Outlander

Outlander returns to the theme of the importance of family lineage through several characters. The theme begins with Claire and Frank’s determination to have a child. Though Claire is willing to consider adoption, Frank protests, saying, “I couldn’t feel properly toward a child that is not…well, not of my blood” (58). This preoccupation with lineage and blood lines is mirrored by Frank’s obsession with learning about his Scottish ancestors, namely Captain Jonathan Randall. However, when Claire encounters Randall in the 18th century he, is nothing like described in the historical records Frank studies. Reverend Wakefield, though having adopted a young boy named Roger, still insists on drawing the boy’s family chart so that Roger does not “[…] forget where he came from” (57). Reverend Wakefield sheepishly admits that his own bloodline does not boast much import besides booksellers and vicars. Roger’s blood line, however, dates back to the 1600s, and Wakefield implies that he wants Roger to have pride in his family and retain knowledge of them.

Jamie too is concerned with matters of family lineage. After being given protection by Colum and the MacKenzie clan when being hunted by the British, Jamie is given the choice of taking the MacKenzie name and shedding his own family identity. However, when the time come to swear his allegiance to Colum and the MacKenzie’s, Jamie asks that he be accepted as an ally instead of a clansman. He stands before Colum and maintains, “I come to you as kinsman and as ally. I give ye no vow, for my oath is pledged to the name that I bear” (268). Colum respects Jamie for having the confidence to keep his allegiance to his own family lineage and agrees to accepting Jamie as a friend.

Colum and Dougal understand the value of family lineage. When Colum cannot impregnate his wife, he asks Dougal to step in, resulting in Colum’s adoptive son Hamish, who will bear the responsibility of continuing the MacKenzie bloodline, thanks to Dougal’s virility.

Outlander explores the morality of justice through corporal punishment. Claire is first introduced to the 18th century’s extreme methods of corporal punishment at Laoghaire’s hearing, and the possibility of her flogging. Claire then finds herself in a moral quandary when she witnesses a 12-year-old boy being punished for petty theft by publicly driving a nail through his ear. Outlander implies that the question of corporal punishment is in part informed by the era in which one lives. In reflecting on her horror over the 12-year-old boy being punished by having his ear nailed to wood, Claire realizes that human atrocity is subjective. She recalls being shocked at the idea that the Germans allowed the Holocaust to take place. She finds herself faced with the same complacency when deciding whether to interfere in the abuse of a child.

The relationship between corporal punishment and justice becomes more personal when Claire faces a beating by Jamie for putting himself and several MacKenzie clansmen in danger. At first, Jamie is reluctant to beat Claire but views doing so as his obligation as her husband. Though Claire resists being whipped on the rump by Jamie as punishment, Jamie overpowers her. Later, Jamie admits to finding this form of corporal punishment arousing to him, a sentiment echoed by Jamie’s rival Captain Jack Randall.

Throughout the novel, Jamie reflects on his own beatings at the hands of his father, and his protests to them at the time. However, Jamie dismisses this protest as a facet of his age and ignorance, ultimately finding his father in the right for having used corporal punishment on him as a method of discipline. However, the morality of corporal punishment is again questioned when Dougal recalls Randall’s beating of Jamie to Claire. Dougal maintains that Randall toyed with him as “a cat play wi’ a wee mousie,” exposing the pleasure that Randall takes in hurting Jamie, inflicting pain under the guise of legal punishment (351). This exchange points to the personal stakes Randall has in corporal punishment and also nods to the book’s motif of submission and domination, showing Randall’s penchant for using Jamie’s weakness as a form of enjoyment.

Jamie equates corporal punishment with duty when he sees it as his role to beat Claire after she exposes the MacKenzies to English pursuit. “‘There’s such a thing as justice, Claire,” Jamie tells her before he lays hands on her, “You’ve done wrong to them all, and you’ll have to suffer for it” (551). Here, Jamie presents corporal punishment and justice as simply a matter of cause and effect. However, Jamie’s insistence that his role as her husband is to reprimand her introduces the issue of patriarchy into the topic of corporal punishment. Later, Jamie reflects on the limits of corporal punishment when he observes the cruelty with which MacNab treats his son Rabbie.