The young man is Shechem, the name of the Canaanite town. Jacob’s family is called Israel, the nation. The avengers are the tribes Simeon and Levi. The narrative uses actual participants, but in so doing describes the defilement and the retaliation in terms of tribal conflicts that would certainly characterize the later historical period. Frequently in Genesis the nature and character of a person foreshadows that of his descendants.