Harvest

by

Jim Crace

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Harvest makes teaching easy.
The owner of the land on which the village is situated. Since Master Kent produced no sons with his wife, Lucy, her property is entailed to her cousin, Jordan. Jordan arrives in the village with the intention of converting it from collective agriculture to sheep farming, a business which will concentrate most of the profits in his hands and displace most of the villagers. Casting himself as a champion of “progress” but possessing no morals or respect for the people who have farmed his land for centuries, Jordan is emblematic of a pernicious modernity which strives for innovation and productivity without considering the human cost of these endeavors, ultimately conferring prosperity on a chosen few while disenfranchising the majority. He’s a notable foil to Master Kent, who shares his aristocratic background but completely lacks his pretensions and his aspirations to wealth.

Edmund Jordan Quotes in Harvest

The Harvest quotes below are all either spoken by Edmund Jordan or refer to Edmund Jordan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Renewal and Decay Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

I bring you sheep, and I supply a Holy Shepherd too. There’ll be a steeple, higher than the turret of this house, taller than any ancient oak that we might fell. This place will be visible from far. And I will have a bell cast for the very top of it to summon everyone to prayer. And hurry everyone to work.

Related Characters: Edmund Jordan (speaker), Master Kent
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

There’s nothing like a show of heavy justice–and a swinging corpse–to persuade a populace not used to formal discipline that their compliance in all matters–including those regarding wool and fence–is beyond debate.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:

“Nothing but sheep,” he says, and laughs out loud. His joke, I think, is this: we are the sheep, already here, and munching at the grass. There’s none more pitiful than us, he thinks. There’s none more meek. There’s none to match our peevish fearfulness, our thoughtless lives, our vacant, puny faces, our dependency, our fretful scurrying, our plaints.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

But none of these compare for patterned vividness with Mr. Quill’s designs. His endeavors are tidier and more wildly colorful–they’re certainly more blue–than anything that nature can provide. They’re rewarding in themselves. They are more pleasing than a barleycorn.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Philip Earle/Mr. Quill, Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Dissent is never counted. It is weighed. The master always weighs the most. Besides, they can’t draw up a petition and fit it to the doorway of the church as other places do. It only takes a piece of paper and a nail, that’s true. But, even if they had a doorway to a church, none of them has a signature.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Master Kent, Edmund Jordan, Lizzie Carr
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:

Our church ground has been desecrated by our surliness. Our usual scriptures are abused. This body on the cross is not the one that’s promised us. Yet, once again, it’s Mr. Quill who teaches us our shortcomings. It’s Mr. Quill who’s intimate and kind. It’s Mr. Quill who’s valiant. It will not make him popular.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Philip Earle/Mr. Quill, Edmund Jordan, Master Beldam/Young Man/Husband
Related Symbols: The Pillory
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“I have the sense my cousin is taking pleasure from sowing these anxieties, in the same way we take pleasure in the sowing of our seed,” says Master Kent. “I fear his harvesting. I think he means to shear us all, then turn us into mutton.”

Related Characters: Master Kent (speaker), Walter Thirsk, Edmund Jordan
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

He must realize I’m not truly a villager. He knows I used to be the manor man. He sees that I stand apart. I’m separate. Indeed, I haven’t felt as separate in years. Perhaps it’s just as well, this recent, saddening detachment from the drove. I almost welcome it. These loose roots might save me yet.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 161
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

We’re used to looking out and seeing what’s preceded us, and what will also outlive us. Now we have to contemplate a land bare of both. Those woods that linked us to eternity will be removed by spring […] That grizzled oak which we believe is so old it must have come from Eden to our fields will be felled and rooted out.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Master Kent, Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

Frost and furrows. That’s the prompt. I know my duty now. I have to put the earth to the plow. The time has come to put the earth to plow, no matter what the Jordans say. The frost will finish what the plow begins. Winter will provide the spring.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:

The plowing’s done. The seed is spread. The weather is reminding me that, rain or shine, the earth abides, the land endures, the soil will persevere forever and a day. Its smell is pungent and high-seasoned. This is happiness.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan, Mistress Beldam/Stranger Woman, Master Beldam/Young Man/Husband
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis:
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Harvest PDF

Edmund Jordan Quotes in Harvest

The Harvest quotes below are all either spoken by Edmund Jordan or refer to Edmund Jordan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Renewal and Decay Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

I bring you sheep, and I supply a Holy Shepherd too. There’ll be a steeple, higher than the turret of this house, taller than any ancient oak that we might fell. This place will be visible from far. And I will have a bell cast for the very top of it to summon everyone to prayer. And hurry everyone to work.

Related Characters: Edmund Jordan (speaker), Master Kent
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

There’s nothing like a show of heavy justice–and a swinging corpse–to persuade a populace not used to formal discipline that their compliance in all matters–including those regarding wool and fence–is beyond debate.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:

“Nothing but sheep,” he says, and laughs out loud. His joke, I think, is this: we are the sheep, already here, and munching at the grass. There’s none more pitiful than us, he thinks. There’s none more meek. There’s none to match our peevish fearfulness, our thoughtless lives, our vacant, puny faces, our dependency, our fretful scurrying, our plaints.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

But none of these compare for patterned vividness with Mr. Quill’s designs. His endeavors are tidier and more wildly colorful–they’re certainly more blue–than anything that nature can provide. They’re rewarding in themselves. They are more pleasing than a barleycorn.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Philip Earle/Mr. Quill, Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Dissent is never counted. It is weighed. The master always weighs the most. Besides, they can’t draw up a petition and fit it to the doorway of the church as other places do. It only takes a piece of paper and a nail, that’s true. But, even if they had a doorway to a church, none of them has a signature.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Master Kent, Edmund Jordan, Lizzie Carr
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:

Our church ground has been desecrated by our surliness. Our usual scriptures are abused. This body on the cross is not the one that’s promised us. Yet, once again, it’s Mr. Quill who teaches us our shortcomings. It’s Mr. Quill who’s intimate and kind. It’s Mr. Quill who’s valiant. It will not make him popular.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Philip Earle/Mr. Quill, Edmund Jordan, Master Beldam/Young Man/Husband
Related Symbols: The Pillory
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“I have the sense my cousin is taking pleasure from sowing these anxieties, in the same way we take pleasure in the sowing of our seed,” says Master Kent. “I fear his harvesting. I think he means to shear us all, then turn us into mutton.”

Related Characters: Master Kent (speaker), Walter Thirsk, Edmund Jordan
Related Symbols: Sheep
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

He must realize I’m not truly a villager. He knows I used to be the manor man. He sees that I stand apart. I’m separate. Indeed, I haven’t felt as separate in years. Perhaps it’s just as well, this recent, saddening detachment from the drove. I almost welcome it. These loose roots might save me yet.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 161
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

We’re used to looking out and seeing what’s preceded us, and what will also outlive us. Now we have to contemplate a land bare of both. Those woods that linked us to eternity will be removed by spring […] That grizzled oak which we believe is so old it must have come from Eden to our fields will be felled and rooted out.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Master Kent, Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

Frost and furrows. That’s the prompt. I know my duty now. I have to put the earth to the plow. The time has come to put the earth to plow, no matter what the Jordans say. The frost will finish what the plow begins. Winter will provide the spring.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:

The plowing’s done. The seed is spread. The weather is reminding me that, rain or shine, the earth abides, the land endures, the soil will persevere forever and a day. Its smell is pungent and high-seasoned. This is happiness.

Related Characters: Walter Thirsk (speaker), Edmund Jordan, Mistress Beldam/Stranger Woman, Master Beldam/Young Man/Husband
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis: