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Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in This Tender Land, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family, Community, and Home
Hardship, Injustice, and Compassion
God, Fate, and Choice
Coming of Age and Personal Growth
Storytelling, Music, and Hope
Acceptance and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
The pig scarer (One-eyed Jack, though the children don’t yet know his name) takes the pillowcase and leads the children to his barn’s tack room. He pulls Emmy away from the others and knocks Mose out with the shotgun’s barrel. Saying he won’t hurt Emmy unless they run, the man locks them inside. Albert assumes the man will call the sheriff. Odie is frustrated by his own helplessness. Eventually, Jack returns without Emmy. He’s still holding his shotgun. The man puts the boys to work on the farm, threatening to beat Emmy and the others if any one of them tries to run. With only one break for water during the day, they boys are exhausted by the time the man locks them back in the tack room.
It is immediately clear that Jack does not intend to help the children on their journey. Like the Brickmans, he separates the group, knowing that fear for their family will make the individual children easier to manipulate. Although God goes unmentioned in this scene, Odie’s feeling of helplessness echoes his emotions during the tornado and other seemingly unavoidable catastrophes. Although the boys are accustomed to being exploited for hard labor, they’re devastated to find themselves trapped elsewhere in the same unjust situation.
Themes
Odie and Mose agree that they won’t leave without Emmy. Odie plays his harmonica to pass the time until One-eyed Jack returns. This time, Emmy is with him, carrying a bowl of roasted potatoes. The boys eat while the man sits with Emmy, drinking moonshine. He asks Odie to play “Red River Valley” on his harmonica. The song seems to sadden the man, and Odie wonders if he is drunk enough that Odie could overpower him. He demands Odie play the song again but then stops him in the middle. He takes Emmy back up to the house while the boys sleep on a broken hay bale. Odie speculates that the man’s reaction to the song has something to do with a woman.
While Odie and Mose’s refusal to abandon Emmy demonstrates their loyalty, it also highlights how people with power (in this case, Jack) can manipulate communities by separating members from one another. Although he requested it, the harmonica music makes Jack melancholy, illustrating the power of song to simultaneously comfort and evoke intense (and sometimes painful) emotion. Odie’s careful attention to Jack and his speculation suggests he is plotting a way to influence their captor and escape.
Themes
