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Chapter 55
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
Truman holds a celebration on his shantyboat that evening. The children, Gertie, and Flo go down to the river, where Truman serves up bootlegged beer and sarsaparillas. Sensing Odie’s irritation, Calvin assures him that Truman is a good and loyal man despite his temper and drinking. Odie refuses to play his harmonica, but he relents when Emmy asks for a story. Continuing the tale of the Vagabonds, Odie talks about how the Black Witch sent a little fly to whisper into their ears that they didn’t need one another after all. Only the imp resists this treachery, and he watches his companions destroy one another. The Black Witch remains undefeated. This dark ending concludes the celebration, and they head back to Gertie’s.
Instead of enjoying being among his friends at Truman’s party, Odie leans into his feelings of bitterness, refusing to contribute his music to the celebration and effectively excluding himself from the community. Struggling with the possibility of his family splitting up, Odie uses his story to manipulate them instead of provide hope. He clearly means to communicate to Albert, Mose, and Emmy that, by staying in the Flats, they are allowing the Black Witch—Mrs. Brickman—to win. Odie exhibits selfish petulance in this moment, disregarding his friends’ happiness to advance his own agenda. Although Odie is not physically harming his friends here, his mentality prioritizes his own desires over theirs in the same way as people like the Brickmans, a state of mind that is antithetical to community.
Themes
In the shed, Albert asks Odie about one-eyed Jack. Odie admits that Jack means them no harm. Still, he insists that if Jack could find them without even looking, Mrs. Brickman will surely catch them if they stay in the Flats. In the candlelight, Odie’s friends seem like strangers to him. Albert, Mose, and Emmy all express their desire to stay, despite Odie’s fear of the Brickmans. They take a vote and decide to stay in the Flats. Bitter, Odie walks the streets. He has the sudden conviction that he is to blame for all his family’s hardship and becomes convinced his presence will destroy them. Trying and failing to pray, Odie realizes what he must do next.
Forced to admit that Jack’s presence in Saint Paul has nothing to do with them, Odie still insists that the Brickmans will find them. Using fear to motivate his friends to leave behind a community they’ve grown to love is uncharacteristically selfish, indicating how difficult it is for Odie to accept the possibility of the group going their separate ways. To protect himself from the knowledge that they have all changed too much to stay together, Odie decides to blame himself for every hardship that has befallen his found family. This logic lets Odie convince himself that he is saving his family by abandoning them—and this, in turn, allows him to delay the uncomfortable process of discovering who he is without them.
Themes
