The Water Keeper

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, sexual violence, child sexual abuse, child abuse, physical abuse, and addiction.

“Fingers had taught me all I knew. Found me when I was lost. Patched me back together when all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not. I had been Ben Gunn; he had been Jim Hawkins. I had been Crusoe; he had been Friday.”

Murph describes his relationship with Fingers by using several allusions. The first is to Humpty Dumpty, who is broken beyond repair. Similarly, Ben Gunn is a character from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel Treasure Island who is marooned on an island for several years until Jim Hawkins finds him. Crusoe is the main character from the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, and Friday is the Indigenous person that he meets on an island he becomes stuck on. Each of these allusions emphasizes the relationship between Fingers and Murph: Fingers is his protector, guide, and mentor.

“[Angel] studied them and asked, ‘But some of these dates are from the last decade? Last year?’ Another nod. ‘But slavery’s over.’

I shrugged. ‘People still own people.’

She read the names. ‘All these people found freedom here?’

‘I wouldn’t say found it here as much as they stopped by on their way to it.’”

This interaction between Angel and Murph in his church introduces the stakes of the novel: Trafficking as a form of modern-day enslavement. Angel seems unaware that she herself is currently being trafficked, although Murph’s suspicions are immediately raised, foreshadowing his later quest to rescue her. Additionally, Murph’s wall of names introduces the theme of Valuing the Individual in the Fight Against Evil, as he records each person he has saved—or failed to save—so that he can always remember them.