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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sign of the Beaver, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival and Indigenous Knowledge
Colonialism, Land Rights, and Entitlement
Nature
Friendship and Respect
Coming of Age and Manhood
Summary
Analysis
After a day and a night, Matt wakes up and feels well. His body no longer burns, though he’s exhausted. Not long after, the door opens, and the Native American man enters. Surprisingly, he looks a lot like Matt’s father in his fringed leggings and rough coat. The man introduces himself as Saknis, of the beaver family. Matt introduces himself and, when Saknis asks, Matt tells the truth: that his father left Matt to fetch Matt’s mother. Then, Matt thanks Saknis for saving him. Saknis just says that Matt was foolish to climb the bee tree. This confirms Matt’s suspicion that the Native Americans have been watching him—and though he’s grateful Saknis saved him, he resents that Saknis has been spying on him. Saknis leaves after inspecting Matt’s hurt ankle. He leaves some stew on the table.
In his first real meeting with Saknis, Matt finds himself battling with his preconceived notions about Native people. On the one hand, Saknis seems trustworthy and kind; unlike with Ben, Matt doesn’t feel any compulsion to lie for safety reasons. But on the other hand, Matt also seems to feel naturally suspicious of Saknis, particularly once he confirms that Saknis has been watching him. It doesn’t seem to occur to Matt that perhaps Saknis has been watching Matt explicitly to make sure that Matt is okay, as a kid in the wilderness without a parent.
Themes
The next day, Saknis comes back with the boy, whom he introduces as his 14-year-old grandson, Attean. Attean wears a loincloth and has totally expressionless black eyes—though he clearly doesn’t want to be here. Feeling self-conscious, Matt stands up. But Saknis makes Matt feel worse when he offers Matt a crutch, as Matt is certain Attean is laughing at him. But once Saknis and Attean are gone, Matt practices with the crutch and can soon move around well. However, he lost his boot in the mud, so now his sock is wearing thin. Saknis notices and, a few days later, brings Matt a pair of beautiful, new moosehide moccasins.
Matt’s embarrassment when Saknis offers him a crutch in front of Attean reads like normal teenage embarrassment: Matt doesn’t want to look weak and vulnerable in front of a peer. This sets up the starting point for Matt and Attean’s relationship. Matt feels compelled to impress Attean, while Attean looks down on Matt. Meanwhile, Saknis continues to treat Matt generously, cutting further into Matt’s preconceptions of Native people as dangerous.
Themes
Matt is elated—the moccasins are comfortable and wonderful—and then ashamed. Saknis saved his life, cared for him, and now has given him a crutch and moccasins. Matt has only said thank you, and that’s not enough. Looking around the cabin, Matt notices the Bible and Robinson Crusoe. He offers Robinson Crusoe to Saknis as a gift—but Matt feels ashamed again, as the man holds it upside-down. He clearly can’t read.
Matt knows he must be as respectful as he possibly can to Saknis, given that the man saved his life and continues to help him for no apparent reason other than that he’s generous. Here, Robinson Crusoe symbolizes Matt’s naivete and casual bigotry. He doesn’t think first of whether Saknis is even capable of reading and enjoying a novel. But he also doesn’t have any idea yet of how offensively the book portrays Native peoples.
Themes
However, Saknis isn’t embarrassed. He asks if Matt can read. Matt can, so Saknis proposes a deal: he and Attean will hunt and bring Matt meat, and Matt will teach Attean to read. Attean protests, but Saknis says that Attean must learn. White men keep coming with “signs on paper,” which the Native Americans sign to show that they’re friendly. But the white men then take the tribes’ land. If Attean can read, he won’t give away his tribe’s hunting grounds. Attean stalks out of the cabin, but Saknis says the boy will return tomorrow.
Saknis’s proposed deal suggests that while he’s been kind and generous to Matt, his dealings with white settlers haven’t all been as positive. Indeed, he believes that his tribe needs protection (in the form of Attean being able to read and therefore advocate for them) from white settlers, or at least from white colonial governments.
Themes
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