Son of a Trickster

Son of a Trickster

by

Eden Robinson

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Themes and Colors
Dysfunctional Families, Responsibility, and Maturity Theme Icon
Love vs. Violence Theme Icon
Escapism and Confronting Problems Theme Icon
The Environment and Human Destruction Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Son of a Trickster, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Dysfunctional Families, Responsibility, and Maturity

Jared Martin is a 16-year-old Native boy living in Kitimat, British Columbia, with his emotionally volatile mother Maggie and her drug-dealing boyfriend Richie. Jared’s father Phil, meanwhile, lives nearby with his new wife and daughter, but he is disabled from a back injury and addicted to pain medication. As a result of these circumstances, Jared has to take care of his parents and other adults around him both physically and financially, because they…

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Love vs. Violence

Violence permeates 16-year-old Jared’s life in Kitimat, British Columbia: he gets mugged and robbed while he’s baking the marijuana cookies that he sells, and several of his mom’s boyfriends abuse him. Violence and love are also inextricably linked for Jared in a confusing way, as his mother and his girlfriend, Sarah, both try to express their love for him through violence (his mother uses violence to protect him and teach him how…

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Escapism and Confronting Problems

Jared is a troubled teen with a host of problems: his mom and her violent boyfriends abuse and neglect him, and he also begins to experience distressing and confusing visions of magical beings. None of the issues that plague him are within his control, and this lack of control over his own life leads him to self-destructive forms of escapism. He tries to numb himself from his practical, everyday problems through alcohol and drugs, and…

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The Environment and Human Destruction

Son of a Trickster takes place in a First Nations community in British Columbia. Interspersed with the main story that centers on Jared and his experiences, there are several chapters that switch to the perspective of an unnamed narrator whose tone is omniscient and ethereal—almost god-like. This narrator relays how First Nations people’s spiritual beliefs center on a reverence for the natural world and an understanding of the interconnectedness of all living things. And alongside…

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