Adapting the chapter for the Outlander TV series
Finally, we have to look at how this chapter was used in the TV series.
Something to remember is that the place of Jamie’s healing slightly changed. Jamie wasn’t at the abbey in France where his uncle was. However, that doesn’t stop having the monks around him and Claire to help with the healing. There just isn’t that familial connection.
Another change is the way Jamie’s mental health was during this point in the TV show. While we saw some of the infection, Claire and the monks got that under control relatively early in the Outlander Season 1 finale. Jamie’s unwillingness to heal properly came from his mind haunting him. He was ready to die after everything at Wentworth and now he didn’t want to live with the shame and trauma.
Claire had to take drastic measures to get Jamie to open up to her. She used the tough love to make him talk and allow the pain to release. She needed him to fight for his own life and fight to be with her.
The outcome was mostly the same in both show and book. It was about getting Jamie to want to live. He needed to fight for his own life. Claire had done everything she could to heal the physical wounds and it was time to heal some of the mental ones.
I actually preferred the TV show when it came to Jamie’s mental state after Wentworth. The book’s storyline has its place, but I think the TV show offered more of a look at the trauma that Jamie faced. I think it focused more on the after-effects of everything that happened, and not just in the Season 1 finale. This went into the start of Season 2, which I wholeheartedly appreciated from the series.
Part of me thinks though that this was possible because we saw more of Jamie’s view at the abbey. The book only told us Claire’s point of view, so we missed the conversations Jamie had with Murtagh and the monks. It does limit things when it comes to understanding Jamie better. It would be interesting to see the Outlander story told from Jamie’s point of view to see what we missed.
What did you catch during your reading of Outlander Book 1, Chapter 39? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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