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Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Yield, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism and Exploitation
The Power of Language and Cultural History
Family, Identity, and Belonging
Collective Trauma, Memory, and Guilt
Human Spirituality and the Natural World
Summary
Analysis
An unnamed narrator (Albert Gondiwindi) begins his life story. He was born on Ngurambang—an old word meaning “country.” He believes learning such words is a way to time travel. Both Albert’s parents—Buddy Gondiwindi and Augustine—are dead, although he claims that nothing ever dies but rather lives on in a different way. Before Albert understood this, he set out to control his life, though the country itself had predetermined his path. Eventually, Albert’s wife, Elsie, taught him to write and bought him his first dictionary, which he treasures. Now, he writes so that others will remember. Though Albert’s story deals with “deep time,” he is dying of pancreatic cancer. Therefore, his message is urgent.
Albert’s opening statements emphasize the importance of language and family history in his life. His notion that words are a mode of time travel references the way language (especially a language that is no longer commonly spoken) can provide insight into the past. Likewise, Albert perceives linear time as immaterial, remarking that his parents, though dead, are merely alive in some other way. Speaking retrospectively about his own life, Albert suggests that he has gained clarity in his final years and feels Australia in some ways determined his fate. To live on after his own impending death, Albert turns to language, thereby tapping into its time-traveling powers.
Active
Themes
