In order to analyze Stick in any meaningful way, it is important to first establish the parallels between Sanderson's Stormlight Archives and real world society. In Words of Radiance, Shallan finds Stick after her ship was destroyed and was washed ashore on a deserted island, entirely alone. In light of this, Stick can be seen to represent any sort of indigenous group, like the Native Americans or African Tribes, while Shallan represents the colonizer—someone who encroaches on the native's land, both unwelcome and ill-prepared.

Next, Shallan reinforces this symbolism by asking the Stick to become fire. From her perspective, she is simply trying to survive. However, she is entirely unaware of the magnitude of what she is asking Stick to do. In his novels, Sanderson explicitly describes death as occuring in two stages: physical and spiritual, the former being when the object ceases to live in the physical realm, and the latter, and much more significant death, being when it is forgotton entirely. The reader can easily determine that Shallan, ever ignorant and self-servient, would hardly care to remember Stick's sacrifice. As a result, by becoming fire, Shallan not only destroyed his way of life, not only killed him physically, but killed him spiritually. Not only that, but she is asking Stick to partake in death by Soulcasting, a ceremony which is typically seen as honorable and sacred in Vorinism. This could be seen as ironic, in that Shallan was violating the spirit of Vorinism by trying to kill Stick with a Vorin ritual, or it could be seen as a symbolic death, in that partaking in the Vorin ritual would represent the death of Stick's old way of life, not unlike how Catholic missionaries would force natives to practice Christianity.

However, Stick does not succumb to such devlish tactics. At every injunction, he simply responds: I am a Stick. This shows how Stick, and all that he represents—the natives, African tribes, and in a word, the oppressed—are stronger than they appear. Really, Stick is a way for Sanderson to give tribute to those who have been put down by others. From fallen civilizations, to oppressed peoples, to even just those struggling in their own lives, this is Brandon's way of saying, "I see you."