The Knife of Never Letting Go

“Noise ain’t truth. Noise is what men want to be true, and there’s a difference twixt those two things so big that it could ruddy well kill you if you don’t watch out.” 

The Noise of Prentisstown teaches Todd that thoughts cannot be trusted. They reveal intentions and subconscious desires that no one would suspect if there were privacy. The difference between reality and wishful thinking is vast. The idea that thoughts are not truth is potentially unsettling, given that one’s thoughts comprise most of one’s reality.

“Men lie, and they lie to theirselves worst of all.”

The men in New World adopt strategies to hide their thoughts. They think fake thoughts to cover up their real thoughts so often that the lies replace the truths. The men forget what is real and are constantly in a state of tricking themselves. This leads to a loss of identity. They become less than individuals and make it easier for the Mayor to replace their identity with that of a group identity.

“The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking.” 

Noise is information without limits or constraints. Untrammeled thought reveals the disorder inside a man. Without the mitigating effects of silence, no man can pretend that he is in control of himself. It is hard to fight against, or plan for, the randomness of chaos.

“Knowledge is dangerous.” 

Ben keeps information from Todd because it will keep him safe. The more knowledge he acquires throughout the story, the more Todd realizes everything he knows is a lie. The Men of Prentisstown hide the truth from Todd because they know he would revolt if he found out. New information leads to new problems. Finding answers does not always make things easier.

“Smart boys make useless men.”

Aaron knows that if Todd is smart enough to escape, he will be able to avoid what Prentisstown considers the passage into manhood. A useless man is one who won’t kill. A smart man will avoid killing if he can. Later, Aaron reveals that he wants Todd to kill him. It is Todd’s greatest use, and his intelligence might prevent it.

“There’s no taking back something that’s been sent out into the world.” 

Once Todd reveals his thoughts to Viola, he has no control over how she interprets them, or how she reacts. With each death in the novel, the quote grows truer. Thoughts lead to actions, and actions have consequences that cannot be undone.

“There ain’t nothing good that don’t got real bad waiting to follow it.” 

The fleeting nature of hope is a recurring theme throughout the novel. Just after Todd is relieved that Cillian and Ben are not in the army, he knows it might be because they are dead. Every time something good happens, Todd expects it to get worse. More often than not, he is correct.

“There’s only forward, Vi, only outward and up.” 

Viola’s perseverance comes from her father. He framed everything in their lives as progress and opportunity. His view also helps keep her from dwelling on the past. It is more productive to deal with the consequences of actions than to wish they hadn’t happened.

“I find myself humming it, even though it don’t have a tune, trying to get the feeling of connectedness, of belonging, of having someone there to say you’re here.”

The song of the creatures in the herd moves Todd and Viola. The thoughts of the animals are not chaotic, because their thoughts are limited. The creatures do not worry, they are simply present, and content to be here. They connect Todd to his nearness to Viola. They also remind him that he does not have a refuge. He lives in the present because he is forced into moment to moment survival, not because he is content.

“A knife is only as good as the one who wields it.”

Davy tells Todd what the Mayor says about knives. He does not believe the knife is dangerous in Todd’s hands, because Todd is not a killer. He defines the ability to use a knife to kill as good. In Todd’s hands, the knife is a tool. In Davy’s, or Aaron’s, it is a weapon. Davy believes that killing is the most useful thing a knife can do.

“The lesson of forever and ever is that knowing a man’s mind ain’t knowing the man.”

Even in a world where me can’t hide their thoughts, Todd knows that they still can’t really know each other. Thoughts lead to action, but thoughts are unpredictable. If a man cannot choose the next thought he thinks, he cannot choose the next action he will take.

“I’m the one who allows it and I’m the one responsible.” 

Even after he starts to think the knife might have its own agency, Todd refuses to abandon responsibility for his actions. He knows that everyone wants him to kill, and he may have to. But he doesn’t pretend that he has no choice in the matter. He refuses to give in to the pressure to do what he knows is wrong.

“That’s what New World is. Informayshun, all the time, never stopping whether you want it or not. The Spackle knew it, evolved to live with it, but we weren’t equipped for it. Not even close. And too much informayshun can drive a man mad. Too much informayshun becomes just Noise. And it never, never stops.” 

Ben describes New World as the unfettered, ceaseless exchange of information, both voluntary and involuntary. The information overload strained everyone, but drove others—like Aaron and many Prentisstown men—crazy. There is no relief from the Noise. It’s constant presence exerts constant pressure.

“They couldn’t stand the silence. They couldn’t stand women knowing everything about them and them knowing nothing about women.” 

Viola understands why some of the Prentisstown men wanted to kill the women. Their insecurities were extreme enough that they couldn’t handle women knowing their thoughts. Without the ability to pretend that only their actions defined them, the men felt judged and insecure. This made it easier for the Mayor to manipulate them.

“Doing what’s right should be easy. It shouldn’t be just another big mess like everything else.” 

Ben tells Todd that he and Cillian wanted to fight, but they couldn’t. Todd’s perception of reality is upside down. He has no idea how to determine what is right in this world. Ethics vary from case to case, depending on the result.

“Life equals running and when we stop running maybe that’s how we’ll know life is finally finished.” 

After Todd learns the truth about Prentisstown, he doesn’t believe that life has any meaning. Everything is unfair. He knows something that he can’t unlearn, and he can’t run from the knowledge. He is literally forced to run because he knows, and he will not be able to stop as long as he—or his enemies—is alive.

“There’s so much wonder in the world. Don’t let no one tell you otherwise.” 

Todd’s mother writes to him in her journal. Before the tragedy at Prentisstown, she was excited for the New World, like the other settlers. She is the lone voice in the novel that is purely optimistic. Unfortunately, events in the story show that her optimism was naïve.

“The attractiveness of power is something you should learn about before you get much older, it’s the thing that separates men from boys, though not in the way most men think.” 

Todd’s mother warns her unborn son about the seductive lure of power. She believes that the healthy use of power is a defining feature of a man. Those who let power corrupt them have distorted views about their responsibilities.

“Hope may be the thing that pulls you forward, may be the thing that keeps you going, but that it’s dangerous, that it’s painful and risky, that it’s making a dare in the world and when has the world ever let us win a dare?” 

By the end of the novel, hope makes Todd suspicious. It begins to look like a clue that things are about to get worse. But hope is the choice between moving forward and giving up. He knows that the odds are against them, but it is worth trying.

“War makes monsters of men.”

During the attack on Farbranch, Todd is surprised to see some of the least violent men he knows in the fighting. By the end of the novel, war changes everyone it touches. War requires choices that ensure survival and quick, decisive action. It even brings Todd to kill the Spackle, an act totally out of character for him.

“A man dies, a man is born. Everyone complicit. Everyone guilty.” 

Todd finally believes the truth of what he has seen in the Noise. A Prentisstown boy becomes a man by killing a man on his own. The cycle perpetuates itself. The shared crimes of Prentisstown men ensure that they guarantee each other’s safety. They are all criminals.

“I think everybody falls. I think maybe we all do.”

Todd tries to comfort Viola. He spends the book trying to keep himself from falling. After Viola kills Aaron, Todd is not convinced that it’s possible to stay innocent. Aaron’s view of sin is fatalistic—we are all doomed. Todd’s view that remaining sin-free is impossible is liberating.

“If the world wants you, it’s gonna keep coming till it gets you.”

Davy shoots Viola as she and Todd approach Haven. In the novel, moments of pain and disappointment usually follow moments of optimism. Todd’s view returns to fatalistic pessimism as he realizes that he may never escape from the Prentisstown army, and may never be able to protect Viola.