Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Crow Country, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Prejudice and Discrimination
Heritage and Land
Justice and Restitution
Violence and Integrity
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Sadie realizes that she’s lost her gloves. Upon admonishment by her mother, she agrees to go back to search for them at the pub, even though she is reluctant to go outside alone in the dark. Sadie makes her way to the pub and finds them in a gutter outside the pub. On her way back home, she stops at the war monument and looks into the old shop, which is boarded up. She thinks it’s strange that she’s been inside the shop in a different time period. Just then she hears a crow, and feels dizzy. Darkness closes in around her, and she staggers and falls.
Sadie’s trip in search of her gloves has an eerie feel, because of the darkness. Her reluctance to go outside alone suggests her awareness that there are forces beyond her control, which are affecting her in drastic, mysterious ways. Indeed, just as she is reflecting on her time travel to the past, these forces again come into play, as she hears a crow and feels darkness closing in around her. The landscape that Sadie inhabits reveals itself again and again to be full of strange and powerful currents that pull her in unexpected directions.
Themes
When Sarah Louise rises, she is in the kitchen doorway behind the shop. She is throwing out washing-up water when she hears voices. It is Gerald Mortlock and Jimmy Raven, arguing. Jimmy Raven is telling Gerald that what he wants to do is wrong; Gerald responds by saying it is his land, so he can do what he wants with it. The fight is interrupted when Clarry appears. Gerald tells Clarry that Jimmy is telling him that he is not “allowed” to dam his own creek. Gerald warns Jimmy to watch himself and refers to him as “boy,” a derogatory term.
The tensions between Jimmy and Gerald that Sadie glimpsed in her previous visit to the past are clearly reaching a climax now. Sadie, in the body of her great-aunt Sarah Louise, begins to learn that their conflict is one over land, and Gerald’s decision to dam part of his property, which Jimmy doesn’t approve of. In referring to Jimmy by the derogatory term “boy,” Gerald shows that he is just as prejudiced as many of Boort’s other white residents.
Themes
Gerald Mortlock leaves and Sarah Louise listens as her father, Clarry, questions Jimmy Raven about his conflict with Gerald. Jimmy tells him that Gerald wants to flood the valley and that this would be sacrilege, like setting fire to the church in town. The valley is a “meeting place” for his Aboriginal people, Jimmy says, “a holy place.” Clarry doesn’t quite understand why Jimmy is so upset, and goes back inside.
Jimmy’s words to Clarry reveal that Gerald is about to commit a serious crime against the heritage of the Aboriginal people to whom Jimmy belongs. Jimmy tries to make Clarry understand by comparing the sacred site to a church, and yet Clarry reveals himself to be quite close-minded and ignorant in not being able to see Jimmy’s point of view. This indicates the extent to which not just Gerald, but also Clarry and other whites are unable to view things from any perspective other than their own. Jimmy’s analogy about burning the truth also hints that this prejudice is closely linked to the possibility of literal violence.
Themes
Sarah Louise then calls Jimmy from the darkness. She tells him that she thinks she understands what he’s saying. Jimmy tells her he’s not from the Boort, that he comes from way down south, but that he knows the valley is a special place. Its people are not there to protect it, so he feels a special responsibility to do so on their behalf.
Sadie, as Sarah Louise, understands Jimmy’s concerns, unlike her father and Gerald. Jimmy’s words to her indicate that he is trying to do his duty by the Aboriginal people who once lived in the area, even though he himself comes from elsewhere in the country. As an Aboriginal man, he feels the impulse to protect their land and heritage against white prejudice—as embodied by Gerald and even Clarry—that would violate and destroy them.
Themes
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