64 pages • 2 hours read
Lynne Reid BanksThe Indian in the Cupboard
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1980A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Plastic Stereotypes and Real People
The main theme of the book is that people should not be treated as simplistic objects. This theme appears in two main forms: A pair of boys learn that people are never toys, and two enemies discover that their opponents are human beings like themselves.
Omri accidentally converts a toy Indian into a living, breathing miniature person. At first, he is excited to have a toy act on its own. Delighted with Little Bear’s efforts to build a tiny home in the boy’s bedroom, he brings the Iroquois supplies and food. Because Little Bear emerges from a toy, Omri initially treats him like one. The toys symbolize the human tendency to turn outsiders into simplistic caricatures of themselves.
Omri notices, however, that Little Bear is resourceful, aggressive, and, despite his size, somewhat intimidating. The boy realizes he is dealing with a real person accustomed to giving orders. The games he thought he would play with the tiny man are pushed aside for the needs of the visitor.
Patrick visits and promptly creates a miniature man of his own to play with. His cowboy, 
