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Chapter 14
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
Reverend Greenleaf reassures Dr. Cross that he is loyal to Britain despite his Prussian heritage, but he is still compelled to air his grievances. In 1879, he wrote to the Colonial Secretary requesting permission to build a Mission for the Aboriginal Australians in Massacre Plains. Greenleaf settled on a site near the Murrumby River encompassing 500 acres. While staying in another hotel in Massacre Plains, he learned the local community wasn’t in favor of his plans. Indeed, he helped several drunkards pledge abstinence who later caused the Mission much trouble. That same day, Greenleaf witnessed a line of Aboriginal prisoners chained to a tree and encountered White drivers with enslaved Aboriginal women.
Despite his aforementioned issues with European settlers’ treatment of Aboriginal Australians, Greenleaf is eager to assure Dr. Cross that he is still on Britain’s side. In other words, he is trying to protect himself from any negative consequences of standing up for the indigenous people. But according to his own account, Greenleaf knew early on that White settlers were displeased with him for founding the Mission. Furthermore, there was ample evidence of those same settlers abusing Aboriginal Australians. Based on his own words, then, Greenleaf downplayed threats of settler violence.
Active
Themes
The government approved Greenleaf’s request on the condition that the Mission be far enough away from White society to minimize contact between them and the residents. Over the years, Greenleaf only encouraged the Aboriginal Australians to visit town for blanket distribution and discouraged them from political conversation. Another pastor helped Greenleaf build the first few huts on his land, though the Aboriginal locals were reluctant to trust a White man. In the meantime, Greenleaf tilled and sowed the land with grain and turnips. He borrowed two enslaved Black workers from a nearby White settler and learned to greet them in their language. Greenleaf was grateful God had allowed him to build a safe place for “waifs and strays.”
Active
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