes about the physical discipline he received from his beloved father Brian, how does that affect your judgment of him? What do both Claire and Jamie learn from the experience?
31. Given the information available, is Claire’s jealousy of Laoghaire and her hurt pride when she thinks that Jamie may have married her primarily for his share of the rents that now accrue to him as a married man reasonable? Or do her jealousy and hurt pride point to a deep insecurity in her? How does the episode with the wedding ring reinforce Jamie’s commitment to her?
Part FOUR A Whiff of Brimstone
32. When they return to Leoch, after the drama of the Fort William episode, Claire learns—almost anticlimactically—that Horrocks, the deserter who was in a position to confirm Jamie’s innocence regarding the murder of the sergeant-major, identified Black Jack Randall as the killer. This disappointing information is useless, because of Randall’s apparently unassailable status and power, but it does provide a segue to other examinations of the abuses of power (a recurring motif in the whole series), including the Duke of Sandringham’s humorously inept attempts at seduction of young men like Jamie. His predatory behavior is treated comically here. Why does Claire rather like the Duke? Why is Jamie willing to go hunting with him?
33. When Geilie and Claire find the “changeling” baby, Claire is appalled by the ignorance and inadvertent cruelty of the ancient superstition, and appeals to Jamie for help in rescuing it. Despite his rationality, however, he is reluctant to challenge local mores—and against his better judgment, checks on the child, who is dead. But what do you think Jamie would have done had it been alive? When Geilie warns her against her altruism, “Don’t ye know what they say about you in the village (497)?” do you think Geilie is telling the truth, or is she merely attempting to prevent Claire from doing something that would get them all into trouble?
34. In the complex drama of Claire’s arrest as a witch, what seems to be the balance in this book between the world of the natural and the supernatural? Geilie’s interest in the dark arts encompasses not only occult spells, about which Claire is skeptical, but also a practical expertise with the biochemical properties of substances such as opium, arsenic, and cyanide. (If you have read the sequels, what is the significance of the reference to the L’Grimoire d’le Comte St. Germain?) Some of the details for the pretext of Claire’s