Previous
Chapter 37
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 searches for a directional sign and finds his friends’ footprints accompanied by larger ones as well as paw prints from dogs. Odie assumes his friends were fleeing from someone and follows the river back toward Mankato. Fearing they have been captured, Odie considers turning himself in and being put to death with Albert. While resting on a railroad trestle near a tributary, he hears someone playing harmonica and responds with his own melody. Odie follows the sound of music to find a community of rough, temporary shelters. The harmonica player is balding man (Mr. Schofield) sitting near a tepee and cook fire with two women.
In some sense, it is a relief that Odie finds evidence his family was chased from their campsite, since this means they did not intentionally abandon him. Nevertheless, the fear he feels without his community is intense, and Odie begins to imagine the worst. The sound of harmonica music seems to summon Odie, almost as if he is fated to hear it. Having nothing else to trust, he follows its sound to yet another community. Though this one is in rough shape, it is preferable to being alone.
Themes
One of the women is elderly and smoking a pipe. The group questions Odie about his background. Odie tells them he is an orphan named Buck Jones and that he is following the river to Saint Louis. The adults offer to share their soup. Odie learns their names: the younger man and woman are Powell and Sarah Schofield, and the older woman is Sarah’s mother, Alice Beal. They settled in this community (called a Hooverville) after their truck broke down on the way to Chicago, where they were going to look for work after losing their farm in Kansas. Mother Beal gestures to such circumstances as proof that so much is “beyond anyone’s control,” and she hopes God blesses Odie on his journey.
Odie falls back on his wily nature in order to protect himself. Although they have just met him, Mother Beal and Mr. and Mrs. Schofield are surprisingly willing to share what little they have with Odie. The term “Hooverville” refers to the numerous shantytowns than sprung up across America during the Great Depression, satirically named after President Herbert Hoover, who many blamed for the economic crisis. Mother Beal’s hope that God will bless Odie seems to contradict her assertion that life is beyond anyone’s control, as she acknowledges God’s power to bless while disregarding the notion that he could use that power to correct the many injustices she and others are facing.
Themes
Mr. Schofield fetches his three children: Maybeth, who is around Odie’s age, and twins Lester and Lydia. They invite a neighbor named Captain Bob Gray, who Odie recognizes as the man with the megaphone in Mankato. He has changed the sign that reads “Hooverville” to “Hopersville.” Odie learns how the Schofields lost their farm to the bank after years of drought. Captain Gray is planning to travel to Washington, D.C. with other veterans to demand payment of their promised bonuses. After dinner, Odie plays his harmonica. People flock to listen, sharing what little they have. Odie plays “Shenandoah” last. The tune makes Maybeth smile and Odie’s heart soar.
Captain Bob Gray is a resilient man who demands justice be served just as much as he hopes for it. Listening to the Schofields’ story shows Odie the other hardships people are facing throughout the country. He is struck by the way the residents of Hopersville care for one another despite their lack, and to that end, Odie contributes what he can: music. As always, playing his harmonica allows Odie to express his hope for a better future. This time, though, Maybeth’s attention awakens something inside Odie that signals a new phase of his coming-of-age journey: his first love.
Themes
