64 pages • 2-hour read
The Water Keeper
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Symbols & Motifs
Sheep and the Shepherd
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 Angel, as he has done almost 200 times with other kidnapped girls.
The sheep and shepherd motif develops the theme of Valuing the Individual in the Fight Against Evil. While the men whom Murph pursues resemble a well-oiled machine—having several yachts, bringing in dozens of wealthy businessmen, and setting up a system to traffick humans as easily as possible—Murph focuses on each individual woman or girl who is taken from her home and whose life is at stake. Additionally, he brings Summer, Clay, Ellie, and even Gunner onto his boat to guide—and “shepherd” them—toward rescue as they search for answers and grapple with their past traumas.
The Urns
The urns on Murph’s table at the start of the novel, which the reader is told hold Fingers’s and Marie’s ashes, are a symbolic representation of Murph’s past. Throughout his journey down the coast of Florida, Murph keeps the bright orange urn with Fingers’s ashes strapped to the deck of his boat. At the end of the novel, Murph reveals that Fingers is a fictional person. Instead of a human body’s ashes, the urn contains the remnants of one copy of each novel, which Murph burned when he finished writing. Murph keeping the urn’s contents hidden emphasizes his secretive nature. Due to the trauma he went through with Marie, he is slow to open up about his past, revealing only small pieces of it to Summer—and the reader—throughout.
In the final pages of the novel, Murph empties both the ashes from his books and Marie’s ashes, symbolizing the fact that he has finally moved on from his past trauma. In this way, the urns convey the themes of both The Healing Power of Love and The Lasting Impact of Trauma. Murph carries his past trauma with him for years, struggling with Marie’s supposed death and the lack of closure he got. However, when he discovers that she is alive and hears her entire story, he is finally able to let go. Similarly, he realizes that he has finally finished writing, having told his entire story with Marie and brought it to a fitting conclusion with her (real) death.
Murph’s Tattoos
Murph’s tattoos are a symbolic representation of the trauma that he carries from his past, conveying the theme of The Lasting Impact of Trauma. With each individual person whom Murph saves—or attempts to save—he has their name inscribed on his back, creating a permanent memorial. He also knows the names, numbers, and histories of each person, as he is able to recite them from memory as Summer asks about each of them.
In this way, the tattoos emphasize just how deeply Murph is affected by the work that he does. He is brave and heroic yet also deeply sympathetic, making it his personal mission to save each of these women and girls despite how it affects him mentally and emotionally.
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