Jemmy gets lice and needs his head shaved in Outlander Book 6, Chapter 75
What starts off as a cute chapter of Jemmy and Claire baking together ends with a major moment for Roger in Outlander Book 6, Chapter 75. Jemmy gets lice and it changes everything.
Brianna isn’t too happy with Jemmy getting lice. She finds out that the only option for her son is to shave his head, and it’s not something she really wants to do. Sure, there are other ways to deal with lice, but not when the boy is so young. There’s no way he’d sit still long enough to deal wth it. Not like how Jamie does for Claire to deal with infestations he can end up with.
Who would have thought that shaving Jemmy’s head would be so positive in the end, though? This is the moment that Roger finds out whether he is Jemmy’s biological father or not.
The chapter foreshadows a little. I’ll get to that in the foreshadowing section. However, I will point out that most of this chapter is just focused on the present time.
It was partly used in the TV series. Instead of being around the whole family, Bree and Roger are alone with Jemmy. Bree doesn’t put up much of an argument to preserve Jemmy’s hair, and I’ll get to my thoughts on that in the adaptation section.
Let’s dive into A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 75.
Just the Outlander chapter
The chapter starts with Jemmy and Claire baking. Jemmy loves to eat the raw batter. Honestly, what kid doesn’t?
However, as everyone gets back, they all realize that Jemmy has lice. There’s an infestation going around the Ridge, and Claire realizes that the only real option is to shave Jemmy’s head. Brianna doesn’t really want to do this. I didn’t quite get Bree’s disagreement to shave it. When it came to one of my kids getting lice that I just could not get rid of, her hair was cut relatively short just to handle the situation better. There was no argument about it.
Okay, I did try other options first. That’s because we have better options now. But it only took about a week of other options before I’d had enough. Not even that!
Anyway, back to the story. Claire runs through options to get rid of the lice, but it would mean a lot of work over the next few days. In the end, everyone agrees that shaving Jemmy’s head is the best option.
This is when Bree spots a mole. Claire isn’t worried about it, sharing that it usually forms around three years of age. It’s also usually hereditary. Roger notes that he has one too, and suddenly everyone realizes what that means. Roger and Jemmy are biologically related.
Roger tries to hold back the emotions. Instead, he tells everyone that he has lice too and he needs his head shaved as well. “Like father, like son.”
Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter
We know that everything with Jemmy’s paternity isn’t over just yet. Stephen Bonnet is still out there, and the man believes that maybe he is Jemmy’s father. Jemmy being the heir to River Run is going to be important to Bonnet.
We still need to see how all that plays out in the book. However, that’s just a small hint in the chapter as they discuss hereditary marks. Most of the focus is on the situation at the time.
Adapting A Breath of Snow and Ashes chapter
This chapter was partly adapted for the TV series. We didn’t see everyone around, but we do get to see Roger and Brianna realize that Roger is Jemmy’s biological father.
Everything happens in the Outlander Season 6 finale. The family is on the road to Edenton, where Brianna realizes that the only option for Jemmy’s lice is to shave his head. I love that there isn’t a discussion about what to do. Bree is very straightforward in her thoughts. Why would she worry about other options to treat lice, especially out in the forest?
We get that moment of Roger noting that the mole is hereditary. He has the information because of his doctor. It makes sense that he’d know something about it, although he would have been too young at the time to know much. That part isn’t important to me. I’m so there for the reaction. I just love the way Roger doesn’t note what it actually means at first. It’s Brianna who realizes at first, and then Roger decides that he has lice too.
I still get shivers thinking about the way the scene on the show played out. I certainly connected with it more on the series than through the book, although I did miss Claire and Jamie’s reactions to hearing the news, too.
What did you spot while reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 75? Let us know in the comments below.
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