The Sign of the Beaver Themes

The Sign of the Beaver follows 13-year-old Matt as he singlehandedly maintains his family’s homestead in 1768 rural Maine while his father returns to Massachusetts for the rest of the family. For the first few weeks, Matt manages to care for and feed himself: he has a rifle, a fishing pole, sturdy boots, and food to last until his family’s return. However, when various disasters strike—a passing man steals the rifle, a bear eats…

When Matt and his father build their cabin in the remote Maine forest, Matt uncritically accepts that it’s his family’s right to be there—his father bought the land from undescribed “proprietors,” who in turn bought the land from local Native tribes. However, when Matt ends up relying on the local tribe for food in exchange for teaching the chief’s son, Attean, to read, Matt slowly begins to reevaluate his beliefs about white superiority. But…

The Sign of the Beaver tracks the budding friendship between Matt and Attean. At first, Matt and Attean don’t even want to be in the same room as each other—while Matt believes Attean is laughing at and judging him constantly, Attean does seem to look down on Matt and white settlers in general. But as the boys’ relationship thaws and eventually morphs into a friendship, the novel suggests that this can only happen as…

Over the course of the summer and fall that Matt and Attean spend together, both boys come of age. The Sign of the Beaver suggests that what it means to come of age and specifically, to be a man, is something unique to a person’s culture. For instance, Attean only becomes a man when he undergoes his tribe’s unique coming-of-age ritual, in which Attean must go into the forest alone for days without eating until…