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Chapter 34
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 introduces Ben to Doctor Snow as his father. But one of the men in the crowd speaks up to ask if that means Todd is lying about being from Farbranch. Since men from Prentisstown aren’t allowed in Carbonel Downs, the men with guns start getting ready to shoot, but Doctor Snow says Todd should have a chance to explain everything. The Prentisstown army has been spotted marching toward the settlement, and a man in the crowd accuses Todd and Viola of being spies. But Doctor Snow says he personally saw how sick Todd was.
Doctor Snow is one of the most conflicted characters in the story. Although he is a leader in a community that is deeply patriarchal and stuck in the past, he is also personally more open-minded than many of the other people in his settlement. Doctor Snow reveals how even compassionate people can be motivated to act in callous ways due to rules, tradition, and community pressure.
Themes
Todd senses in the Noise of all the Carbonel Downs men that they’re focusing all their fears about Prentisstown in general onto Ben. Doctor Snow sends Jacob back to check on the goat. Ben defends himself from the crowd, saying he obviously doesn’t look like a soldier and hasn’t been giving the army any information. At last, Doctor Snow says that Todd and Viola can be taken into town, with Viola going with the women and Todd helping to defend. Doctor Snow says that he believes Ben’s story, but the law is the law.
Todd can tell from Doctor Snow’s Noise what the law demands for men from Prentisstown like Ben. He draws his knife, striking the hand of one of the men, while Viola bites the hand of another man. Doctor Snow tells everyone to stop it just as the sound of hoofbeats starts to approach. There are only about 15 or so, suggesting it’s an advance party.
Doctor Snow’s calm assessment that Ben must die because it’s the law shows how, while laws can provide order and structure to a society, they can also cause otherwise-reasonable people to do inhumane things. Although Viola is usually the one advising Todd to be calm, here, even she joins in the violence, once again suggesting that being a good person isn’t as simple as always resisting the temptation to violence—in desperate situations, it may be the only option.
Themes
Doctor Snow considers the situation before at last saying that Ben, Todd, and Viola can all go off on their own. Other men in the crowd complain, but Doctor Snow says their highest priority has to be defending their own families from the Prentisstown army. Ben is still reluctant about traveling with Todd and Viola because of the unwanted attention he draws as a Prentisstown man, but Todd convinces him to stay longer, so that Ben can see for himself that Todd and Viola are safe in Haven.
Ultimately, Doctor Snow finds a way to square the traditions and laws of his settlement with his own conscience, saying that he only lets Ben, Todd, and Viola go so that he can focus on the safety of the settlement. As a full-grown man, Ben carries an even greater stigma on him about being from Prentisstown than Todd, showing how adulthood comes with additional responsibilities and expectations.
Themes
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