Foreshadowing within the Outlander chapter
There is a little foreshadowing within the chapter, although not all of it will be intentional. The most important foreshadowing comes from Dougal collecting money for the Jacobite cause. It’s clear that this cause is going to keep coming up, especially as we know it’s 1743 right now.
Claire starts to wonder if Colum is a Jacobite supporter. She’s on the fence it seems in the chapter, but it’s foreshadowing Dougal believing in something that his brother doesn’t. Dougal wants to put the “right” king on the throne, someone who will look out for Highlanders.
We also get a little foreshadowing of Jamie’s predicament. Claire overhears a conversation which suggests Jamie has lost his lands because of the price on his head. All that’s waiting for him is a noose if the English have a say, and Jamie should want the Jacobite king on the throne. Yet, we get this element of foreshadowing that Jamie doesn’t care for politics, but he will do what’s right to protect himself and his family.
A little bit of foreshadowing that I find funny is Ned’s talk of no live pigs. He doesn’t want that livestock around. While goats can be problematic, they’re useful. Birds can be caged. But it’s clear that pigs will do what they want. I can’t help but think of the White Sow, which has a very bad habit of doing what she wants at Fraser’s Ridge.
Of course, this wasn’t intentional foreshadowing. At this point when Diana Gabaldon was writing, she didn’t know there would be more books. But it’s one of those little elements that puts a smile on my face when I think about it.
There is also a mention of the stones, as Claire thinks about what people would have said if anyone saw her appear from the stones—and she considers the other way around. Claire thinks that people of the time would call her a witch or fairy, and she does become known as both. I think of Young Ian, who has always believed Claire to be of the fairy folk.