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Chapter 63
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 sits by his mother’s hospital bed, hoping she will regain consciousness. Mrs. Brickman is dead, but her body cushioned Julia’s fall, saving her life. Albert arrives with Mose, Emmy, and Sister Eve. John Kelly told them where Odie went, and Truman ferried them downriver. They found Sister Eve using the flyers around town. Odie tells them all what happened and how Julia is his real mother. Albert insists they will always be brothers. Mose agrees, and Emmy calls them the “four Vagabonds.”
It is worth noting that Odie refers to Aunt Julia as his mother, showing that he is coming to accept her relation to him despite its complications. That Albert, Mose, and Emmy have come to find Odie proves that they never actually thought of him as a curse or a burden, as he believed when he abandoned them. Instead, their arrival signifies that they will always care for and support him, even if their life paths diverge. Albert’s declaration that Odie will always be his brother, regardless of parentage, confirms this, as does Emmy’s reference to the four Vagabonds from Odie’s story.
Themes
Odie shares Sister Eve’s beliefs about Emmy’s fits with Albert, pointing out how a slight shift in circumstances saved Jack’s and Albert’s lives. Albert says Emmy had a fit on the journey to Saint Louis and woke saying “She’s not dead now.” Odie guesses Emmy saved Julia, too. Albert questions why Emmy did not save her own mother, and Odie speculates some things are too big to change. Later, Odie talks with Sister Eve. He wonders if hitting himself on the head would give him a gift that could save his mother. Sister Eve says storytelling is Odie’s gift, insisting the universe is a story that can be “changed in the telling.” Odie imagines Julia waking and saying his name.
Again, a slight shift in circumstances might have led Aunt Julia to die alongside Mrs. Brickman. Combined with Emmy’s fit, it seems she has saved Aunt Julia’s life, highlighting how simple altruistic action can change a person’s supposed fate. Sister Eve reminds Odie that all gifts, while different, are influential and important. His talent for storytelling alters the universe in its own subtle way. Ending the novel with Odie imagining his mother returning to him embodies his hope for a better future while acknowledging his own agency in shaping that future.
Themes
