The Indian in the Cupboard

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, Boone, gets into a fight with Little Bear, and Omri must negotiate a truce between them. Patrick demands that Omri bring the two tiny men to school, where Patrick treats them thoughtlessly, as if they are still toys he can shove in his pocket at will. By the time he realizes they have actual human needs, he has nearly lost them several times. Omri takes them back, saying, “They’re not safe with you. You use them. They’re people. You can’t use people” (129). In saying this, Omri knows that the two tiny men aren’t really all that safe with him, either. That acknowledgement ironically improves his ability to protect them.

Boone and Little Bear hate each other on sight. They each represent a feared enemy to the other. Omri stops them from fighting, but they continue to insult each other until Little Bear shoots Boone in the chest with an arrow. The Iroquoian realizes that he has let his own hatred cause harm to someone important to his hosts, who merely symbolizes the conflicts at home but with whom he ought to be able to get along, at least in Omri’s world. A good chief would know that, and Little Bear alters his attitudes until he begins to see Boone as a real, if flawed, human being. Boone finds himself changing in a similar way, and, despite their old instincts, the two become blood brothers.

Thus, two parallel stories—one about boys learning responsibility for others and the other about two adults who transcend old hatreds and become friends—lead to the four becoming a family that respects each of its members as unique and important individuals. Gone are the plastic-toy beliefs about each other.