Previous
Chapter 29
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
A boy who wears a brown shirt like Todd and also has a knife comes up beside Todd. He asks Todd what they should do, so that Todd’s Noise doesn’t alert Aaron. Todd realizes he’s not too late, and Aaron hasn’t completed his sacrifice of Viola. Todd begins creeping in that direction, and the boy follows him.
This boy seems at first to be a mirror image of Todd himself. The fact that Todd accepts the boy’s appearance without questioning anything suggests how far Todd has gone in his illness and how Todd’s senses are particularly unreliable in this chapter.
Themes
The boy tries to plant negative thoughts in Todd’s head, telling him Viola is probably on the verge of dying anyway and there’s no way to stop Aaron. The boy’s knife has blood on it, and he says he’s a killer, but Todd tells him to stay away. Todd continues to follow Manchee and tries to come up with a plan.
Todd starts trying to make a fire, all while the boy tells him he can’t. But Todd succeeds, and a little smoke begins to rise up. As the fire burns, Todd heads down to the riverbank, where he finds a small boat tied up at a dock. The boy thinks the boat will sink, but Todd goes to get Manchee. He gives Manchee the non-burning side of a burning stick, then goes into the boat, leaving the boy on the shore and heading downstream toward Aaron and Viola.
Todd learns, through the small test of making a fire, that the boy following him doesn’t know any more than he does. Although the boy embodies Todd’s doubts and weakness, Todd’s ability to face his demons openly, ignoring them to focus on saving Viola, shows his burgeoning maturity.
Themes
