The Knife of Never Letting Go Q&A

The men of Prentisstown are driven insane by the constant information of the noise, and they begin to become suspicious of the women, whose minds they are never able to read. Ben also hints that Aaron’s sermons polarised the men of Prentisstown into thinking that whatever was hidden was evil. The men of Prentisstown killed all the women.

Aaron has taken on the responsibility of trying to ensure that Todd murders him. He believes that he will become a martyr if he is murdered at Todd’s hands. All of his actions are aimed at making Todd hate him enough to murder him.

Their primary reason for traveling to Haven is the army. They believe that none of the settlements in the army’s path are strong enough to withstand the assault of the Prentisstown army. However, they have heard that Haven is the biggest settlement in the region and they hope that it will be big enough to shelter them from the army. Viola is also hoping to find a means of communicating with her ship since she hasn’t been able to relay any information to them since arriving in the New World.

The boys of Prentisstown are told the truth about the dark history of the town on their thirteenth birthday. They are then expected to become accomplices to the rest of the men by committing murder. The rules of the initiation are simple, one boy has to kill a man to take the place of that man in society.

The Spackles are the native aliens of the New World. Todd’s mother describes them as gentle people, but Todd is told that the Spackle were vicious creatures. Todd’s encounter with one of the Spackle seems to indicate that his mother had perhaps been more correct in her assessment. They are humanoid in shape, but they grow their clothes and seem unable to converse like humans.