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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Bronze Bow, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love vs. Vengeance
Trust, Dependence, and Friendship
Leadership: Power vs. Service
Earthly Hopes vs. Heavenly Values
Summary
Analysis
One day, Thacia, disguised in Joel’s turban, bursts into Daniel’s shop, pale with fear. She gasps that the Roman soldiers have taken Joel. He was taken prisoner yesterday when he showed up at the centurion’s house to talk to the slaves there. Thacia fears Joel will be sentenced to the galleys. Leah, hovering at the door, embraces her weeping friend while Daniel hurries off to find Rosh. He knows Rosh will have a plan.
Joel’s spying activity has finally gotten him into trouble. A sentence to work on the galley ships would almost certainly end up killing Joel, as such a sentence was meant to do; Daniel can’t let that happen. Instinctively, he still turns to his old mentor for help, believing he’ll care.
Themes
When Daniel reaches the cave, Rosh is nonchalant at the news. He says Joel got too cocky, and that rescuing him isn’t his business. He may have given Joel orders, but he considers every man to be responsible for himself. And he’s unwilling to spare his men to rescue someone who was careless enough to get caught.
Rosh cannot be bothered to care about Joel. As usual, he doesn’t care about other people, especially once they’ve exhausted their usefulness in Rosh’s eyes.
Themes
Daniel loses his composure, unable to believe that Rosh is willing to use Joel and then dispose of him like this. Rosh tells Daniel again that he has a useless “soft streak.” Suddenly Daniel feels he sees Rosh clearly for the first time. He doesn’t think Rosh understands “the cause” whatsoever. He tells Rosh he’ll no longer serve him. Though Rosh looks angry enough to attack Daniel, Daniel just turns away.
Rosh’s reaction to Joel’s capture finally allows Daniel to see his old leader clearly. Rosh, he now sees, doesn’t actually care about anything outside of himself. Rosh’s accusation that Daniel is “soft” no longer bothers him, as he sees that he and Rosh don’t value the same things after all.
Themes
As Daniel starts heading down the mountain, skinny, stuttering Joktan runs after him, begging to join Daniel’s band of fighters. Daniel quickly agrees, though he feels disappointed that Samson didn’t follow him instead. He and Joktan join the boys waiting in the watchtower and tell them the bad news. But Daniel also tells them he has a plan. Their force is too small to fight the Romans, but they can at least get Joel. They’ll wait until the Romans pass by on the road near Arbela, then throw rocks down from the mountain pass above, overwhelming them and grabbing Joel in the confusion.
Even as he rejects his old leader, Daniel is becoming a leader in his own right; Joktan and the other boys instinctively recognize this. Daniel himself, though, isn’t self-conscious about the fact. He is focused on rescuing Joel. This shows that his approach to leadership is already a departure from Rosh’s. He cares about risking everything for someone else—something Rosh would never do.
Themes
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The boys agree that Daniel is their leader—there’s no need for a vote. He feels no joy in this fact, just the weight of responsibility. He explains that they can’t risk wasting lives. The boys must stay hidden on the cliff while he frees Joel from his chains, then retreat quickly. He tells them to remember the Bible heroes Joel read about—the God of those heroes will strengthen them now. The boys clasp hands and pledge themselves to “God’s victory.”
Daniel’s recognition of the weight of his role further suggests that he’s a better leader than Rosh is. He doesn’t care about being honored or recognized. His focus is on helping Joel, not on serving his own interests. He also instinctively understands that such selfless efforts align with “God’s victory,” unlike Rosh’s.
Themes
