Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 56 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

I notice a lot of foreshadowing within Voyager Chapter 56. It all starts with Claire’s thoughts about the use of the penicillin. She knows she doesn’t have an infinity amount of the medicine, and she tries not to use it on herself. Eventually, she will need to figure out how to make her own, which is something for The Fiery Cross.

Then there’s the foreshadowing in the talk of the future. Claire suggests they get Jamie’s printing press. She suggests a printing business in one of the towns. While it doesn’t work out for Jamie—he becomes more like a laird at Fraser’s Ridge—it does happen for Fergus. The business idea is passed down from father to son (because, yes, that’s what Fergus has become to Jamie).

We also get that discussion of the colonies. It’s clear that this is where Claire and Jamie will end up. While initially, he wants to get Young Ian home, a mention of circumstances out of their control foreshadows that everyone is going to end up in the New World. And no, not all the Natives are like the Iroquois.

Finally, there’s a bit of foreshadowing that Brianna would come to join them. Claire doesn’t have knowledge of the colonies in this time period. Bree knows some things that will help.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

The turtle soup part of the chapter was used on Outlander Season 3, Episode 11. So was the use of the penicillin. Instead of breaking it up in separate sections in the show, the writers combined the two parts. This made a lot of sense for the sake of time.

The two were still interrupted. Instead of by Lawrence Stern, Yi Tien Cho interrupted them. And he definitely knew what he was interrupted. He had a smile on his face, which I believe was a sign that he was happy Claire and Jamie had worked out some of the problems they had earlier in the season.

Graham Menzies wasn’t used in Outlander Season 3, but he did eventually come up. The writers found a way to add his story into Outlander Season 5, which was certainly a pleasant surprise for many viewers.

The story was changed, though. I think this would have been because the writers made such a point that Claire would never do harm. She had taken an oath and Jamie understood that. He would probably question that oath if he heard this story, even though he had done the merciful thing of taking a life during Outlander Season 5.

Instead, Claire took time off because her patient died of a penicillin allergy. It was heartbreaking for her to lose this patient, and it certainly made her question a lot about herself. The patient was also the one to push her to return to Scotland. We got to know a little more about Menzies and how he encouraged her to return in the show, so I appreciated that.

What did you spot while reading Voyager Chapter 56? Let us know in the comments below.

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