Previous
Chapter 24
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Son of a Trickster, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dysfunctional Families, Responsibility, and Maturity
Love vs. Violence
Escapism and Confronting Problems
The Environment and Human Destruction
Summary
Analysis
Jared dreams about killer whales flying through the ocean, and then suddenly he is on a fishing boat with the old Native woman who tried to pick him up in her car. He asks her what the monster is underneath her skin, but she tells him that it’s magic, and that it gets frustrated because she doesn’t let her magic loose. She tells Jared that she will see him in a day or so, and then she smiles at him and leaves.
The old woman hints at the idea that ignoring magic can cause problems, like the monster under her skin growing restless. This relates to the book’s broader implication that avoiding one’s problems—whether magical or not—only exacerbates them.
Themes
Still in the dream, Jared watches the orcas over the boat railing as they hunt. He says aloud that this is very creepy, and the orcas tell him that they’re trying to hunt. Jared says that he doesn’t know if he’s going crazy or not, and the orcas reply that it’s not all about him—they don’t come in and mess up his hunt.
Jared’s belief that he is going crazy again highlights how magic makes him feel out of control, and as such, he tries to avoid it. Additionally, the whales point out that Jared is ruining their hunt, which ties back to the unnamed narrator’s points about humanity’s arrogance and destruction of the natural world. Their reaction sends the message that people should be more considerate of the other creatures around them.
Themes
The next day, Jared tries to tell George and Sarah that he had a crazy dream, but Sarah interrupts and tells him that she’s not the kind of girlfriend who will listen to his sex dreams about hot actresses. Jared is surprised that she admits she’s his girlfriend, and she replies that she’s only dating him until she can find someone more politically aware. Jared asks if she’s referring to Idle No More, explaining he thought that protest was over. In response, Sarah glares at him and says that she’s close to beating him up, and George agrees that Jared’s comment was uncalled for.
This exchange implies that those who believe that fighting for environmental protection can be achieved with a singular event (as Jared does here) are mistaken. Both George and Sarah emphasize that the Idle No More movement isn’t something that happens once—it’s something that requires ongoing engagement to help protect nature from human destruction.
Themes
