Previous
Chapter 39
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 and Maybeth follow Mr. Schofield out of Hopersville, where he disappears into a speakeasy. Maybeth says his drinking is the real reason they lost the farm. She accompanies Odie into Mankato, where he tells her the truth of who he is, though he doesn’t tell her about the murders. Maybeth offers to investigate the county courthouse on his behalf. She returns with news that there is an ongoing manhunt, and Odie assumes the authorities are looking for him. Worried about his family, he snaps at Maybeth, who tells him to believe in miracles when there is nothing else to believe in. They head back toward Hopersville.
Maybeth blames her father’s alcoholism for the loss of the Schofield farm, implying that their family’s hardship is, to some extent, his fault. This contrasts with Odie’s situation, as his suffering is mostly the result of other people’s abuses of power. Maybeth’s willingness to help Odie even though he is a fugitive indicates she reciprocates his romantic feelings. In encouraging Odie to believe in miracles, she attempts to bolster his flagging hope in reuniting with his family.
Themes
Odie and Maybeth come across a monument dedicated to 38 Sioux Indians who were hanged there in 1862. Odie contemplates the tragedy and how he seems to have let everyone he loves down. In Hopersville, Mr. Schofield has returned and passed out. Mother Beal is irritated, saying he could have traded for money instead of alcohol. Captain Gray appears with news that police are sweeping the camp, searching for someone. Maybeth tells Odie to run, and he does. He watches from the riverbank as police tear the camp apart and brutally beat the Schofields. Overcome with guilt, Odie is about to intervene when Forrest grabs him from behind.
The monument to the murdered Sioux alludes to yet another injustice staining America’s past. Just as Mr. Schofield would have been better off trading for money instead of alcohol, the country would be better off if the people in power used it with compassion instead of abusing it. The police officers in Hopersville resort to violence against their own citizens simply because they can. Here, the novel shows that power—like alcohol—is corruptive.
Themes
