Outlander Book Club: Book 1, Chapter 37 breakdown

Foreshadowing within the Outlander chapter

I don’t think there’s much in the way of foreshadowing in this chapter. It’s mostly focused on Claire and Murtagh getting Jamie to safety.

One thing I do think it foreshadows is that the three of them will always come to rely on each other. They will risk their lives for each other, and they will always be by each others’ sides.

While Claire still hasn’t bonded with Murtagh in the books as she did in the show, there is an element of bonding in the story. We can see that Claire trusts Murtagh and that she’s starting to recognize his facial expression and body language.

Then there’s the chase. Claire knows that hers, Jamie’s and Murtagh’s lives are all at stake. She needs to catch up with the soldier and kill him. This chapter makes it clear that Claire is willing to do whatever it takes to protect everyone. She will kill for Jamie, in the way that he will kill for her.

Yet, eventually, she’s not going to be able to. Her Hippocratic oath stops her from taking a life, but that’s not going to stop her from doing everything she can in other ways.

In the end, we get a story of the three heading to safety. There’s a calmness before the storm to come. After all, we still need to find out what happened to Jamie at Wentworth Prison.