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Chapter 25
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
Sister Eve invites Odie and Emmy to join her and Sid, the trumpet player, for dinner at their hotel. Odie tells Eve it was Emmy who knew Willis’s wife’s favorite song. Sister Eve invites them to travel with her, since she is taking a roundabout route to Saint Louis. Sid starts to object, but Eve shuts him down. Odie says they need to think about it. Back at the river, Albert shoots down the idea of traveling with Sister Eve, calling her a con woman. Odie imagines playing in Sister Eve’s band, and he wonders if Albert loves anything like he loves music. Albert maintains that anything that seems too good to be true “stinks to high heaven.”
Sister Eve’s invitation for the children to travel with her and the rest of the troupe is so generous it almost seems suspicious, especially considering her awareness of Emmy’s peculiar gift, which the troupe could potentially exploit. Sid’s objection, on the other hand, indicates that he views the children as an unnecessary risk and does not feel compelled to help them out of their dire circumstances. It is no surprise that Albert rejects the idea of trusting Sister Eve, and the fact that he accuses her of being a fraud implies Odie is being naïve in some way. Albert’s assertion that some things are too good to be true reveals the depth of his cynicism—taken to the extreme, this logic will leave a person devoid of hope. Furthermore, Odie cannot imagine Albert allowing himself to experience true joy because of Albert’s extreme pessimism.
Themes
The next morning, Odie wakes to see Sister Eve in her cowgirl outfit sitting with Albert and Mose beside a fire. She has brought them donuts and convinced Albert and Mose to travel with her to Saint Louis. They will work with the other crusaders while Odie and Emmy can pretend to be Eve’s nephew and niece. Sister Eve brushes off their fugitive identities, saying the only important thing is that they remain safe. Odie agrees heartily with the plan and wakes Emmy to tell her the good news. Groggily, Emmy asserts she already knew they were going to stay with Sister Eve.
The fact that Sister Eve managed to convince Albert to trust her is noteworthy, especially after his statements of the previous night. This implies that she is either a very talented con woman or a genuinely good person. While Eve’s unquestioning willingness to lie about the children’s identities seems strange, she is the first adult who believes their stories and still wants to help them, even if doing so puts Eve herself at risk. Emmy’s precognition makes another appearance, amplifying the mystical aspects of her character.
Themes
