Character Analysis
Matt's family is M.I.A.—literally. First chapter? Dad's off to fetch the rest of the family, leaving our main man Matt all by his lonesome. Last chapter? Dad and the fam finally turn up. Phew.
But instead of standing for Missing In Action, M.I.A. in this book seems to really mean Motivating Important Action. Why's that? Because when it comes to the decision train in Matt's brain, his family holds the wheel, even though they're nowhere to be seen.
How exactly do these invisible characters impact Matt? Let's take a stroll through the Matt museum to see:
• Exhibit A: His father's advice guides him to be kind to Saknis.
• Exhibit B: He keeps thinking of his mother while teaching Attean how to read.
• Exhibit C: Attean's sister reminds him of his own sassy little sister, Sarah.
In other words, though Matt's family may not be physically around, they're never far from his thoughts.
Matt's family also brings out the man in him. Though his family is absent for months, Matt refuses to give up on them, and this refusal ultimately inspires his Most Important Action of all: Matt gives up what he wants most—safety and community with the Beaver clan—to wait for them.
When the Hallowells finally show up, something pretty ironic happens. Matt's father looks skeptically at the Indian gifts scattered around the cabin, and his mom goes on about the other white people who are coming to build a town. To his parents Indians are an afterthought, barely even a blip on their radar screen—and yet it's because of Indians that Matt is alive and their homestead is ready and waiting for them. It's ironic, yes, and also kind of sad. It's sad because they're racist, but it's also sad because Matt has come to understand Indian people differently, and this means there's some distance between him and his parents.
When Matt's father tells him, "I'm right proud of you," Matt's about to burst his buttons. In this moment, he finally understands Attean's obsession with becoming a hunter, and he thinks of his friend. No big deal, right? Wrong. This thought just goes to show that Matt's kinship with the Indians will stay with him forever. And that's the thing: Being without his family made Matt into a man, but a man his family will never completely understand.