Outlander Book Club: The Fiery Cross Chapter 4 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

Ah, the foreshadowing. There is certainly plenty of that in this chapter.

One bit that will stand out to many is Jocasta’s way of getting to the bottom of why Roger is marrying Brianna. Yes, everyone knows that he has no land or money. People believe he’s a gold digger and not marrying for love.

Jocasta either wonders that or she’s concerned about the gossip, so she goads Roger into making it clear to everyone that he has claimed Jemmy as his own and he loves Brianna.

Then there’s the talk of religion. Roger realizes how uneasy he feels at the idea of being requested to be baptized into the Catholic religion. He grew up Presbyterian and that means the world to him.

In later books, he turns back to his religion. In fact, it’s during The Fiery Cross and into A Breath of Snow and Ashes that he starts his spiritual journey and ends up becoming the minister for the Ridge. We get a hint of that happening just in this chapter.

Adapting The Fiery Cross chapter

The chapter wasn’t used in the series because the Gathering was never the big thing that the book made it. Also, Duncan wasn’t the big character in the show that he was in the book. At this point in the show, Jocasta and Murtagh had a relationship and Duncan didn’t come up until later in the season.

In a way, I was disappointed by this. It’s not that I missed Duncan as such, but I missed the conversation between Roger and Duncan. I think Jocasta goading Roger made a lot more sense with this conversation first. Roger had to realize that people in the colony believed him to be a gold digger.

However, I appreciate there would have been little time to fit this conversation in, even if it was with someone like Fergus instead of Duncan.

What did you spot while reading The Fiery Cross Chapter X? Let us know in the comments below.

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