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Gabe’s gift, which he calls “veering,” symbolizes empathy. By veering, Gabe can enter another person’s mind and feel what they’re feeling—a fantastical and literal manifestation of empathy, in which a person puts themselves in another’s shoes to try to understand what they think or feel. Overwhelmingly, Son suggests that empathy is one of humanity’s most important tools to fight evil of all sorts. It’s no accident that Gabe is only able to figure out how to best Trademaster when he veers into Trademaster, discovering then how Trademaster feels and how Trademaster conceives of his own worth. By using empathy, Gabe is able to deprive Trademaster of his power and destroy the being, which allows empathy and kindness to flourish while also highlighting the importance of empathy itself as a thought exercise.
Veering Quotes in Son
The Son quotes below all refer to the symbol of Veering. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 3, Chapter 4
Quotes
The veer worked. But not in the way Gabe had planned. He found no math answers there. Instead he had an overwhelming feeling of a kind of passion: for knowledge, for learning of all sorts—and for the children who sat that day at the small desks, as Gabe did. He felt Mentor’s love for his students and his hopes for them and what they would learn from him.
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Book 3, Chapter 12
Quotes
Frantically he tried again to remember what Jonas had told him. Use your gift. That was it. Use your gift!
He was very frightened, but looking directly at Trademaster, he concentrated and willed himself to veer.
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Get the entire Son LitChart as a printable PDF.
Veering Symbol Timeline in Son
The timeline below shows where the symbol Veering appears in Son. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 3, Chapter 12
...on his paddle—and he declines Trademaster’s trade. Remembering Jonas’s advice to use his power, Gabe veers into Trademaster.
(full context)
