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Chapter 28
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
Odie has nightmares about one-eyed Jack and Lucifer, despite Emmy’s assurance that everything is okay. He does not trust the Tornado God will let his happy situation to continue. Believing Sid will be the root of his future downfall, Odie resolves to find out where he goes every morning. Later, during a spontaneous baseball game, Mose hits a home run. Odie sneaks into Sid’s car while Sid is distracted. Sid drives to the city of Mankato and enters a café. Odie follows, watching as Sid takes an envelope from his satchel and gives it to his companions. When Odie sees whom Sid is meeting with, he knows Sister Eve is “too good to be true.”
Odie’s nightmares about one-eyed Jack show that guilt still haunts him for killing the farmer. Additionally, he fears that God—unjust as he is—will not allow them to stay with Eve and the crusaders who have become like family. That Odie resolves to try and get ahead of the trouble by investigating Sid illustrates his craftiness being put to a new use. Rather than tricking people, Odie makes rash judgments and sneaks around, not seeming to realize that such behavior is dishonest. The narration leaves it unknown whom Sid is meeting with, creating tension. Even without knowing who Sid is meeting in Mankato, Odie clearly jumps to the conclusion that Sister Eve and Sid are liars, after all.
Themes
Furious, Odie hides in the backseat while Sid drives back to New Bremen. When Odie returns to the hotel, Sister Eve has been concerned about his whereabouts. Odie eavesdrops on her conversation with Sid, who tells her someone has agreed to meet them in Des Moines. Whisker interrupts to say the police have a warrant for Dimitri’s arrest. Once Sid and Eve leave, Odie searches Sid’s satchel. He finds envelopes filled with money, a revolver, and a snap case with a syringe and clear liquid. Assuming Sid is a dope fiend, Odie steals the snap case and makes his way down to the meadow. The police handcuff Dimitri while Eve watches. Feeling betrayed, Odie goes to the riverbank and weeps.
Rather than confront Eve and Sid outright, Odie continues to sneak around, gathering what information he can and drawing his own conclusions. Expecting to be betrayed, everything he discovers seems like evidence of treachery—even Dimitri’s timely arrest suggest Odie and his friends have been unknowingly living among criminals. This assumption snowballs, leading Odie to take rash action and steal Sid’s drug paraphernalia. It is clear from how devastated Odie is how much this community meant to him and how much losing it will hurt him.
Themes
Odie considers how many of his hopes have been destroyed, including his hope in Sister Eve. His friends find him on the riverbank. Odie tells them about following Sid to Mankato and says they have to leave immediately. He explains how when he was in the café earlier, he saw Sid paying off the people Sister Eve supposedly “healed” during the crusades. Odie has concluded she is a fake. Emmy and Mose insist that Eve has healed many others. Odie reminds them that she couldn’t heal Willis’s dead wife and that she would be dead if Emmy had not told Odie to play his harmonica. Emmy is hurt when Odie says she is “just a kid.” They resolve to ask Whisker about Eve. Odie throws Sid’s dope into the river.
In assuming the worst-case scenario must be true, Odie adopts Albert’s pessimism and distrust of the world. Furthermore, he interprets this latest disappointment as proof that injustice and betrayal are what he should expect from now on. Emmy and Mose’s pushback against Odie’s accusations against Sister Eve suggests that he is being too hasty and jumping to conclusions. They remind him that they owe Eve the benefit of the doubt. Odie’s hurt causes him to needlessly lash out at Emmy. His destruction of Sid’s drugs is understandable but petty, showing that he is in an impulsive state of mind.
Themes
