Content Warning: This section includes depictions of anti-Indigenous oppression, settler colonialism, graphic violence, murder, and death.

The motif of danger supports the theme of Needing Others and Self-Reliance to Survive. When the Fowlers are in a precarious situation, they depend on each other to confront the respective threat. While their father is missing, Nathan and Molly tend to the home and farm, ensuring that it doesn’t deteriorate. When Ezra knocks on their door and brings them to Pa, he looks after them on their journey. Nathan notes, “Once I fell, and a strong arm caught and held me until I got my balance. Later I heard Molly stumble and cry out, then whisper, ‘Thank you’” (9). When Weasel kidnaps Nathan, he must rely on himself to survive the potentially lethal situation. The time and place present continuous peril, and the main characters survive and grow by relying on each other and, in some scenes, themselves.

The motif of danger bolsters the theme of Fraught Morals in a Lethal Status Quo. The hazardous context causes people to adopt disquieting beliefs. The white settlers accept the violent norms when they’re aimed at the Shawnees, but when Weasel redirects the brutality at them, they don’t like it.