Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Messenger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Selfishness vs. the Collective Good
Youth, Memory, and the Future
Humans and Nature
Identity and Difference
Summary
Analysis
As Matty and Seer unearth beets in the garden, Matty says that Jean's dog had three puppies and she's promised that Matty can have one. Seer teases Matty that if Jean is the girl who promised him a kiss, he'd suggest taking the kiss. Matty says that he misses Branch, his old dog, and Seer gently says that a puppy would be fun. That afternoon, Matty goes to Jean's but finds Jean in distress. She explains that all the dogs came down with some illness, and two of the puppies died. The mother dog won't drink the usual cure, and the puppy is too little to drink.
As kindhearted as Seer's teasing of Matty about Jean is, it's important that he does come around and accept how important it is to Matty to adopt this puppy and have a dog again. Just as Matty makes concessions for Seer by cooking supper slowly and properly, Seer humors Matty about things like this. This in turn allows the two to form a closer, more trusting relationship.
Themes
As Jean leads Matty to the dogs, Matty looks around the house and doesn't notice anything silly or frivolous that might point to a trade, though he remembers that there are other kinds of trades for things you can't see. Those are the most dangerous, but he doesn't know how they work. Jean takes Matty to the storage shed and Matty looks at the puppy and its mother. As he touches the puppy, he feels a painful jolt in his finger and jerks away. He remembers what people say about lightning—to go indoors—and thinks of one Village farmer who was struck by lightning. It's the same sensation that Matty felt in the clearing one day, and he's tried to put it out of his mind, but he knows he needs to test it.
The revelation that people can trade for things that aren't immediately visible suggests that in this world, there's magic of some sort afoot. This also explains why Forest behaves the way it does—it too is something that works magically to interact with the people of Village. Bringing up lightning's danger suggests that whatever's going on with Matty, it likely has to do with his secret and may be actually dangerous or painful. This explains better why he'd want to keep it secret and go against Village's rules to do so.
Themes
Matty asks where Mentor is, and Jean explains that he's at a meeting. With amusement, Jean says that she believes he just wants to court Stocktender's widow. Matty briskly sends Jean to Herbalist for a variety of herbs, though he knows the herbs won't do anything. Jean flounces off and when she's gone, Matty puts a hand on the mother dog and one on the puppy and wills them to live. When Jean returns later, Matty lets her believe that the herbs cured them. He sits weakly against the wall and heads home when he has enough strength to do so. At the homeplace, Matty is relieved that Seer isn't home and crawls into bed.
The fact that Matty heals the mother dog and the puppy tells the reader that what Matty is hiding is an ability to heal things with the touch of his hand. While his fear is understandable, this also suggests that Matty’s special power is fundamentally selfless in nature, as it would allow him to exclusively do things that help others.
Themes
Matty remembers healing the frog. He'd been in Forest and stepped on the frog on accident. The frog was injured, and its hind leg was almost severed from its body. Matty inspected the frog and began to dig a grave but as he tried to put it in the ground, the frog became painfully connected to his hand. The frog's body twitched, and finally Matty was able to put it down. Scared, Matty got ready to leave, but then decided to find a rock to cut off the hurt leg. As he touched the frog again, Matty felt his own blood flowing into it. When the sensation ended, Matty felt sick, and the frog hopped away on two useful legs. In bed, Matty thinks that he needs to learn to control this power, whatever it is. He starts to cry and finally falls asleep. His dreams are scary at first, but soon become dreams of calm and healing.
The quiet, calming dreams suggest that Matty shouldn't actually be afraid of his power. Even if healing the frog in a way that startled him was scary and unexpected, the dreams indicate that on some level, Matty likely understands that this power is a good thing and will allow him to serve his community going forward. His fear also explains why he's trying so hard to keep it secret: presumably, he wants to be able to understand it before he shares it with others. In this case, Matty seems to feel the need to educate himself.
Themes
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