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Chapter 20
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 continues to chronicle the Mission’s history. In 1886, he requested assistance from the Department of Public Instruction, who sent agents to inspect the Mission. Impressed by the earnest Aboriginal children, the department approved the materials and elevated the school’s status. But the supplies never arrived, forcing Greenleaf to take the Aboriginal Australians’ advice and fish downriver. To his surprise, the men speared a bounty of fish. Greenleaf and Keller agreed to allow the residents to use their old methods to sustain themselves. The Aboriginal Australians taught Greenleaf other skills and some of their language. The reverend stops distinguishing between Christ and Baymee, which he pretends to believe is their word for “God,” though he suspects otherwise.
The poor treatment of Aboriginal Australians is clearly institutional. Naively, Greenleaf turns to the government for help only to discover they are uninterested in following through on their promises to the Mission. Greenleaf’s surprise at the Aboriginal Australians’ self-sufficiency indicates he still believes they are less intelligent than Europeans. That said, Greenleaf’s small allowances suggest he is starting to understand he has no right to force the Mission’s residents to assimilate into White culture when they are perfectly satisfied with their own ways of life.
Active
Themes
