Outlander Book Club: Book 2, Chapter 17 breakdown
Foreshadowing within the Outlander chapter
As I mentioned, I don’t see much in the form of foreshadowing in Dragonfly in Amber Chapter 17. The focus is on Jamie’s time at the brothel.
What I guess it could show us is that we shouldn’t forget that Jamie is an 18th-century man. There are times in the rest of the books that he has a view as an 18th-century man. Sure, he’s a man ahead of his time in some aspects, but that’s mostly due to his upbringing. He wants a relationship that involves love and he has seen how to treat a woman well. That doesn’t stop him from thinking in an 18th-century view gaining opinions from watching other men.
It’s easy to forget that Jamie is a man of his time some of the time. He is honorable. That doesn’t stop him from having his flaws, and it’s okay to call him out on those flaws now and then.
Adapting the Dragonfly in Amber chapter for the show
The show certainly adapted this chapter of Outlander Book 2, but in a different way. Jamie didn’t dance around where the bites came from. Instead, he was happy about the bites. He finally felt something when the women at the brothel bit him, and he wanted to come straight home to Claire to be with her.
This was all linked to finding out Black Jack Randall had survived, something that neither Claire nor Jamie have learned yet in Dragonfly in Amber.
I did prefer the way the show did it, mostly because Jamie outright admitted it. He was angry that Claire didn’t trust him—mostly because he came home because of it. Claire’s reaction was more the way I’d imagine it finding out the truth.
Mind you, I do prefer the way the show handled Jamie’s PTSD overall. The longer-term effects of the rape made more sense. Sometimes, it felt like the book had forgotten about this and the after-effects, although this is likely a downside of telling the story from Claire’s POV. I’d love to get some of the France storylines from Jamie’s POV.
Next. 25 most romantic moments on Outlander so far. dark
What did you get from reading Outlander Book 2, Chapter 17? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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