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Chapter 40
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
Forrest tells Odie his family is waiting for him across the river, assuring him the Schofields will be okay. They creep across a bridge and find Albert, Emmy, and Mose camped in a nearby group of trees. While Albert and Emmy are overjoyed to see Odie, Mose hangs back. They abandoned the old camp after hearing men and dogs approaching. A criminally insane man escaped from a nearby hospital, and he is the reason for the manhunt. Mose will not even talk to the others since finding the Native American boy’s skeleton. Forrest says there is something Mose needs to do, and he leads Mose off into the trees. He calls Mose Amdacha, his Sioux name.
Like other past remarks he has made, Forrest’s apparent knowledge of police brutality suggests he has had similar clashes with authority in his life. Mose’s continuing melancholy suggests that he is deeply troubled about the unknown aspects of his identity and longs for answers. Forrest, though he hasn’t known Mose for long, steps in as a member of Mose’s birth community to guide him in his personal growth journey. That he calls Mose “Amdacha” implies that this journey will alter Mose’s identity.
Themes
Meanwhile, Albert and Emmy explain how Forrest found them after they crossed the river. Forrest seems worried about Mose, who is also Sioux. Odie tells them about everything except kissing Maybeth and insists on returning to check on the Schofields. The police have left destruction in their wake, but the people of Hopersville are helping one another rebuild. Odie tells Maybeth he has found his family, but he promises not to leave without saying goodbye. He crosses the river again. Forrest has returned alone, saying Mose will come back when he’s ready. He has brought food. Odie is shocked to hear that Albert trusted Forrest with their money from Sister Eve, and he thinks of how much they have all changed in a month.
As the reader may have guessed, Forrest’s particular interest in helping Mose relates to their shared heritage. That Odie keeps his relationship with Maybeth a secret suggests he knows the topic will be divisive—he perhaps suspects that his desire to stay with her will clash with his family’s plans to move on. Mose’s personal excursion puts a brief hold on the group’s travel plans. Albert’s increased ability to trust strangers is shocking to Odie, emphasizing how much the journey on the river has changed everyone.
Themes
