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Chapter 4
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
Ben says he’ll only go with Todd as far as the river, then it’s Todd’s job to follow the river down to the swamp. He warns Todd to make the food in his pack last for as long as he can. Todd asks how long until he can come back, but Ben breaks the news that Todd will never be coming back. He reassures Todd that it isn’t Todd’s fault. He tells Todd that the book they gave him is his Ma’s journal.
Todd’s journey along the river is yet another similarity to Huckleberry Finn, one of the foundational coming-of-age adventure novels. Todd’s only guidance for his journey is a book, and yet he doesn’t know how to read (because of Mayor Prentiss’s prohibition), indicating right away how Todd’s journey will require him to learn new things to succeed.
Themes
Todd keeps protesting, but Ben says Todd will just have to trust him. He tells Todd that most of the things Todd knows are a lie—Ben and Cillian had to keep Todd in the dark to stop Todd from giving things away with his Noise. Ben tells Todd there’s a map in the front of his Ma’s journal that he needs to follow once he gets to the swamp, as well as a note from Ben.
Todd’s protests to Ben in this passage are ineffective, showing how the passage to adulthood is inevitable, even for people who don’t feel ready for the challenge. The map that Ben provides to Todd symbolizes how Ben and Cillian have tried to raise Todd in a way that will give him a metaphorical map of how to live his life.
Themes
Todd thinks about all the other boys he knows who became men. He can tell now that something bad must’ve happened to them. He isn’t sure what, but he knows that the adults don’t give any warning to prevent boys from running off. Ben and Cillian have been training Todd from the moment they took him in so that eventually he could survive on his own.
Although Todd’s perspective is limited, he can already sense that the adults in Prentisstown are hiding something from him. Todd may be curious about the mysteries of adulthood, but he also senses that unraveling these mysteries may come at a cost.
Themes
Ben tells Todd that he loves him as a son, and Cillian does too. All of a sudden there’s a loud bang from the direction of the farm. Todd wants to go back to help Cillian, but Ben urges him to run to the swamp. At last, Todd promises to go. Ben hands Todd a big hunting knife, saying he might need it. There’s another bang from the farm. Todd says he doesn’t know how to fight Spackle, but Ben just urges him to take the knife and go, so at last, Todd runs toward the swamp.
The bang is what helps finally convince Todd that what Ben’s saying is true and Todd really has no choice but to go on. The knife that Ben gives Todd helps give this novel its title, indicating how important the knife will become over the course of the story. It’s significant that Ben gives Todd a hunting knife, not one intended as a weapon against humans, suggesting that it’s Todd’s responsibility to use the knife responsibly.
Themes
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