Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Son, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Pain and Maternal Love
Travel, Fitting In, and Values
Emotion, Individuality, and the Human Experience
Family and Coming of Age
Community and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
When Gabe started building his boat, his friends helped him. Now, though, they’ve all lost interest, so Gabe works alone. Nathaniel appears and invites Gabe to fish with him. Gabe declines, but he shows Nathaniel the picture in Jonas’s book of the boat he’s trying to recreate. The boat is tiny—and in the picture, the man on it is terrified. Gabe explains that he’ll just be on the river, not the ocean like that man, and it’ll be easy to build. He’ll steer with a paddle, but the river will do most of the work. Then, Gabe tells Nathaniel about the old woman (Claire) who’s been watching him. Changing the subject, the boys discuss the upcoming feast—Deirdre will be there, and she misses Gabe. Gabe promises to come.
Unlike Claire, who trained to climb the cliff with Einar’s constant supportive help, Gabe is mostly on his own as he works on his boat. Given how the novel suggests community and working together is far more effective than working on one’s own, this suggests that Gabe won’t be successful in his quest. Again though, like Claire, he sees the river as his escape and has someone here (Deirdre) who keeps him invested in the community, at least for the present moment.
Themes
