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Chapter 32
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
Back at Prosperous, Aunt Missy and Elsie are packing boxes. August tells Missy privately about Eddie’s father donating Aboriginal artifacts to the museum. She doesn’t want to worry Elsie. Later, August and Missy go through Mr. Falstaff’s letters, which August took from Southerly house. The Historic Museum Australia’s website claims they have 17,000 collections of Aboriginal artifacts. Missy says they might be able to stop the mine from taking Prosperous if they can locate the items Falstaff stole from their property. The women drive toward the library to do more research. August tells Missy she’s not going back to England. Her aunt approves, saying she’s home now.
Although she began the novel apprehensive of her family, now August views them as allies in the fight to keep the farm. To this end, she shares Eddie’s discovery with Aunt Missy, who shares August’s hope that connecting the stolen artifacts to the land might block Rinepalm’s advances. Aunt Missy’s proactive attitude characterizes her as passionate and proud of her Aboriginal heritage. She affirms that August is where she belongs, further bolstering her niece’s formerly shaky sense of identity.
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At the library, Missy reads more about the museum’s collection on a computer. August tells a librarian, Julie, that she’ll return Poppy Albert’s books soon. Having helped Albert with his research, Julie offers to assist August and Missy. She shows August The First Australians’ Dictionary by Ferdinand Greenleaf, which was of particular interest to Albert. Julie thinks Poppy was compiling a pre-colonial family history. She offers to email August a copy of one of Greenleaf’s serialized letters concerning the Mission. Flipping through the book, August shows Missy the author’s plea that the reader considers “what it means to be Australian.” They plan to return August’s rental car and visit the museum tomorrow.
Julie, the librarian mentioned in Albert’s dictionary entries, seems to recognize the significance of his work and tries to help his family pick up where he left off. That Greenleaf published the first dictionary of Wiradjuri words shows that he, too, recognized the importance of preserving marginalized language. If Albert was, as Julie suspects, writing a pre-colonial family history, it follows that he planned to use his work to claim Native Title on their homeland. Greenleaf’s plea that his readers critically consider their Australian identity is somewhat ironic, since he (and, presumably, the people reading his dictionary) are not indigenous to the land.
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Missy and August stop for fish and chips before heading home. A White man in front of August has the Southern Cross constellation tattooed on his shoulder. He implies August doesn’t “belong here,” and she wonders who he thinks she is. Back at Prosperous, Missy, August, and Elsie eat on the back veranda. A mining representative knocks on the front door before coming around back. She asks how Elsie’s preparations for relocation are coming along. Missy becomes upset and shouts at the woman as she leaves. Elsie chides her daughter but eventually laughs. A sense of belonging overwhelms August. She tells Elsie she’s staying in Australia.
Later, Alena Dimitri arrives with lamingtons (cakes) for the family. Her husband, who comes from a wealthy White family, is waiting in the car. He’s forbidden Alena from giving August the mining company’s activity packets from school, not wanting to cause trouble. Alena’s husband tells August she should leave town and mind her business. Back at the house, August discovers Alena has hidden an activity packet beneath the lamingtons. She spends the evening going through the packet as well as the portfolio Rinepalm gave her grandparents. August marvels at the propaganda designed to convince young children the mines are beneficial. Later, she and Missy go through the Falstaffs’ artifact records and contemplate claiming Native Title on the land.
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The next day, August and Missy drive toward the coast. August loves traveling but feels a peculiar compulsion to return home. She thinks of the solo trips she’d taken while living in England. Once, she visited Middlesbrough and saw Hadrian’s Wall, which was built by invading Romans. A tour guide at the museum showed her 2,000-year-old writing tablets found at the fort. August felt the artifact was a sign of time’s endless passage and pondered who decided what history was worth keeping. Now, she can’t understand why her family’s artifacts aren’t as important as others.
August asks Missy about the days preceding Poppy Albert’s death. Despite Albert’s belief that he’d return as something else in nature, the last days were hard on Missy, who says there’s no good time to be separated from someone. Julie emails Greenleaf’s letter to August, who reads it aloud as Missy drives. When she finishes, Missy pulls over, feeling sick. August imagines the reverend protecting her ancestors while simultaneously forcing his religion on them. Though both women are disgusted, they agree the letter might help their case against the mines. For the rest of the drive, they reminisce about their family members. When they reach the coast, August and Missy eat and sleep in the rental car.
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