31 pages • 1 hour read
Robb WhiteDeathwatch
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1972A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Chain
The chain is a recurring metaphor that describes the inescapable conflict between Ben and Madec. When Ben wakes to find Madec destroying the catch basin that was his only chance at water, Ben realizes that “He and this man Madec were locked together, chained together in a struggle for life itself” (69).
The chain also plays a role in Ben’s decision to confront Madec. He notes the chain is much longer when he’s on the butte, but it keeps him in the conflict, nonetheless. He thinks: “that chain must be drawn shorter. It must be drawn in link by link until he and I are face to face […] I must either go to him or I must pull him to me” (117-118).
Ben mentions the chain disappearing when he believes he can drive away in the Jeep, but it reappears again when he cannot find the rotor. As he did when he is in the tunnel, he uses the idea of the chain to develop his plan for moving forward: “He, not Madec, must gather in that chain. He must draw Madec to him, closer and closer until at last he could reach out with his hand and touch him” (152).
The Slingshot
The slingshot is a symbol of Ben’s persistence. He gets it from somebody else who survived the harsh desert conditions, and he learns to use it as an effective weapon and survival tool. The slingshot allows him to subdue Madec and later substantiates Ben’s version of events. Similarly, it is Ben’s persistence that allows him to subdue Madec and proves his story is true. Much like the story of David and Goliath, the slingshot enables Ben to overcome his “giant,” Madec.
Engines
Engines are a symbol of untrustworthiness. The Game and Fish helicopter pilot tells Ben, “Engines don’t like people and you better believe it…in that chopper, I know that engine’s just waiting for me to get myself in a bind so it can quit” (123). The Jeep is consistently hard for Ben to start, and when he attempts to start it to take Madec to the sheriff’s office, “he had to crank it three or four times before the engine caught and ran” (159). As a product of man-made engineering, engines and their tendency to fail illustrate the limitations of man’s tools in nature.
Hunting
Hunting, as a prevalent motif in the novel, is the common interest that brings Madec and Ben together. The pair’s motivations for hunting and their values surrounding the activity differ, with Ben refusing to thwart hunting laws for the sake of Madec’s vanity, and with Madec willing to shoot aimlessly and bribe Ben into allowing him more than his allotted single bighorn sheep. Through these differences, White lays out the framework for his characters’ opposing morals. The motif deepens when Madec becomes the hunter, and Ben becomes his prey. In order to subvert this new role, Ben must end his passive behavior and become an aggressor against Madec.
White hints that Madec will hunt Ben early in the pair’s discussion: “When you come out into this dessert and risk your life stalking one of the smartest and wariest animals in the world, and you outsmart him and take him on his own ground, you’ve accomplished something” (11). Ben, as a person familiar with the desert, is also on his own ground and is far smarter than a sheep. This human-hunting concept parallels the 1924 short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. In Connell’s story, a big game hunter is trapped on an island and hunted by a rich aristocrat. The aristocrat revels in the hunt because humans, as intelligent “animals,” are the most dangerous prey.
