The Water Keeper

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

One recurring motif throughout the novel is the idea of the shepherd and his role in tending for the sheep. The idea is first introduced in the Prologue of the novel when Fingers asks about biblical sheep as he dies. This moment is an allusion to the Christian Bible, specifically the passage in Luke 15:4-6 that reads,

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost (KJV, Luke 15:4-7).

This passage emphasizes the importance of the individual, using the allegory of a shepherd with his sheep to convey the value in saving every person. Murph’s last name, Shepherd, establishes his character as the metaphorical shepherd from the Bible. Repeatedly throughout the novel, he risks his own life for