Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 42 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
Because of Jamie’s job on the ship and the lack of injuries, Claire and Jamie get some time just the two of them. It’s the perfect time to find comfort together and reconnect, something they haven’t really been able to do up to this point.
The two are looking up at the moon while sailing, and Jamie thinks about the man in the moon. This brings up Claire’s thoughts about the future. Men were traveling to the moon with the hope of landing on it and walking on it. She doesn’t know if it did happen, but she hopes it did.
However, she does know what it looks like up there thanks to pictures. She tries to describe it to Jamie, describing it as like Scotland because of the crevices and the hills, but it has no water and there’s no life at all. There’s a beauty to this description despite the lack of life on the moon.
With the mention of pictures, Jamie pulls out the photos of Brianna. This is when he finally gets to the one of Bree in the bikini. I couldn’t remember if this was included in the book. Things start to run together for me.
Unlike his opinion in the show, it’s not the bikini that bothers Jamie in the book. It’s the fact that Bree is in a bikini around men. Should she be in such a state of undress around boys?
Claire explains to him how clothing is different now, but Jamie is more concerned about Brianna’s virtue. Is she still a virgin? Claire believes so. In fact, she’s adamant that Bree is. However, she admits that it’s not like she can explain sexual freedom to Jamie. He wouldn’t understand that.
What Claire can explain to him is how things have changed for women when it comes to marriage. Jamie worries that Claire shouldn’t have left Bree without a husband, but Claire explains that women marry for love and not out of necessity now. Women can have jobs, and they can own property without trouble.
Jamie is concerned about men not being needed, but Claire points out that women still need men but in different ways. Claire needs Jamie, but not because in her time she couldn’t have a job or life of her own. Her heart needs Jamie. It’s very different.
The chapter ends with Claire telling Jamie about the letter she left Brianna. She doesn’t know if Brianna has read the letter, but she imparted as much motherly wisdom as she could. The end of it advises Brianna not to try to change a man, but also not to let a man try to change her.
I do think this is important for us all to remember, especially when we wish characters acted differently.