The Knife of Never Letting Go
Summary:
Todd Hewitt is the last boy in town – a town where only men live. Due to a virus called the Noise, all women have died and the men can hear each other’s thoughts. When Todd discovers a gap in the Noise, Ben and Cillian, who look after him as their child, are immediately worried and make sure that Todd escapes out of Prentisstown and into the vast unknown. An epic journey awaits, where Todd meets silence and a girl, both completely unknown to him, as well as many enemies along the way.
Edited by: Dublin City University
Comment:
Throughout this novel, the first in the Chaos Walking trilogy, Ness explores, subverts, and sometimes reinforces gender norms. Masculinity in Prentisstown, the heart of the dystopian world of the novel and the last town in the New World, is one associated with overwhelming anger, fear, and insecurity, stoked by the relentless barrage of “the Noise”, the thoughts and aggressions of other men. The text is heavy with symbolism throughout, and the knife Todd has been gifted by Ben, one of his caregivers, is key among the symbols used to explore gender norms, particularly toxic masculinity. It is a coming-of-age tale too, and one in which all of Todd’s choices are bound up with expressions of and reactions against gender stereotypes and restrictions, which though dystopian are all too familiar.