Previous
Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Knife of Never Letting Go, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Cost of Violence
Information vs. Knowledge
Bigotry and Misogyny
Humanity’s Connection to Nature
Summary
Analysis
Todd and Viola hear Noise that sounds like a thousand voices singing together. All of the voices in the Noise are saying Here. Manchee barks “Cow.” A man in an oxcart appears and warns Todd and Viola that they’ll get squished if they try to continue on foot. He offers them each a place in his cart. Viola notices that the man has a shotgun, so she does an accent, introducing herself as Hildy and Todd as Ben. The man introduces himself as Wilf.
While other passages explore the connections between humanity and nature, this passage shows how sometimes nature is just indifferent to humans. The cow-like creatures are so focused on their own migration that they risk crushing Todd and Viola. Todd learns that he needs to respect the power of nature but that when he does, he can appreciate its beauty.
Themes
Todd is surprised that Viola can lie so well, but after he thinks about it, he supposes the New World has its own forms of lying. They come on the cart to a herd of cow-like “creachers” so big that it looks like a sea. Viola asks what sort of stuff Aaron preached, and Todd says it was mostly about hellfire and judgement. Viola says the most terrifying thing she ever experienced was hearing Aaron raving in his Noise.
Viola seems to be unfamiliar with the type of preaching Aaron does and with religious settlements in general, suggesting that the people on her settlement ship are more secular. Her unease around religion mirrors Todd’s unease about Viola’s lack of Noise and ability to lie.
Themes
Viola asks Wilf what the animals in the herd are called. Wilf says they have lots of different names, but he just calls them “thangs.” Wilf mentions that he’s heard rumors about an army coming from a cursed town by the swamp that keeps growing in size. Viola says she’s seen it herself, and Wilf needs to warn the nearby settlement, Brockley Falls. Wilf says nobody ever listens to him.
“Thangs” just seems to be the way Wilf says “things,” suggesting that he doesn’t really know what the creatures are. Unlike the people of Prentisstown, Wilf just accepts the things in the world that he doesn’t know, providing an example of how to have a more harmonious relationship with nature even on a new planet where many things are unfamiliar.
Themes
Viola and Todd get off at a fork in the road where Wilf is continuing on to Brockley Falls. He warns them to take shelter before it rains, then he heads on. Todd wonders if it’s true that the Prentisstown army is growing. It starts to rain, so Todd searches in his pack for a raincoat, but there isn’t one. As they walk, Todd says they’ll soon have to start either hunting or stealing food. Just then, Manchee barks “Horse,” and everyone stops to look.
Although the herd of “thangs” was an example of the beauty of nature, the incoming rain is a reminder of how nature can be fickle and ultimately doesn’t always do what people want. Manchee’s bark of “horse” sets up an ominous cliffhanger for the next chapter, since the main people riding horses in the book so far are the members of Mayor Prentiss’s army.
Themes
Get the entire The Knife of Never Letting Go LitChart as a printable PDF.
