Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 22 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

For the most part, I don’t see a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter. It’s mostly about Claire and Jamie growing closer. We get to see the punishment for a wife in the 18th century and see that Jamie is somewhat a man of his time. However, we also see that Jamie knows what it means to be beaten. He understands the embarrassment but also the lessons to be learned.

The foreshadowing is mostly at the end. There’s a hint that everything with Laoghaire isn’t over yet.

Up to this point, Claire hasn’t thought too much about Laoghaire since the wedding. But she can’t help but think of Laoghaire now. She brings up Jamie taking the beating and kissing Laoghaire in the alcove.

It feels to me like this is going to become a bigger problem in the future. We know they’ll get back to Castle Leoch eventually and both Claire and Jamie will need to face Laoghaire. Claire has to figure out if Jamie has feelings for this girl.

On the one hand, it could mean Claire won’t break Jamie’s heart if she finally gets back to the stones. On the other hand, we can see that Claire has some strong feelings for Jamie. She doesn’t want to admit them right now as she still loves Frank, but she will feel hurt if Jamie has an affair with Laoghaire.

The other element of foreshadowing at the end is with the oath. It’s clear that Jamie wants to have a happy marriage. He wants someone who will love him; a marriage like his parents had. It means he has to think about how to treat Claire and he’s willing to do that.

I think there’s also an element of foreshadowing of oaths in the future. Claire will take the oath to become a doctor and Jamie will understand how much that oath means to her.