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Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Crow Country, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Prejudice and Discrimination
Heritage and Land
Justice and Restitution
Violence and Integrity
Summary
Analysis
After the pool game, Lachie walks Sadie home in the darkness. She is happy—she and Lachie won the game, and she impressed his mates with her skills at the pub. On the way, he tells her that she shouldn’t mind the way his father behaved towards David—he’s just not used to being around “blackfellas.” Sadie feels uncomfortable when she hears this word—she notes that while it’s fine when David and Walter use it about themselves, it doesn’t sound right when a white boy like Lachie uses it. She confronts Lachie about not standing up for her and Walter in the pool room the other night, and he says that it wasn’t about Walter being black, it was about Sadie and Walter taking over the pool table. Sadie wants to believe him, but isn’t sure.
Lachie’s use of the word “blackfellas” reveals how, even as he attempts to excuse his father, he himself exhibits some of the same insensitivity and discourtesy that his father shows in his attitude towards Aboriginals. Unlike Sadie, Lachie seems unaware of the fact that some words—such as “blackfellas”—should not be used by white people to talk about Aboriginals, even if Aboriginals use them to describe themselves. This insensitivity also casts doubt over his explanation of why he was rude to Sadie and Walter. While he denies being motivated by prejudice, Lachie exhibits some of the same attitudes as other white residents of the town, including his father.
Themes
Lachie leaves. As Sadie walks through the backyard to her house, a crow appears suddenly, and she screams. The crow asks her why she has not kept his secret, and she apologizes for showing Lachie the stone circle—although, she says, it’s on Lachie’s land anyway. The crow mocks her when she says that the land is Lachie’s.
In confronting Sadie about her betrayal of the secret of the stone circle, the crow indicates that Sadie is culpable, given that her divulgence of the site to Lachie may potentially endanger it. Her answer to the crow also suggests her naiveté. The land technically belongs to Lachie’s family, but the existence of the stone circle in fact affirms that it is not only Lachie’s family who have a claim to the land—clearly others came before them. It is for this reason that the crow mocks Sadie’s answer.
Themes
The crow tells Sadie to tell the story, but Sadie, terrified, doesn’t know what this means. The crow tells her that she can see what is hidden from Crow. He mentions that a man has been killed, a Law has been broken, and “the death must be punished.” He also mentions “precious things” that have been stolen. Sadie asks the crow if it means the story of Clarry or Jimmy Raven. The crow again tells her she must finish the story—for the “past is never over; it is never lost. It circles.” The crow flies off. Sadie hears her mother calling her and looks around.
The crow again charges Sadie with the responsibility of finishing the story, though it doesn’t explain entirely what this story is—only hinting at aspects of it. Here, Sadie is forced to confront the reality that it is up to her to unravel the riddles that the crow presents her with. What is clear is that a terrible, violent crime has been committed. Somehow, she has a role in addressing this crime and ensuring that justice is served. The crow’s remark about the nature of the past also reinforces the idea that heritage is inescapable and cyclical.
Themes
