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Chapter 35
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
Mose and Albert come running when they hear Odie’s scream. The skeleton is small but complete, and it has a shattered skull. From the moccasins at its feet, they deduce it belonged to a Native American child. In low spirits since his snakebite, Albert says to leave the skeleton alone. Mose becomes angry, saying that they should give the kid a proper funeral. Odie and Mose dig a shallow grave and bury the skeleton. At Mose’s request, Odie talks about how the boy was just like them. He claims that the wind will still whisper his name. For dinner, they have catfish Mose caught. Odie thinks of his father, buried in a pauper’s grave in Lincoln. He tries to remember everything he can about his dad.
The discovery of the Native American boy’s skeleton disturbs Mose in particular, presumably because he identifies with the unfortunate child. His anger at Albert’s seeming indifference suggests that Mose views himself as separate from the rest of the group, making him sensitive to slights against his Native people. Odie’s short eulogy emphasizes the boy’s similarities to Odie and his friends: they’re all children who were separated from their loved ones. Odie considers the importance of remembering those who have died so that they may life on in the minds of those who cared about them.
Themes
Odie remembers his father’s love of music and laughter. He was a bootlegger and made runs for other bootleggers after Odie’s mother died. He was killed on one such trip, bringing the boys with him from Missouri to Minnesota. Odie’s father was found with three bullet wounds in his back, but his death was not investigated. Albert and Odie were given to the Brickmans, who received a monthly check for their care. Odie considers how he and Albert remember their father, and Emmy can remember both her parents. Mose, on the other hand, has no knowledge of his origins. Odie remembers how Sister Eve said Mose’s greatest desire is to know who he is.
Odie’s father’s death is as mysterious as it is tragic. That his murder was never investigated suggests the authorities judged him by his criminal activities and dismissed the case. Being placed in the Brickmans’ poor care is bad enough, but the fact they were getting paid to mistreat the boys is yet another injustice. Odie’s reflections on their parents cause him to look at Mose with a new pity, realizing that Mose has no knowledge of his birth family or where he comes from, leaving him particularly lonely.
Themes
After Albert and Emmy are asleep, Odie approaches Mose where he is listening to the sounds of nature on the riverbank. Mose says Sister Eve told him his Sioux name after holding his hand: Amdacha. It means “Broken to Pieces.” Albert cries out from the campsite: Emmy is having another seizure. When the episode passes, she says “They’re all dead.” Emmy says she tried to help “them” but was unable. Odie wonders if she is talking about the Native American kid and if there are more like him on the island. Emmy falls asleep without answering their questions. Disturbed, the boys resolve to leave the island at dawn.
Mose’s statements indicate he, too, is contemplating his unknown origins. The birth name Sister Eve was able to tell him serves as a clue to his past, and its meaning—“Broken to Pieces”—suggests some relation to suffering. Emmy’s remarks after her seizure imply that she once again experienced some kind of vision, though this time she was unable to affect the things she saw. The eeriness of the skeleton and Emmy’s ominous words make the boys eager to move on.
Themes
