Ness
P. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press
Todd
Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown, a small settlement on New World –
an alien planet only recently colonized by humanity. Todd is close to his
thirteenth birthday, the age in Prentisstown at which all boys become men.
Todd
has been told that all the women and nearly all the men on New World were
killed in a war with the Spackle that occurred around the time of his birth.
The Spackle are New World's native inhabitants and are blamed for the release
of the 'germ' that caused the majority of deaths and was particularly fatal to
women. The inhabitants of Prentisstown claim that every Spackle was wiped out
during the war and Todd has no reason to believe otherwise. As a side effect of
the virus, the remaining men in Prentisstown can hear each other's (and
animals') thoughts, described as an ever-present cascade of “Noise”.
The
men of Prentisstown make up the last surviving settlement on New World - at
least according to Mayor Prentiss, after whom the town is named.
At
the beginning of the book, Todd and his dog Manchee discover a lone patch of
silence (a hole in the Noise) in a local swamp. Bewildered, Todd and Manchee
make their way back into town.
When
Todd explains the silence to Ben and Cillian, his adoptive parents, his Noise
accidentally projects the discovery to the entire town. Ben and Cillian
suddenly reveal they have been planning Todd's escape from Prentisstown for his
entire life. The two men immediately force him to leave Prentisstown, with just
a satchel of supplies and Manchee to accompany him. Todd unwillingly obeys.
Cillian fights off Davy Prentiss (the Mayor's son) and other men from the town,
while Ben gives Todd his own hunting knife and Todd's deceased mother's diary.
Todd
escapes into the swamp with Manchee and discovers a girl, who lacks Noise. She
is the first girl Todd has ever seen, except in the minds of the townsmen. The
girl says nothing at all.
Todd,
Manchee and the girl are suddenly attacked by the town preacher, Aaron, who has
recently been provoking Todd in physical and mental fights. Todd and Manchee
force him into the swamp's lake, where he is attacked by crocodiles. The girl
silently leads Todd through the swamp to her scout ship, where her parents'
bodies lie dead. She has crash-landed on New World, Todd realizes. With aid
from a map inside Todd's mother's diary, the three begin traveling together
towards Farbranch, a settlement marked on the map. Todd hopes that the
settlement still exists and that, if so, it can protect them from the men of Prentisstown.
Todd
realizes that he, infected with the germ, might transmit the germ to the girl
and kill her. She hears this in his Noise and flees, but he pursues her along
with Manchee until they both encounter Aaron and Prentisstown men who are
tracking them at a bridge. The girl manages to save the three by setting the
bridge on fire with her campfire pack. After this incident, she works up the
courage to speak and finally tells Todd her name is Viola.
Todd
and Viola are found by a woman, Hildy, at the nearest town, Farbranch. She
tells Todd that the Noise germ is in fact not fatal for women and does not
affect them at all - none of the women have Noise. She takes the three to her
settlement. An army of men from Prentisstown arrives and burns down the town,
killing all those who will not join them. Todd, Viola, and Manchee flee for
Haven. Haven is rumored to be the largest settlement in the New World. They are hoping the town can fend off the
Prentisstown army. They also are hoping to find a transmitter tower to contact
Viola's people, who are a second wave of planetary settlers, to warn them.
After
a few days on the road, Davy finds them. Viola manages to shock Davy, and Todd
moves to kill him, but finds himself unable to kill. Instead, Todd ties Davy up
before heading off for Haven with Viola. During the trip, Todd, Viola and
Manchee find a live Spackle. Todd is shocked, believing that all Spackle had
been killed in the war. Worried at an attack and frustrated with his
'cowardice' of keeping Davy alive, Todd leaps at the Spackle and kills it, but
faces instant regret.
Aaron
finds them. He stabs Todd, and kidnaps
Viola. Todd wakes and hurriedly pursues Aaron.
As his stab wound becomes infected, he quickly weakens. Todd finds Viola
and Aaron, using Manchee as a distraction while he rescues Viola. When the plan
is unsuccessful, Todd and Viola manage to get away but are forced to leave
Manchee behind with Aaron, who kills the dog in a fit of rage. The pair flee on
a boat, and Todd passes out from his wounds.
Todd
wakes up under a care of a doctor in another settlement. Insisting on a walk,
he encounters Ben hiding in the outskirts of town. He reveals that Cillian died
in Todd's escape from Prentisstown. The people of the new town label Ben as a
murderer due to his Prentisstown origins.
Ben and Todd convince the
townsfolk to help them fight the approaching Prentisstown army. As the army
approaches, Ben, Todd, and Viola use the confusion to escape.
After
gaining some distance, Ben explains the truth: the Noise germ is a natural
contagion of the planet, not an attack by the Spackle. The men of Prentisstown,
driven mad by Noise and resenting the women's ability to remain silent, killed
all the women and were subsequently banished from the rest of New World for
their crimes. The boys were to learn a version of the truth from the Mayor on
their thirteenth birthday. This is why Ben and Cillian sent Todd away prior to
his becoming a man - he could only be safe from the persecution by the rest of
the world if his thoughts were wholly innocent.
Ben,
Todd, and Viola continue toward Haven, but Davy finds them again. Ben distracts
him to allow Todd and Viola to run, but then the two are cornered by the
deranged Aaron in a cavern near a waterfall by Haven. Todd suddenly realizes
that the boys of Prentisstown become men by killing someone upon turning thirteen.
Aaron thinks of himself as a symbolic sacrifice for the 'last boy' in
Prentisstown and tries to provoke Todd into killing him. Attempting to stop
Aaron from succeeding, Viola grabs the knife and stabs Aaron in the neck. He
falls into the waterfall and dies.
Davy
again intercepts the pair on their way to Haven, shooting Viola. Todd subdues
Davy, escapes, and carries a dying Viola to Haven to get help. Mayor Prentiss is already there to greet
them. After Haven surrendered without a fight, the Mayor declares himself
President of New World. Through his despair, Todd realizes that he cannot hear
the Mayor's Noise. With no other choice, Todd surrenders to the Mayor to save
Viola.
This
book is the first book in the Chaos Walking series. The second is The Ask and the Answer
and the third is Monsters of Men.
One
of the major themes of the book is the importance of literacy. In Prentisstown the Mayor outlaws school and
learning to read. He believes that by
keeping the town illiterate, he has more power over them. This is a legitimate argument since slave
owners in the past used the same tactic.
Todd feels intimidated and ashamed because he is illiterate. Young adults can see why an education is
important. On the other end of the
spectrum is Viola. She is constantly
using her intelligence to outsmart their pursuers. She wants to help Todd by reading his
mother’s diary to him. It takes Todd
swallowing his pride to allow her to read the map and parts of the book.
I
found a teaching resource by Walker Books that gives ideas on activities and
discussions related to the book.
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