Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 15 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

After leaving Young Ian, John Quincy Myers, and Pollyanne, Claire and Jamie head through the mountains. This could become their home as they consider life in the backcountry. They know they can’t remain at River Run.

While camping overnight, a black bear attacks. It’s not normal for a black bear to attack, but there’s little time to think about that right away. Jamie needs to fight for his life, and Claire doesn’t do the best job in helping by hitting him (instead of the bear) over the head with a fish.

Fortunately, Jamie does manage to kill the bear, but he’s injured in the process. As Claire gathers things to treat his wounds, a small group of Tuscarora appears. They are the reason the bear attacked Claire and Jamie in the first place, but they are also impressed at Jamie killing the bear.

One of the Tuscarora tribe members takes some whisky and performs a ceremony on the deceased bear, something that Jamie later explains to Claire as a way to honor the life of the bear. It turns out that some of the Scottish culture and the Native American culture are the same.

That continues when Jamie goes over to skin the bear. He prays over the bear in Gaelic and the Tuscarora people are happily surprised by the actions.

I do find this interaction important. We get that reminder that the Native Americans were just as afraid of the white colonists. However, despite being words apart, there are some traditions that are the same. And we know now that there weren’t just similarities between Scots and the tribes. The Vikings, some of the Middle Eastern cultures, and many more had some similiarities. It just took speaking to each other or finding a way to connect to understand that.