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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Sister Heart, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonial Violence
The Bonds of Kinship
Resilience
Freedom and Bondage
The Healing Power of Nature
Summary
Analysis
A “government man” buries Janey—and two other children who succumbed to the influenza outbreak—in three little “government graves” while Tim and Annie watch. Afterward, they stand by the fresh grave, crying. Tim wants to know why the government wouldn’t send Janey home. Annie has no answer for him. Tim lays Janey’s laughing stone on her grave, and Annie carefully places the bush doll Janey made her next to it. They cry and whisper goodbye and cry some more.
Even in death, Janey remains in the control of the government that stole her from her family. Its cruelty doesn’t stop. Moments like this seriously undermine the attempts of people like Teacher and Reverend Dale to claim that what they’re doing is for the good of the children. But Janey isn’t completely alone in death—she has Tim and Annie to mourn her and look after her grave.
Themes
Tim, Annie, Nancy, Dot, and Emmy gather a huge bundle of wildflowers to place on Janey’s grave. As they do, Tim tells Annie that his heart has burst with grief, and it hurts. A lot. Annie knows she can’t fix Tim or bring Janey back. But she resolves to do the only thing left and be a big sister to Tim herself. They hug.
Annie and Tim returned the gifts they’d received from Janey—the doll and the laughing stone—to her grave. But her greatest gift remains: the love they now have for each other, and the comfort that neither of them will have to face the world alone, because they have each other to be family now.
Themes
Time slows down in the wake of Janey’s death. Annie still does all the usual things—lessons, chores, eating stinky soup—but it’s not the same without her friend. At night, she dreams of home. In her dreams, she tells Mum about Janey, and Mum holds her while she cries. Annie wakes up, crying. Alone.
Despite everything she’s suffered, Annie still feels connected to her loved ones—both Janey and Annie’s family back on the station. The government has failed in its attempts to cut Annie off from this vital source of support because love transcends physical distance and even death.
Themes
Weeks later, Annie sits in the crying tree watching the wildlife in the bush. The blooms have all faded and she feels lonely without Janey. Tim finds her there crying for everything: home, family, Janey, him, and herself. He climbs in beside her. Annie shows Tim her treasure: the last billy button blossom. He asks if Annie plans to give it to Janey.
Annie arrived in the cold of winter, before the wildflowers bloomed. Now it’s late summer or early fall. The fading bush mirrors her emotional state—but hope remains. The final blossom of the summer offers a promise that beauty—in the form of friendship, love, care, and the healing balm of nature—still exists in the world for those who are sensitive to it.
Themes
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Annie and Tim place the last billy button on Janey’s grave. It reminds Annie of a sad smile. She feels melancholy. Tim declares that he’s not a baby anymore, and he vows to remember everything Janey ever told him about their family. Annie nods. And she thinks about her memories of her own family: Mum’s bright singing voice, her little sister’s kisses, her grandparents’ jokes and stories. She knows she will never forget her family and they will never forget her. No matter what.
The billy button flower on Annie’s grave is a spark of brightness in the darkness, just like Janey was a bright spot in the awfulness of school life for both Annie and Tim, and just like they’re bright spots for each other now. Annie knows that no one and nothing—not even the loss of her friend or Teacher’s cruelty—can ever take from her the things that matter most: her humanity, her connection to others, and her memories of those whom she loves.
Themes
A kookaburra calls from the trees, and then it swoops over Tim’s and Annie’s head. Kookaburras were Janey’s favorite bird, Tim says. He thinks that maybe the kookaburra is Janey’s spirit, flying home. Annie agrees. Tim tells Annie that one day, he’s going to grow feathers, too, and fly home.
Like the dream-vision in which Janey appeared to Annie, the kookaburra (Janey’s favorite bird) assures Annie and Tim that Janey’s death has at least relieved her suffering. She is now free to fly home. And although they don’t know how they’ll do it, both Annie and Tim vow they’ll never stop trying to follow her as long as they live.
Themes
Annie knows that songs have wings just like birds do. That night, when all the other girls are asleep, she plans to sing a soft song and send it to Mum on a moonbeam. She will tell her mother that she’s not lost and that she promises to come home someday. Tim looks up at her and says, “Home’s waitin’ for us, Annie.” She agrees. And she tells him that one day, they’ll “all fly free.”
Annie and Tim can’t fly home yet, but that doesn’t mean that they’re completely isolated: they still have each other for comfort and for strength. But more importantly, as Annie’s promises suggest, the bonds of love and kinship transcend distance and separation. Despite all they’ve lost and suffered, Annie’s and Tim’s spirits remain unbowed.
Themes
