Previous
Chapter 24
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
Albert’s next selection of entries deal heavily with the land. His ancestors knew how to gungambirra (“plough”) long before Greenleaf and other White men came along. Living along the Murrumby River, they dug nguram-birrang—small ditches used as sleeping places—which Albert dug for his children and grandchildren on camping trips. He recalls time-traveling and watching an ancestor smoke a possum from a hollow tree (dural). Albert briefly mentions the time he considered killing a man, during which he begged the mudyigaali (“Holy Spirit”) for guidance and baptized August to protect her. Lastly, Albert remembers coming upon a field of wild horses (yarramalang) during his herding days. He thinks nothing is more beautiful than wild animals.
As in previous entries, Albert refutes the idea that European settlers brought civilization to Australia. As he has witnessed in his time-traveling visions, Albert knows his ancestors sustained themselves off the land without exploiting or depleting its resources. The implication is that Aboriginal Australians’ connection to nature played a large role in this, as they knew they had to live in harmony with their environment rather than dominate it. In desperation, it seems, Albert baptized August to protect her, possibly from Jedda’s fate.
Active
Themes
