Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 20 breakdown

Foreshadowing within the Outlander chapter

There is some foreshadowing at the start of the chapter of the things that will happen at the end and in the next chapter. Jamie mentions that the Dragoons won’t be too far away. Claire even says that she can’t take the road to Craigh na Dun because it could mean coming across the Dragoons.

It’s clear that this is going to come up at some point. It doesn’t take long for it to come up, with Corporal Hawkins being the one to find Claire in the river and save her from drowning.

We know right then that Claire is going to be taken to Black Jack Randall. You don’t need to have seen the show or read other chapters to know this is going to happen. The question is whether BJR will respect that Claire is married to a Scot and get word to the family that she has been captured.

There’s also a sense of foreshadowing that Claire just isn’t going to get back to her own time through choice. She’s tried so many times now and failed to get to the stones. Even while she’s trying to get there during this attempt, she’s thinking of Jamie.

She thinks about what he’ll do. Will he look for her? Will he assume she’s been taken away by animals? How long will it take for him to stop searching for her? It’s clear that she has some feelings for him. She cares about what he’ll think and how heartbroken he’ll be that she’s gone. Their bond has grown incredibly fast.

Yet, she still loves Frank. She still wants to get home. However, I do think there’s foreshadowing in this chapter that, eventually, Claire will chose Jamie over Frank. Her heart belongs to the young Scot.

For the most part, though, this chapter is in the moment. We’re driven with some hope that Claire can get back to her own time. After all, even though we love Claire and Jamie together, Claire is being pushed by a will to return to where she thinks is home and we want her to be happy.