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 is sitting on his doorstep, waiting for his rabbit stew to cook, when he hears heavy boots stomping in the woods, coming closer. The person doesn’t respond when Matt calls out for his father, and Matt wonders if it’s a Native American. But the man who emerges from the trees is a heavyset, red-headed man in a shabby blue army coat. The man greets Matt and then slowly looks over the cabin and the cornfield. Matt isn’t sure how to treat this man, and he’s not sure why he tells him that his father is away now but will be back soon. The man says that Matt’s father wouldn’t want Matt to turn away a visitor for supper, reminding Matt of his manners. The man’s smile is comforting, and he introduces himself as Ben.
Instinctively, Matt sees Ben as a possible threat (and given the previous chapter’s cliffhanger ending, it seems as though Matt is correct to feel this way). Ben uses the fact that Matt no doubt knows how to be polite and welcoming to white visitors to his advantage; that is, he gains a hearing with Matt by appealing to Matt’s duty to be hospitable, the way his father taught him. When Matt lies about his father’s absence, it highlights that Matt is very aware of his status as a child here. Even from afar, his father can protect him somewhat: Ben doesn’t know Matt is lying, so for all Ben knows, he’ll have to confront an adult soon.
Themes
As Matt bustles around the cabin to make Ben welcome, Ben compliments the cabin and observes that many people are settling in these parts. Noticing the rifle, Ben compliments it and says it’s worth a lot of beaver pelts, but Matt sharply says his father would never sell it. Matt bakes a corncake and then serves up his stew with molasses. Ben eats like he hasn’t eaten in weeks and then asks if Matt has any tobacco. Matt doesn’t. With a bit of prodding, Ben shares that he’s staying away from the river “till things quiet down,” as people in the town “had it in for [him].” He just barely got away, and now he’s off to trap beaver and live with Native Americans. This surprises Matt—and Matt is also surprised that Ben clearly plans to sleep here tonight, as he’s now sprawled on the floor.
Matt has already implied that the rifle is pretty special, so it’s perhaps not surprising that Ben is so complimentary. But because Matt is so suspicious of Ben, he doesn’t take this as just a compliment—Ben’s comment reads as a threat. Ben’s story, meanwhile, raises questions, such as what happened in the town, and whether Matt should believe him. But for now, Matt is far more interested in what Ben has to say about Native Americans, highlighting Matt’s youth and his curiosity about the Native people, whom he seems to see as totally different and unknowable.
Themes
Ben shares that when he was Matt’s age, he spent his winters with the Native Americans. He learned their language and hunted and trapped with them. Things aren’t the same now, though—there’s not much to trap here, and the Native Americans have mostly headed to Canada. Those that didn’t die in the war died of disease. There are still some Native Americans around—the Penobscots “stick like burrs” and still hunt nearby. They “[n]ever got it through their heads they don’t still own this land.” Ben is surprised that Matt and his father haven’t seen any, but he says that these days they’re on the coast to gather clams. They should be back here soon for the summer.
Ben references the French and Indian War here; the Penobscot nation allied with the French, who ultimately lost. Britain controls Penobscot territory by 1786, which is likely what Ben means when he notes that the Penobscots no longer own their land. However, Ben’s insistence that Native Americans have voluntarily moved to Canada is a gross oversimplification. The British forcibly relocated some Native tribes to what’s now Louisiana, while some tribes were pushed into Canada. In general, Ben’s tone reflects his settler mindset: he speaks about Native peoples like they’re a nuisance, not like they’re human beings who are being forced off their traditional lands.
Themes
Ben reminisces about hunting with bows and arrows and tells Matt stories about living with the Native Americans. He fought in the recent war with the French, escaped when some Iroquois captured him, and even broke into a Jesuit chapel to destroy idols. Matt feels like Ben is a great storyteller, but he’s likely not as great as he says he is. By now, Ben is snoring on the floor. Matt cleans up after dinner and then lies in bed. He’s nervous—Ben seemed harmless at first, but does he expect to stay here and eat Matt’s food? Matt wonders what Ben did in town—could he be a murderer? Matt half wants to sleep with the rifle, but he feels ashamed—that’s not very hospitable. He decides to stay awake all night instead.
While Ben framed Native peoples as a nuisance in the previous passage, here he talks about them like fun companions with whom to enjoy youthful hijinks. This could be for Matt’s benefit and entertainment, but it may again suggest that Ben genuinely thinks he, as a white settler, is superior to Native people. Matt must then reckon with his powerlessness. He doesn’t want to offend Ben, but he doesn’t want to get stuck serving Ben or wind up murdered. As a kid, there’s only so much Matt can do to protect himself in his father’s absence.
Themes
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Matt wakes up suddenly to light streaming through the open door of the cabin. Matt is relieved to find that Ben is gone, but he then feels ashamed again that he was so unwelcoming to Ben. Still, Ben might just have stepped out for a moment, and he’ll want breakfast if he’s still around. As Matt gets up, though, he notices that the rifle is gone. Ben took it—Matt can see now that this was Ben’s plan all along. He wonders if he could’ve really fought Ben for the rifle—or shot him. Later, when Matt isn’t so angry, he realizes he has no protection and no way to get meat. His father won’t be back for a month, and how will Matt explain the missing rifle?
Finally, Matt discovers that he was right to be suspicious of Ben. Ben has stolen the one item that allowed Matt to feel adult and competent. This returns Matt to a very childish state, which Matt explores as he wonders whether he could’ve reasonably expected to fight Ben for the rifle. As a child, the chances that Matt could’ve come out on top are slim—and now, Matt realizes this. He reads as particularly young and vulnerable when he wonders how to explain the rifle to his father. Like any kid who’s been given a lot of responsibility, he wants to earn it and make his father proud.
Themes
