Previous
Chapter 8
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
That night, Odie is in the quiet room when Faria appears, moving slowly. Odie offers Faria some crumbs, but the rat only stares at him. Odie wishes he could communicate and share his woes with the creature. Eventually, Odie realizes Faria has died right in front of him, and he weeps the same way he did for Mrs. Frost. In the night, DiMarco comes to the quiet room and tells Odie that Mr. Brickman needs his help: Emmy has run away. DiMarco leads Odie to the quarry, where he sees DiMarco’s leather strap and Billy Red Sleeve’s corncob doll sitting on a rock near the shed.
Odie’s friendship with Faria characterizes him as a sentimental boy who values all living creatures. He mourns Faria as a fellow prisoner and companion in the quiet room—losing the rat is losing yet another form of comfort. The pretense under which DiMarco leads Odie to the quarry seems improbable. The reappearance of Billy’s corncob doll not only confirms Odie’s suspicion that DiMarco was involved in the other boy’s disappearance, but portends his own grim fate.
Themes
DiMarco tells Odie that Billy Red Sleeve is somewhere “no one will ever find him,” insinuating that Billy is dead. Knowing DiMarco means to kill him too, Odie runs along the edge of the quarry, trying to hide. DiMarco reminds him of the Windigo: a monster. Cornered, Odie lunges at DiMarco, who moves aside so Odie falls into the quarry. He lands on a small outcropping of rock, unseen by DiMarco. Odie reaches up and yanks the leather strap, causing DiMarco to fall into the quarry. Realizing he has likely killed the terrible man, Odie feels a mixture of elation and horror. When Mose pulls him out of the quarry, Odie senses that he leaves something of himself behind.
DiMarco’s murderous actions reflect the darkest side of American Indian residential schools, in which thousands of Native children went missing or died. The children’s separation from their families make them especially vulnerable to men like DiMarco, who can always claim boys like Billy ran away never to be seen again. The outcropping that saves Odie from falling into the quarry isa notable instance of good luck. Odie’s conflicting feelings about killing DiMarco indicate that the experience has changed him in significant ways and that he perhaps will carry guilt for the rest of his life.
Themes
