Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 20 breakdown
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter is mostly about life on the Ridge still. Claire gets a letter from Lord John Grey, who has sent items with Bobby for her. He does wonder why Claire needs them, asking if she’ll share later.
When Jamie returns from meeting with Bird again, Claire needs to get to work treating some injuries and ailments. This leads to Hiram Crombie showing up. He doesn’t like the Native Americans and is wary of them. He’s shocked to find out that one of his ancestors’ names is connected to one of the women.
Could Hiram be connected to the Native Americans? Everyone finds that amusing considering his dislike for them. I think it points out that people being against others who are different really is a learned behavior and is based on fear. There’s no other reason for it, and it’s something that has always happened in life and needs to start changing today.
Sequoyah turns up with a body. Well, with remains. The remains need to be buried, and Sequoyah explains that the man wasn’t killed in a violent way. We get to hear about how this man’s spirit just left his body, and Sequoyah didn’t think of doing anything but leaving the remains with the knife that the man was hunting with since the spirit may require it.
I love that we get just a small look at the way the Cherokee viewed life after death. The spirit might require the knife, and Sequoyah is respectful of that. It’s important to get some sort of understanding of the culture, and this is a chance for Claire and Jamie to learn a little more with Young Ian doing some of the translation and explanation.
Toward the end of the chapter, Claire and Jamie do end up discussing whether Bree and Roger will return to their own time. It’s clear that Jemmy can time travel considering what he did to the opal. However, will the two have another child and will that child be able to time travel?
After that, Jamie talks about womanly virtues and shares the ones that Claire does have. There is kindness and compassion, even if she’s not the greatest cook. She is also faithful, and that is something Jamie loves about her.