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Chapter 19
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
That evening, Jack invites all the children into the house for dinner. He drinks the liquor and thanks each of them for the work they’ve put into his house, feeling they have saved him. Jack proposes a hoedown in the barn, bringing his fiddle and shotgun. They dance for a while until Jack demands Odie play “Red River Valley.” After, he calls Emmy “Sophie” and gets angry when she corrects him. Emmy accidentally spills the liquor, enraging Jack to the point that Albert rises to her defense. Jack threatens Albert with the shotgun and accuses them all of mutiny. Knowing Jack will shoot Albert, Odie retrieves the gun from the tack room and shoots Jack.
Despite the fact that the children are his captives, Jack’s congeniality here shows that he has come to think of them as a community. When Jack’s dark past catches up to him and turns him violent, however, Odie knows the time has come to defend his found family by any means necessary. The quickness with which Jack reverts to violence here echoes the unpredictability of humans, God, and nature that Jack spoke about while chopping down the cottonwood tree.
Themes
Killing Jack feels different than killing DiMarco. Odie feels sorry Jack is dead, having seen a side of the man that was good and kind. He compares shooting Jack to shooting a rabid animal who cannot be blamed for its inner rage. Odie feels he has lost “a sliver of [his] soul.” Albert and Mose retrieve the pillowcase from the house but cannot find the money. Fleeing through the orchard, Odie senses that he is leaving parts of himself in the land he worked and is overcome by a sense of loss. Albert throws the gun into the river, and they paddle away.
Jack’s moments of goodness make him different from DiMarco, who was only ever abusive toward the children in his care. In comparing Jack to a rabid animal, Odie acknowledges that life’s harsh circumstances altered Jack through no fault of his own. Still, Jack’s violent impulses require Odie to kill Jack in order to protect his friends. Just as Odie continues to feel guilt over his role in DiMarco’s death, it’s likely Jack’s death will also haunt him.
Themes
