The Knife of Never Letting Go

Music from loudspeakers plays throughout Carbonel Downs. The women from the settlement live in a dorm outside town. Dr. Snow says the music always plays to keep thoughts private.

Viola says they were on the river for a day and a half. There were several chances where she could have stopped the boat, but she saw such poverty and desperation at each location that she chose to continue. She thanks Todd for coming to help her with Aaron. Jacob returns and summons Todd to a meeting. On the way, Todd hears the song that Ben used to sing coming from the river.

When Todd goes to the river, Ben is there. His Noise shows Cillian in the house with the Mayor’s men just before they killed him.

Ben says they Todd and Viola must leave immediately, and he can’t come with them. Ben also says it is time for Todd to know the truth. First, though, they have to get out of town and move towards Haven. Dr. Snow arrives, accompanied by men carrying guns.

The men with Dr. Snow think that Ben, Todd, and Viola are Prentisstown spies. They say the army is an hour away, and they have to prepare. Todd reads their Noise and sees that they are angriest with Ben. The men are about to take Todd and Viola and punish Ben when they hear horses. Dr. Snow tells them to leave.

As they run, they hear gunshots behind them. They don’t stop until midnight when they reach a cemetery. As they rest, Ben tells them the truth: The Noise germ wasn’t a Spackle weapon. It was already on New World and didn’t affect the women. The Spackle were already accustomed to the Noise and were equipped to deal with an ecosystem that communicated everything. Humans were not. Ben describes the New World as a network of constantly shared information, most of which cannot be hidden.

A preacher started blaming the Spackles for the Noise germ. The Spackles fought back, but the men massacred them. Afterwards, the men in Prentisstown couldn’t abide the fact that they couldn’t hear the women’s thoughts, while the women could hear everything inside the men. They killed the women because they couldn’t handle their silence. Todd’s mother gave him to Ben and Cillian to keep him safe. They had always planned to send him away before he learned the truth about Prentisstown. That way, no one else would be able to detect the truth about Prentisstown in his thoughts. After the men killed the women, the other settlements in New World declared that all Prentisstown men were criminals.

Ben and Cillian couldn’t leave Prentisstown; they didn’t want to leave Todd as an unprotected infant. On the day of his thirteenth birthday, Prentisstown boys learn the truth about their town when they become men—at least, the Mayor’s version of the truth. Ben says that Todd is a symbol to the Mayor because he is the last innocent. The Mayor wants to take over the world with a perfect army, composed of men who have already killed. Davy comes near. Ben leaves to buy time.

Todd thinks life is pointless. Viola says if he gives up, Ben’s sacrifice will be meaningless. They only have each other now. By morning, they are in a valley with no Noise. As they run, Todd can’t stop watching Viola. They reach an abandoned settlement and find food. In the morning, they find two overturned carts on the road. Todd worries that when they get to Haven, he’ll miss the times when it was just him and Viola. He thinks he will miss her silence. When they rest, he asks her if she can read the book in a Prentisstown voice.

Viola reads from his mother’s journal in Ben’s voice and accent. Todd’s mother writes that the whole planet of New World is made of hope. She records how Prentiss convinced Jessica to found the settlement away from the rest of the Noise, so that they will only hear thoughts of people they know.

Todd’s mother describes the Spackle as gentle creatures. Viola sings a song that his mother used to sing. It’s the song Ben sang by the river. Even though he can’t hear her thoughts, Todd can tell Viola is thinking about her parents. He can read her without Noise.

They see a massive waterfall, and Viola guesses that Haven will be at its base. They run to its edge and see a city below, several kilometers away. Todd looks through the binoculars and thinks there could be as many as 100 buildings. He has never seen such a large town. Then he sees the army behind them, with perhaps 400 men.

Viola hugs him and says that they managed to outrun the army. Todd sees Aaron coming down the river.

Aaron has a gun, and he shoots at their backs as they run. Todd sees a small path that goes under the waterfall. Todd promises Viola that he will get her to Haven that night. They jump to the ledge under the waterfall, which is so loud it drowns the Noise. They’re at the mouth of a tunnel. A staircase carved into the wall leads them to a church with pews carved of rock.

Aaron is getting closer. Viola doesn’t think she is the sacrifice. Todd thinks about what it would mean to lose her. He realizes what Aaron wants, and he goes to the mouth of the tunnel with Viola and yells Aaron’s name.

Todd tells Aaron that he, not Todd, is the sacrifice. His death will bring about the Mayor’s vision of a perfect army. Ben showed him that boys must kill a man on their birthdays. Todd understands the cycle of Prentisstown: A man is born when a man dies.

Aaron goes to the pulpit and prays. He says he wants Todd to murder him, not kill him. For Aaron to get what he wants, Todd must hate him. Aaron believes that if Todd murders him, he will be a martyr and then become a saint. Aaron’s Noise shows Todd that he planned to kill Ben to provoke Todd into killing him. The men of Prentisstown knew it would take something extreme to make the boy who couldn’t kill take action.

Todd says he is already a man. They fight. Aaron bites Todd and punches him. He says that Todd is denying him his sacrifice. He hits Viola, and she falls, hitting her head on a rock. Todd jumps on Aaron and is beating him to death. He reaches for the knife, but Viola grabs it. She stabs Aaron through the neck. Aaron falls over the falls and takes the knife with him.

Viola says she was ready to do it. Todd was willing as well. Viola says she didn’t let him because Aaron would have won. But she knows he would have. He says, “I think everybody falls. I think maybe we all do” (467).

Outside, Davy shoots Viola. Todd scares his horse, and it runs away, dragging him. He carries Viola to Haven. It’s empty. The Mayor appears. He says he is now President Prentiss. Todd can’t hear their Noise. Prentiss welcomes them to New Prentisstown, the new Capitol.