Outlander Book Club: An Echo in the Bone Chapter 94 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We start with Claire contemplating suicide. She thinks of the best way to do it, knowing that she can’t live without Jamie. At first, she thinks of using the ether, but that would be too slow. There’s also the risk of someone finding her and removing the rag before she’s managed it.

So, she decides to die by Jamie’s blade that he gave her. That would be much quicker and easier.

By the end of the chapter, she decides that she can’t do it. She would have done it at Culloden had she not been pregnant. Now, she realizes that she can’t do it still because of Brianna. Her daughter gives her something to live for. There is a chance that Bree will come back to the past, and she needs to be alive for her.

I am surprised that Claire didn’t think about going back through the stones at this point. Why would she remain in the past when she could go back to Bree?

Meanwhile, Jamie is on the ship to Charleston. He thinks about death and how it would be easier to die than mourn. He can’t be the one to outlive Claire. He’s decided that.

Then he starts to think about how marrying Claire was a way to atone for his sins. There’s a nameless girl who died before Claire, and Jamie feels guilt over that death. He married Claire as a way to appease God, although he would have married her anyway.

He then thinks about his guilt over Geneva’s death. He should have said no that night, even though it wouldn’t have been possible. Jamie believes that John looking after William means that Jamie can’t have that life as a way to make up for the loss of Geneva. He needs to protect someone else, and he thinks of Jenny.

I love how we see Jamie viewing the world as “a life for a life” when it comes to atoning for his own sins. As he gets closer to death, he feels that weight even more.