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
Sadie finds the tree on which she (as Sarah) had etched an “S” in 1933. A crow watches her as she digs and digs. Finally, after much digging, she finds the metallic cigarette tin that she had concealed Jimmy’s things in before she buried it under the tree. She remembers that Auntie Lily warned her to bring the sacred items to her without looking at their contents.
Sadie’s digging up of Jimmy Raven’s special things represents the beginning of her fulfillment of the obligation that she has been entrusted with, both by the crows and by Auntie Lily. By further adhering to Lily’s instructions not to look at the things, she shows her commitment to respecting to these obligations to the letter. Sadie, in other words, approaches the Aboriginal heritage—embodied by Jimmy’s things—reverentially, recognizing its deep spiritual value. In this way, her attitude contrasts with that of her forbears Clarry and Gerald, who treated this heritage with disdain.
Themes
A crow leads Sadie to Auntie Lily’s house, as Sadie has forgotten the way. She arrives at the house exhausted, and is let in to see Auntie Lily. She tells Auntie Lily that Jimmy’s special things are in the tin box and gives it to her. Auntie tells her she’s a “good girl,” and that she will look after the things from now on.
In restoring Jimmy’s things to Lily, Sadie achieves some kind of restitution for the injustice that had been committed through his murder. While Auntie Lily had once been hostile to Sadie, her declaration that Sadie is a “good girl” reflects the fact that her opinion has changed—Sadie has proven herself to be an ally, who has acted with integrity in bringing back Jimmy’s things. This shift shows how a commitment to justice can undo some of the effects of societal violence and foster positive relationships between different racial groups.
Themes
Outside the room, Sadie is so exhausted that she slumps against the wall. She falls asleep and dreams that she is riding on the back of a massive crow, which is flying over the land. She can see dots of light twinkling on the ground below. Sadie realizes that she is looking “down at ancient campfires, lit by the people of Crow and Eaglehawk, night after night, generation after generation, millennium upon millennium.” She realizes that the “secret magic” of the land is still there, even though it has been buried beneath new construction and violence. She tells the crow to tell Waa that “his stories aren’t forgotten.” Later that evening, as Ellie tucks Sadie into bed after picking her up from Auntie Lily’s, she notices a black feather in her hair.
Sadie’s dream of the campfires affirms the Aboriginal claim to the country—Sadie realizes that she is looking down on thousands of generations of Aboriginals who had inhabited the land long before the arrival of the Europeans. The feather that Ellie finds tucked in Sadie’s hair indicates Sadie’s own position as a bridge between the ‘real’ world and the Aboriginal spirit world of Waa the Crow, which is still very much alive. Sadie has functioned to connect the worlds of the past and the present, the spirit world and the real world, and the novel implies that such connection is crucial in interrupting cycles of violence and injustice.
Themes
