Chapter 4: I Come to the Castle

In this chapter, we continue our explorations of the rapeteenth century.

By the standards I was becoming used to, it was quite dull.

I like snotty Claire. It's not that she's prissy — she's quite willing to wade through whatever filth needs to be dealt with — but she will certainly think something snide while she's doing it. And, more often than not, there's no filter between brain and mouth. It makes her fun to read, though I am perpetually worried that someone is going to smash her teeth in for her.

Claire and her captors are on the road to Castle Leoch. Claire observes that the place is no fairy tale castle, but "more like an enormous fortified house."

I say this without fear of contradiction . . .

I'm still puzzling a bit over the voice of this book. Is Claire telling this story to someone? It's first person, but told in the past tense, and with some of these asides that makes it sound as if she might be writing in a journal or telling the tale to someone.

When I had known it, Castle Leoch was a picturesque ruin, some thirty miles north of Bargrennan.

I've tried looking these places up on Google Maps in order to build a mental geography for myself, but have found that it is not very helpful. There is a town called Bargrennan in Scotland, but it is much farther south than any of this. Thirty miles north of Bargrennan would still put you well south of Glasgow. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I was beginning to accept the impossible idea that I was, most likely, somewhere in the eighteenth century.

She comes to this realization mostly because everything is so filthy. I approve of this.

Claire meets Mistress FitzGibbons, who "started back as though bitten by a snake" at the sight of Claire in her 20th-century duds.

Claire convinces Mrs. Fitz that she is some sort of healer and that she must see to Jamie's wounds immediately. They find a cozy fireside and Claire tries to figure out how to fight infection with herbs and garlic.

In this first encounter, we find Mrs. Fitz to be a competent, straightforward woman who both respects Claire and anticipates her needs, for example, bringing the herbs Claire requests, along with some that she thinks of on her own. Claire seems to forge good relationships with older women of this temperament (like Mrs. Graham), and I'm hopeful that Mrs. Fitz will be a friend to her. At this point, I'm still wary of Jamie, who is just one of Dougal's guys as far as I'm concerned.

There are some descriptions of oozing wounds and "a soft crackling of dried blood" and it occurs to me that there are going to be A LOT of disgusting descriptions in this book. I watched large portions of the show through my fingers, so we'll see if I can get through these.

For example, the next passage, in which we are introduced to Jamie's scarred back. Claire takes it in, noting the "irregular patches where several blows had struck the same spot, flaying off skin and gouging the muscle beneath." Ug, that flogging scene in the TV show.

"If he was not precisely joyous, he was at least verra pleased with himself . . . Randall was the name."

Hmm. Claire might have some difficulties readjusting to her 20th-century life even if she were able to get back at this early stage. It would be uncomfortable to see the face of your would-be rapist (who enjoys flogging people half to death) whenever you looked at your own husband.

Could someone related to my sweet gentle Frank possibly be capable of inflicting the horrifying marks on this lad's back?

Of course. This reminds me of those genealogy-based shows where celebrities trace their family trees and make perplexing statements about the heritability of all manner of personality traits. It's one thing to have family legends about an ancestor's stubborn determination or gentle kindness that can help shape the descendants' ethics. But the people on these shows are usually uncovering ancestors and stories they've never heard of before. They say silly things like, "Now I know where I got my commitment to animals" when they find out that their great-great-great grandfather raised sheep. With this book's demonstrated interest in adoption/genealogy/family, I am anticipating further discussion of this question, though I'm not sure it's off to a promising start. I am skeptical about any individual person resembling their 6x great-grandparent in any way, physical or otherwise.

"'Why were you flogged?' I asked abruptly. It was hardly tactful, but I badly wanted to know, and was too tired to phrase it more gently."

God bless, Claire. Your near total lack of tact is refreshing.

Claire and Jamie discuss his flogging. We are treated to the juxtaposition of Jamie's appearance "shirtless, scarred, and blood-smeared" and his gentle joking. I suppose he seems nice enough, but he's right that Claire is bolder than wisdom might dictate in allowing herself to be alone with him.

Claire is good at her job. She's treated many wounded men, and she keeps Jamie talking in order to keep him occupied while she works. This is a convenient means of giving us backstory, but it is also believable and unobtrusive.

We hear the story of the day Black Jack Randall came to Jamie's home (which he refers to as "our place" in an effort to remain somewhat anonymous to Claire). We get the first mention of Jenny — everyone's favorite character, as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, she is having a bad time with Black Jack in this flashback.

"But there's other cures for other cats, aren't there, my sweet pussy?"

"I couldna move much, but I shouted to her that I wasna hurt — and I wasn't, too much — and that she was not to go with him, not if they cut my throat before her eyes."

This seems like one of those things that's meant to be gallant, but comes off sort of shitty. He's putting Jenny in a position of responsibility for the outcome of this situation: if she struggles and Black Jack kills her brother, it's her fault, if she doesn't struggle, her brother might live, but will reproach her. Don't put this on her, Jamie. 

"I made to call out to my sister, to tell her that I'd much prefer to die than have her dishonor herself wi' such scum."

Um, Jamie, what do you think would happen if they killed you? They'd just ride away and leave her alone? Stop talking.

Anyway, Jenny goes with Black Jack, which Jamie seems to regard as the wrong choice.

"I'm sorry. It must have been terrible for you."

Yes, Jenny getting raped is truly a terrible experience for JAMIE.

I had not slept with many men other than my husband . . .

Interesting. Are we to take this as a reference to Claire's teenage sex life (pre-marriage), rather than evidence that she had sex with other men during the war?

Claire goes on a bit about how sleeping next to another person is an act of trust: "simple sleep could bring you closer together than the joining of bodies." I think this is bullshit. There is nothing more intimate than the mutual awkwardness/humiliation inherent to sex.

Her mind wanders and she starts thinking about Frank and Black Jack Randall again, finally deciding that Black Jack "was not necessarily bound to resemble his descendants in conduct." Would have thought this was immediately obvious.

Thinking of Frank makes Claire realize that he's probably desperately worried about her. She's had a rough couple of days and is running low on emotional fortitude, so she ends up weeping into Jamie's shoulder (presumably the not-mangled one?). 

If I were a horse, I'd let him ride me anywhere.

Indeed.

It turns out that Jamie is "not completely exhausted after all," and there is an awkward moment where that fact "was becoming embarrassingly obvious to both of us." Claire jumps up, but Jamie kindly takes a moment to reassure her that he won't rape her. He's just really turned on by crying.

"You need somethin' hot, lass."

Indeed.

They have a snack and then Claire heads off to bed with a reminder that someone will be along to interrogate her soon.

Final thought: Again, I am impressed with the faithfulness of the TV adaptation of this chapter. I think that the written word was more successful in focusing my attention on the sexual tension between Claire and Jamie, though. For one thing, the erection bit can't really be translated exactly on TV. They play the awkward beat fine, but it's not as specific. For another thing, in the TV show, there is just so much to look at! The set and costumes are so detailed and beautiful that I was taking in a lot of visual information in addition to the sensual play of firelight over Jamie's once-again bare flesh. At this point, the TV viewer is getting the first glimpse of the 18th century that's more than "dark hut" or "dudes in the woods." I found that the written word did not require me to acclimate to the new material world in the same way, so the focus on the character interactions was tighter.

Body Count:

Jamie: 3