Claire treats her Cherokee patients during Outlander Book 6, Chapter 20
We get a chapter that focuses more on how Claire and Jamie treat the Cherokee neighbors compared to some of the other emigrants in Outlander Book 6, Chapter 20.
This chapter is important when it comes to understanding the people. Claire refuses to see the Native Americans as different to her. After all, she and Jamie have Young Ian, who was adopted into one of the local tribes. Even before that, they got to know the neighbors and formed bonds with them.
Not everyone is like that, though. We get to see how others view the Native Americans. We also get a little more time with Bobby, who is clearly someone similar to Jamie and Claire in the way that he accepts different people.
The chapter hasn’t really been used in the series, and I doubt that we’ll get it. I’ll get to that when it comes to the adaptation section.
I don’t really get a sense of it foreshadowing much until the very end. It’s clear that it’s getting us ready for some time travel.
Let’s dive into A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 20.
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.
Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter
The foreshadowing here is in that Bree and Roger will eventually end up traveling through the stones. And it’s all going to link to the next child born. The two are happy in the past, settled with their family. However, Mandy is going to need modern-day medicine to save her, and that takes the family to their own time.
I think there’s also a bit of foreshadowing that they may have a child who can’t travel. We know in Go Tell the Bees that they have another child, and Mandy says that he’s “water” like Jamie. This suggests that Davy can’t travel through the stones, and it’s something that we still need to learn about.
Adapting A Breath of Snow and Ashes chapter
The chapter hasn’t been used in the series, and I doubt it will. It doesn’t have a big effect on the overall storyline, and do we really need to meet more people who don’t like the Cherokee? We know that a lot of emigrants didn’t like the Native peoples.
The only part that was partly used was the discussion of time travel. However, that was linked to Jemmy touching the opal and not really Claire and Jamie discussing that they could travel in the future.
I do wonder if we’ll get the Mandy storyline in the series. That’s something I’m not too sure about happening. I do wonder if it will be skipped, potentially because Outlander Season 7 will end up being the last. I’m not saying it will be, but it is on my mind.
What did you spot while reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 20? Let us know in the comments below.
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