Just a look at the Outlander chapter
This chapter gives us an introduction to Geillis Duncan. That’s one of the most important elements of the chapter considering the role Geillis plays in later books. I’ll get to that in a moment.
Something struck me while rereading this chapter. Claire immediately calls her “Geilie” as a nickname. At no point as Geillis told her that she can call her that; Claire just assumes that it’s okay. I have wondered if “Geilie” is actually the pronunciation of “Geillis,” and something that everyone has gotten wrong. Claire pictures the name as “Geilie” when thinking about her because that’s how she hears the name pronounced.
She doesn’t do this with anyone else, though. So, Claire just decides to give her a nickname immediately. It certainly suggests the close connection Claire already feels to this character.
We get a sense of Geillis’s attitude and personality immediately. She’s sarcastic and cheeky. This is a woman who doesn’t conform fully to the women of the time, which makes her an outcast. It’s no wonder Claire connects with her immediately.
The chapter also gives us a look at 18th-century justice. Claire sees that a young boy is being taken before men in power. They need to make a judgment after catching him stealing, and one possible punishment is the loss of a hand. It was a normal punishment for the time and something Claire immediately judges. Fortunately, she convinces Geillis to make the punishment as minimal as possible.
However, there’s something that strikes me towards the end of the chapter. Claire wants to do something to help the boy, but she can’t. She realizes that on her own, she can’t change anything for this boy. She can’t just go up against people as a lone voice, and she connects it back to the atrocities of World War II.
Claire thinks of the stories she heard about the concentration camps and how people just stood by and watched. It’s scary for one lone voice to do or say anything, showing that Claire has some empathy for those who did stand by. She understands why she didn’t say anything because she’s too afraid to stand up for the boy during this chapter.
I do think this is important for Claire, and I’ll get into that next with the foreshadowing within the chapter. I’ll also touch on this in the TV series section.