Guns represent power and maturity for both Attean and Matt. Matt’s father leaves Matt with his expensive rifle, which means a great deal to Matt. It tells him that his father is worried about leaving his young son in the wilderness, but it’s also a sign that Matt’s father believes he is ready for the adult responsibility of such a gun. But when a wandering soldier named Ben steals the gun from Matt, it reminds the reader that Matt is only a child in spite of his independence. He even wonders if, given the chance, he would’ve been willing or able to fight Ben off or shoot him, if it came to that. Matt reasons that a kid like him couldn’t have expected to take on an adult like Ben, especially over a gun. In this way, Matt accepts his status as a boy who hasn’t yet come of age.
Attean also sees guns as symbols of power and maturity, but in a slightly different way. He explains to Matt that when he completes his tribe’s ritual to become a man and find his “manitou,” or spirit, Saknis will purchase a rifle for Attean. This way, Attean will then be able to join the men on the moose hunt, which is conducted with rifles. Attean even refers to hunting with a bow and arrows as being for children, while real adults (real men, specifically) hunt with guns. Both boys do get rifles by the end of the novel, which signifies that Attean and Matt have completed the transition to adulthood.
Guns Quotes in The Sign of the Beaver
He was still proud of that gun, but no longer in awe of it. Carrying it over his shoulder, he set out confidently into the forest, venturing farther each day, certain of bringing home a duck or a rabbit for his dinner. For a change of diet he could take his fish pole and follow the twisting course of the creek or walk the trail his father had blazed to a pond some distance away. In no time he could catch all the fish he could eat.
But even if Matt had had it in his hands, could he have held out against those burly arms? And to keep his gun, could he actually have shot a man—even a criminal?
It was only later, when his rage began to die down, that he felt a prickle of fear. Now he had no protection. And no way to get meat. Sick with anger, he sat staring at his row of notched sticks. It would be a month at least before his father returned. A month of nothing but fish! And what would his father say?
“Sign show beaver house belong to people of beaver,” Attean explained. “By and by, when young beaver all grown, people of beaver hunt here. No one hunt but people of beaver.”
“You mean, just from that mark on the tree, another hunter would not shoot here?”
“That our way,” Attean said gravely. “All Indian understand.”
Would a white man understand? Matt wondered. He thought of Ben with his stolen rifle. It wasn’t likely Ben would respect an Indian sign. But he must remember to warn his father.
“Not take me,” he admitted finally. “I not have gun.”
“You’re a good shot with a bow and arrow.”
Attean scowled. “That old way,” he said. “Good for children. Indian hunt now with white man’s gun. Someday my grandfather buy me gun. Need many beaver skins. Beaver not so many now.”
Guns Symbol Timeline in The Sign of the Beaver
