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
Matt wakes in the morning and hears a dull thumping outside the wigwam. After looking around at the cluttered, smoky room, he steps outside. Naked children immediately rush to him, and Attean appears moments later to tease Matt about sleeping so long because he ate too much bear. Matt takes in the scene around him, noting that most of the wigwams are “ramshackle and flimsy” and that most of the Native Americans wear tattered clothes. The thumping, he realizes, is coming from women pounding corn in a giant mortar. Attean leads Matt through the camp and past other women weaving baskets. He explains that the men are gone to hunt for deer.
Though Matt picks up on the poor conditions in the village, he doesn’t go so far as to wonder how or why the villagers live in “flimsy” dwellings and wear tattered clothing. This may point back to what Attean said earlier about Saknis forbidding his tribe to hunt with iron traps for pelts: the tribe refuses to engage in that aspect of trade and commerce with Europeans, and they’re perhaps paying the price for that choice now.
Themes
Matt wants to stay and look around, but Attean seems to be in a bad mood and hurries Matt out of the settlement and into the canoe. When Matt asks if Attean would’ve gone on the hunt if he hadn’t been here, Attean says he doesn’t have a gun. And though Matt notes that Attean is great with a bow and arrow, Attean spits that hunting that way is for children. Saknis will buy him a gun one day, but it takes many beaver skins to buy one and there aren’t so many beaver out there now. Matt agrees that guns are expensive and he won’t be able to afford one for a while, but Attean argues that white men can buy guns with money. Native Americans don’t have money—they can’t use wampum (beads) anymore.
For now, readers get no insight into what’s causing Attean’s bad mood, but his mood does seem to open him up to being franker with Matt than he usually is. He makes it clear that while Matt may be getting a lot of mileage out of his bow and arrows, that method of hunting isn’t efficient and simply doesn’t fit well in the changing political climate. And while Matt can agree that guns are expensive, he also has no concept for what it must be like to need an expensive item to survive and thrive, and to know that his monetary system will not work to purchase that thing.
Themes
It makes sense now why Attean defended the beaver dam, and Matt thinks of how poor the village looked. It must be hard watching settlers and traders take over the woods and hunt too many beaver. To try to cheer Attean up, Matt comments on how great the feast was and says he’d like to visit the village again someday. But Attean only scowls more and says his grandmother didn’t want Matt to come or to sleep in her home—it was Saknis who advocated for Matt to come. Matt feels awful, and he realizes why he was left alone in the wigwam. Attean explains that his grandmother hates all white men because white men killed Attean’s mother for her scalp. Matt can’t respond—he knows the Massachusetts governor offered bounties for Native American scalps. Attean continues that his father went out to avenge his wife’s death, but he never returned.
Matt is developing some empathy: he’s beginning to understand how devastating it must be for the Native Americans to see their way of life disappear. And to his credit, when Attean brings up his parents’ horrific fates at the hands of white settlers, Matt doesn’t argue. Massachusetts Colony (and most of the other colonies) did offer bounties for Native American scalps at various points throughout the colonial period, including for scalps from women and children. It’s impossible, Matt knows, to argue with historical fact, even if it’s gruesome, inconvenient, and highlights settlers’ capacity for violence.
Themes
Matt never considered that Attean’s life was anything but carefree, so he’s shocked. He finally says that it makes sense Attean’s grandmother hates him, but both sides in a war do terrible things—Native Americans scalped white settlers, too. However, Matt can’t answer when Attean asks why settlers build their cabins on tribal hunting grounds. Matt thinks that the war is over, but the “hatred” never will be—and he wonders if his father should bring his mother here at all. Finally, Matt asks if Saknis hates all settlers too. Attean says his grandfather thinks they have to learn to live with white people. Thinking of how welcome Saknis made Matt feel, Matt says he’d like Saknis to meet his father someday.
Again, Matt’s habit of idealizing Native Americans is on full display here when he admits to readers that he thought Attean lived a carefree life. And when Matt says that the war is over (likely referring to the French and Indian War), he does so in a way that suggests that he sees the war’s result as final and inarguable. This ignores the very real consequences to Native tribes as a result of the war—particularly those, like the Penobscot, who were allied with the French and thus lost.
Themes
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Attean doesn’t respond, so Matt focuses on the trail. Soon, he recognizes a beaver cut into a tree and turns to proudly tell Attean—but he stops when he sees Attean’s dark expression. After this, Matt simply takes note of the markers he sees. He marks where this path meets a path he knows well, realizing he could now make it to the village on his own. However, Matt knows he can’t go back without an invitation. Saknis only invited him this time because he’s kind, or perhaps to honor Matt for his role in killing the bear.
Recall earlier, the narration noted that Matt thinks of the trail markers as a fun game. This is why he’s so excited to point out the beaver to Attean—he’s finally “won.” However, Attean’s dark mood helps to show Matt that little about Attean’s life is fun and games. He’s an orphan, his tribe is being slowly pushed out by settlers, and on some level, Matt seems to realize that he, as a settler, is part of the problem.
Themes
