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74 pages 2 hours read

Diana Gabaldon

Outlander

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991

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Part 2, Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary: “Colum’s Hall”

Claire attends dinner at Colum’s castle for the first time. The dinner part consists of about forty people, with ten attending them. Colum is seated by his wife Letitia and his son Hamish. Claire notes that Hamish looks more like Colum’s brother Dougal than Colum. Dougal is seated with his teenage daughters, Margaret and Eleanor. Colum inquires after Jamie. Dougal tells him that he sent Jamie down to the stables. “Aye, well…ye trust him so far?” Colum asks Dougal, raising Claire’s suspicions about the relationship between Colum, Dougal, and Jamie (152). She later finds out that Jamie is Colum and Dougal’s nephew. Claire resolves to find Jamie in the morning to check his wounds.

The next day, Claire attends “Hall,” a public forum in which Colum dispenses justice by hearing cases and settling disputes. Cases are presented both in English and Gaelic, the Celtic language of Scotland. Claire is surprised to find herself one of the cases. As her captor, Dougal makes the case for Claire to stay at the castle for refuge until her English connections are found. Douglas says the word “English” with a hint of irony. Claire gleans that she is being “tolerated but held under suspicion” (158). Instead of telling them the truth, Claire had told the men that she had been on her way to visit relatives in France when she was attacked by Randall. Colum agrees and offers his hospitality.

A burly man drags in a young girl in front of Colum. The man, her father, accuses his 16-year-old daughter, Laoghaire, of being too flirtatious and requests that she be publicly beaten by Angus, a giant appointed to dole out punishment on Colum’s behalf. Jamie steps in and offers to take Laoghaire’s punishment for her, and Colum agrees. Mrs. Fitz, the castle healer, notes to Claire that it is permissible for a man of one’s own clan to accept punishment on one’s behalf, but in this case Jamie is outside of the clan, meaning that he is not a MacKenzie. Mrs. Fitz points to Jamie’s tartan, which is brown and blue and not the MacKenzie green. Angus beats Jamie.

Later, Claire asks Jamie why he took the beating for Laoghaire. Jamie answers that she is very young and that it would have negatively affected her reputation much more than his as a property-less outlaw. Claire watches Laoghaire flow as she passes Jamie and notices the beauty of Laoghaire’s blue eyes and rose-petal skin.

While Jamie takes up work as the new horse-breaker, Claire becomes occupied first with gardening. At lunch, Claire takes Jamie some food as an excuse to check his injured shoulder. Jamie tells Claire of a winter in which he went three days without food. Engaged in conversation, Claire forgets to check Jamie’s shoulder.

Chapter 7 Summary: “Davie Beaton’s Closet”

Colum summons Claire and asks her to be the community healer in place of the late Davie Beaton. Claire realizes that Colum is not a man she can easily refuse. With great effort due to his bowed legs, Colum leads Claire to Beaton’s office. Claire suggests massage for Colum’s leg pain. Claire notes that she is being watched for signs that she will escape.

In Beaton’s office, Claire realizes she is alone for the first time. She tries to remember how she travelled back to the past. She wonders if the stones she heard screaming were a door or a crack in time. She realizes that she recalls a few details of her journey, such as the feeling of a current she was fighting to get to the surface of. She wonders if she actually chose to come to this particular time. Her thoughts are interrupted by two teenage girls, who tell her there is food in the kitchen for her.

Claire brings Jamie lunch again. She realizes that he is upper class and well educated. He tells her that the English have a ransom out for him for murder. However, Jamie claims that he did not kill the man they say he did. Claire witnesses Jamie “shift his shoulders, as though rubbing against some invisible wall,” which she has seen him do several times before (187). Jamie continues by telling him of his escape from the English stronghold Fort William after being flogged twice and falling into a fever as a result. He mentions Jack Randall.

Jamie explains that he does not stray too far from the castle for fear of being captured by the English border patrol, the Watch. He also divulges that at one point he had sought refuge with monks in France, where he recovered from the lashes on his back. Jamie admits to still having headaches as a result of the injury.

Alec McMahon MacKenzie, the Master of Horse at the Castle Leoch, interrupts the conversation. Alec asks Jamie is he has made a decision about an event called the Gathering. Jamie replied, “[…] kiss the iron and change my name to MacKenzie, and forswear all I’m born to? Nay, I canna make up my mind to it” (193). Alec replies that Jamie is still kin to the MacKenzies. He also alludes to a union between Jamie and Laoghaire. Jamie defensively answers that there is nothing going on between he and Laoghaire. Alec mentions that Jamie looks like his father, Black Brian. Claire tries to attend to Jamie’s wound, but Jamie refuses to let her examine it, claiming that he needs to go back to work and telling her she can check it after supper. Back at Beaton’s office, Claire attends to two wounded young men and realizes she is truly now the new physician of Castle Leoch.

Chapter 8 Summary: “An Evening’s Entertainment”

In her room, Claire reflects on her new role as physician and her pleasure in being able to relieve pain once more. She feels grateful for Colum for giving her the role.

Claire identifies Colum’s ailment as a degenerative disease of the bone and connective tissue called Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome. The symptoms include pasty, wrinkled skin, dryness, twisted and bowed bones, low white-cell count, and sterility and impotency. Claire concludes that Letitia must have had an affair to conceive Hamish.

That evening at the Hall, Colum gives Claire a strong wine called Rhenish. Claire assesses that both Colum and Dougal are attractive men. Claire takes a seat near Laoghaire to watch Gwyllyn the bard. Noticing Laoghaire’s attentions toward Jamie, Claire waves Jamie over to sit with them. Jamie tells Claire that he spent a year at Castle Leoch as a teenager. Laoghaire pipes up that she remembers Jamie. Jamie dismisses the comment, noting that she would not have been more than seven or eight at the time. Claire knows that Jamie did not mean to offend Laoghaire, still Laoghaire looks hurt. Jamie displaces Laoghaire by offering Claire a better view. After Jamie translates a love song for Claire, Claire asks Jamie if he would marry without money or marry a girl without it. Jamie replies that since he has no money, he would be lucky if any woman married him. Jamie sips the wine Colum gave Claire and laughs at its strength. Claire gleans that Colum was trying to get her drunk to find out more about her background.

While hearing the folk songs, Claire realizes that many Scottish Highland stories use the time frame of 200 years. She calculates that this is more of less the time gap between the time she is in and the era she left. She also notes that in the stories, the travelers always return, and allows herself to hope that she could perhaps return to 1945 if she returns to the stones at Craigh na Dun.

Jamie escorts Claire to her chamber, where he follows her in. Claire soon realizes that he intends to show her his wounds. Claire asks Jamie why he didn’t allow her to examine him earlier. He admits that he didn’t want Alec to see the damage to his back from the British floggings. Though Jamie knew that Alec was aware of his scars, Jamie maintains that, “[…] to know something like that is no the same as seein’ it wi’ your own eyes […] if he were to see the scars, he couldna see me anymore without thinking of my back” (219). Claire admits that, looking at Jamie’s back, she can’t help but think about the situation in which Jamie got the scars. After an intimate moment, Jamie invites Claire to the stables the next day to see a newborn foal.

The next morning, Claire stumbles across Jamie kissing Laoghaire. Claire teases Jamie about it at dinner, asking him if his swollen lip is due to a horse thumping him. Jamie claims to have bit his tongue and excuses himself from dinner.

Alec scolds Claire for teasing Jamie. He claims that Jamie needs a woman and not a girl, and that Laoghaire will be a girl even when she is fifty. He claims that Claire also knows the difference between a woman and a girl. Claire goes to bed contemplating this remark.

Chapter 9 Summary: “The Gathering”

Claire’s life at Castle Leoch becomes routine. She sees patients, works in the garden, visits the stables, and sometimes dines with the MacKenzie community in the great hall. Claire becomes friendly with some of the women in the community, who invite her fruit picking. From them, she gathers that the Gathering Alec mentioned to Jamie is an important event. Claire befriends an herbalist named Geillis Duncan. Geillis tells Claire that some of the village women and girls come to her to treat them with an herb that aborts pregnancy. Geillis admits to marrying her husband Arthur for the practicalities of his money and land. She gossips that Colum’s son Hamish is actually Jamie’s son. Another new friend, Magdalen, accidentally tells Claire that Colum is watching Claire closely because she is English.

On a trip to the nearby village of Cranesmuir with Geillis and Dougal, Claire witnesses the public punishment of a 12-year-old boy for stealing. Claire implores Geillis to speak to her husband on the boy’s behalf, and Geillis agrees. While Geillis is gone, Claire reflects on the “pitiless justice” of human atrocity (241). In her own time, she wondered how the Germans allowed the Holocaust to happen. Faced with her own complacency, Claire begins to understand.

Geillis returns, reporting that the boy had already confessed when she arrived and that her interference had only lightened the boy’s punishment to one hour in the pillory and one ear nailed to the pillory. Jamie arrives to take Claire back to the castle on Colum’s orders. Claire asks Jamie if the boy is still at the pillory. He says he is and informs her that the boy is to tear his ear loose from the nail in order to set himself free. Claire asks Jamie to help her free the boy. While Claire distracts the crowd, Jamie wrenches the boy’s head free. Claire feels that this shared experience between she and Jamie strengthens their friendship.

Chapter 10 Summary: “The Oath-Taking”

Claire finds herself excited on the day of The Gathering, an oath-taking in which the men of the MacKenzie clan make their oaths of allegiance to Colum. During her time at the castle, Claire has managed to stow away several days’ worth of provisions that can see her through her escape. However, as she approaches the stables to steal a horse, her plans for escape are thwarted by Jamie. Jamie coolly informs Claire that even if she had escaped, she would not have gotten very far since Colum has hired guards to keep watch in the castle and in the woods.

Jamie admits that he is hiding in the stables to avoid having to swear allegiance to Colum. The pair is interrupted by the sudden appearance of three drunk MacKenzie men, who noisily usher Jamie and Claire to the Gathering. Claire tries to whisper an apology for roping Jamie into attending the Gathering, but he waves her away, saying that his choice to pledge allegiance to the MacKenzie clan or not would have had to be made eventually. He shares with Claire that his family clan’s motto is the French phrase Je suis prest, or, “I am ready” (263).

When it is time for Jamie to come before Colum, instead of swearing his allegiance, he bows deeply then looks Colum straight in the face and says that he comes to Colum as a friend and ally, but that he shall keep his family name. He vows to give his “obedience, as kinsman and as laird” (269). After a pause, Colum accepts Jamie’s offer of friendship and goodwill as an ally of the MacKenzie clan.

Mrs. Fitz clears all the women out of the hall while the men get drunker and therefore more dangerous. Claire takes a wrong turn on the way back to her room and runs into a pack of rowdy MacKenzie clansmen who attempt to sexually accost her. Dougal steps in at the last minute. Without warning, he kisses her, then releases her, instructing her to go back to her room before she pays a “greater price” for his rescue (274).

The next morning, the MacKenzie men go boar hunting. A man by the name of Geordie is maimed by a boar. When Claire arrives to treat Geordie, she sees the wound is too great and Geordie will die. To spare Geordie a drawn out death, Dougal unties his bandages so that Geordie bleeds to death, which Claire concludes would have been a “better death […] to die cleanly under the sky” (280). Dougal turns to Claire and ascertains out loud that she has seen men die before.

The following afternoon, Claire stumbles upon a conversation between Jamie and Dougal in the stables. Dougal announces that he will be taking Jamie and Claire with him to collect rent from tenants through the MacKenzie lands. Dougal tells Claire he will take her to Fort William so she may attempt to contact her relatives in France. Claire suspects that the trip to Fort William is also an attempt on Dougal’s part to find out further information about who she is. Still, Claire sees the trip as an opportunity to find her way back to the stones of Craigh na Dun, and from there, home.

Part 2, Chapters 6-10 Analysis

In Chapter 6, Colum gives Claire a job as a castle physician, which fills Claire with a sense of purpose. This act also complicates Colum’s role in Claire’s life as both a captor and protector. Though he keeps her under watch at Castle Leoch, Colum also takes steps to include her in the Leoch community, thus gifting her with a meaningful role and commitment to those around her. Claire also finds herself at the cusp of a new adventure and sense of purpose when she becomes the Castle Leoch physician. The routine and satisfaction that Claire settles into as a member of the Castle Leoch community complicates her plans to return to 1945 and further establishes Claire in her new setting. The motif of medical assessment continues as Claire ascertains the ailments of her community and uses this skill to get closer to Jamie. Claire continues to use medical assessment and her knowledge of medicine as a form of power.

The complex family dynamics and complicated family allegiances further the theme of the importance of family lineage, as livelihoods and survival depend upon how one aligns oneself. This theme develops when it is revealed that Jamie is of a different clan than the MacKenzies. Though Jamie is a blood relative to Dougal and Colum, they still see him as a threat to their power. In Chapter 7, Jamie must make the decision whether to relinquish his family name to safeguard his own life. Jamie displays his own investment in family lineage when he refuses to take the MacKenzie clan name and keep his own instead, even though the MacKenzie name would offer him protection from the English. To Jamie, acknowledging and honoring his bloodline is even more important than living. It becomes clear that in 1743 Scotland family lineage is a matter of both political and social strategy and pride. Family lineage is also touched upon when the question of Hamish’s parentage arises.

These chapters also engage with the motif of sexual violence as Dougal saves Claire from sexual assault on the night of the Gathering only for him to force himself upon her in a nonconsensual kiss. The motif of parenthood and the theme of the importance of family lineage crop up again when Claire suspects that Hamish is not Colum’s biological son.

Part 2 solidifies the friendship between Jamie and Claire as Claire consistently visits Jamie in the stables, at first under the guise of treating Jamie’s wounds and then in the spirit of companionship. The theme of new beginnings starts to develop with Claire and Jamie’s blooming friendship, which will soon amplify into an ardent love. Jamie confides in Claire about his complicated past. However, the presence of the beautiful young girl Laoghaire presents a possible obstacle to Jamie and Claire’s budding attraction. Though Jamie denies any romance between himself and Laoghaire, Claire later catches Jamie and Laoghaire in an embrace, calling into question Jamie’s trustworthiness.

Claire is introduced to the relationship between justice and corporal punishment when she witnesses Jamie publicly take a beating intended for Laoghaire. This theme is complicated by the physical punishment of a child; Claire expresses horror when a 12-year-old suspected thief has his ear nailed to a pillory as punishment. Claire reflects upon her own complacency in this atrocious situation and questions her right to outrage as an outsider in this culture, community, and era. However, Claire ultimately decides against the morality of this child abuse and enlists Jamie to help her free the boy.

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