Themes

The main themes in the Englishman’s boy are power, corruption, wealthiness, violence and true grit. All these themes connect with each one another. Chance is very wealthy, this leads to him having power, which leads to corruption. Corruption leads to violence and has a downfall at the very end. Hardwick has power, he is a very strong man. The wolfers have power over the Indians with there guns. This leads to the corruption of getting what they want; like when the Assiniboine offer Hammond two horses for his one. This is a very good deal but they do not accept and go to combat. Hence corruption leads to violence. Both Harry Vincent and the Englishman’s boy have true grit. They are like the underdogs in this story, they have little power at the start but in the end they gain power. Both of them know whats right and whats wrong. For the Englishman’s boy he stays with these wolfers just trying to stay alive. He has no one and is just a drifter. He sticks with the wolfers until they burned down the house with the Indian girl that they raped. He knows that is wrong and goes off on his own. For Harry Vincent he stays with his job, paying for his mothers hospital bills. He did what he was supposed to, he kept with McAdoo every day and got the truth. When Chance doesn’t like it and says mean things he quits but does not give up on his mother. He gets a job in Canada and looks after her.