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Water
Gabe’s boat and paddle suggest the dangers of working alone—and the importance of community. Gabe begins building his boat and carving his paddle with the goal of leaving his village and returning to the community where he was born to find his biological mother. While he occasionally accepts help from his friends, he works on his boat all alone. However, when Gabe is finally ready to test his boat, he finds that it isn’t watertight—and that he needs his friends’ help, and that of his paddle, to get him safely back to shore. It’s a painful and embarrassing lesson for Gabe to learn, but he begins to see the value in community: he might’ve died had he not had his friends’ help.
Later, as Gabe crosses the river to confront Trademaster with only his paddle, he learns again how powerful community can be. Gabe’s friends and Jonas have all carved their names into the paddle, and by meditating on their names, Gabe is able to magically calm the river and cause the moon to come out from behind a cloud to light his way. Reciting their names—and Claire’s, which appears magically on the paddle—also gives Gabe the motivation he needs to defeat Trademaster. By marking Trademaster’s final resting place with the paddle, Gabe turns it into a monument commemorating the power of community to dispel evil.
The Boat and Paddle Quotes in Son
The Son quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Boat and Paddle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 3, Chapter 7
Quotes
All that work. The weeks and weeks of planning, of building, of hoping. And all he could say now was that the paddle worked well. Gabe felt it all slipping away: his dream of returning, of finding his mother, of becoming part of something he had yearned for all his life.
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Book 3, Chapter 11
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It was dark when Gabe stood at the water’s edge, alone. He had begged Jonas to come with him. But Jonas had said no.
“Years ago, Gabe, when I took you and ran away, there was a man I loved and left behind. I wanted him to come with me but he said no.
“He was right to refuse. It was my journey and I had to do it without help. I had to find my own strengths, face my own fears. And now you must.”
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He repeated them, like a chant. He loosened the paddle from there it was wedged. With his fingers he could feel the carved names in the smooth wet wood: Tarik. Simon. Nathaniel. Stefan. Jonas. Though she had not carved her name, he added Kira in his mind. Then little Matthew, and Annabelle. Finally he said his mother’s name—Claire—aloud, adding it to the list of those who cared about him. He shouted it—“Claire!”—into the night, begging her to live. Holding tightly to the paddle, he began to kick his way easily across the gently flowing water in the moonlight.
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The Boat and Paddle Symbol Timeline in Son
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Boat and Paddle appears in Son. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 3, Chapter 12
...lovely to have someone seek him out for once. As Gabe holds tight to his paddle and introduces himself, Trademaster suddenly appears closer. Though he looks clean, he stinks. Getting too...
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Back on the riverbank, Gabe touches the names carved into his paddle and feels calmer. Trademaster, though, angrily pulls a knife out of his cloak and tosses...
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...Trademaster then offers to add first Deirdre, and then Claire. Gabe just picks up his paddle and recites his friends’ names. He notices that Claire’s name has appeared on his paddle—and...
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