The Yield Character Analysis

August Gondiwindi

August Gondiwindi is a 30-year-old Aboriginal Australian woman. She is the daughter of Jolene Gondiwindi and Mark Shawn. August and her sister, Jedda, were raised by their maternal grandparents, Albert and Elsie Gondiwindi… read analysis of August Gondiwindi

Albert Gondiwindi

Albert Gondiwindi is an elderly Aboriginal Australian man whose death draws his estranged granddaughter, August, to return home for the first time in 10 years. Albert is married to Elsie Gondiwindi and is the… read analysis of Albert Gondiwindi

Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf

Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf is a Lutheran minister who founded the Prosperous Mission near the Murrumby River in 1880. In 1915, he writes a letter to British ethnographer Dr. George Cross describing the Mission’s conception and… read analysis of Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf

Elsie Gondiwindi

Elsie Gondiwindi is an elderly Aboriginal Australian woman and August Gondiwindi’s grandmother. She is married to Albert Gondiwindi and the mother of Jolene, Missy, and Nicki. According to Albert’s dictionary entries… read analysis of Elsie Gondiwindi

Jedda Gondiwindi

Jedda Gondiwindi is an Aboriginal Australian girl who’s deceased in the novel’s present. She is the daughter of Jolene Gondiwindi and Mark Shawn, and August’s elder sister. Like August, Jedda lived at Prosperous… read analysis of Jedda Gondiwindi

Eddie Falstaff

Eddie Falstaff is a White man whose family leases the land on which Prosperous House sits. He lives at Southerly House, across the wheat fields from the Gondiwindis. When he was younger, Eddie was close… read analysis of Eddie Falstaff

Aunt Missy

Aunt Missy is a middle-aged Aboriginal Australian woman. She is the daughter of Elsie and Albert Gondiwindi and the sister of Jolene and Nicki. Joey Gondiwindi is her son. When her niece, August… read analysis of Aunt Missy

Aunt Nicki

Aunt Nicki is the daughter of Elsie and Albert Gondiwindi and the sister of Missy and Jolene. Middle-aged Aunt Nicki works for the local council, who have denied any possibility of the Gondiwindis claiming… read analysis of Aunt Nicki

Great-Aunt Mary

Great-Aunt Mary is an elderly Aboriginal Australian woman and Albert Gondiwindi’s younger sister. The siblings were separated when they were taken to the old Lutheran Mission but reunited in later years. Mary helps Elsie… read analysis of Great-Aunt Mary

Jolene Gondiwindi

Jolene Gondiwindi is a middle-aged Aboriginal Australian woman who is imprisoned for the majority of the novel. She is August and Jedda’s mother and Mark Shawn’s wife. Elsie and Albert are Jolene’s parents… read analysis of Jolene Gondiwindi

Joey Gondiwindi

Joey Gondiwindi is an Aboriginal Australian man. He is Missy’s son and August’s cousin. As a teenager, Joey was sent to juvenile detention for four years, presumably for burning down the pharmacy owned… read analysis of Joey Gondiwindi

Mandy

Mandy is a young protester camping at Kengal Rock near the Gondiwindis’ property in the hope of stopping the mine’s construction. Though August struggles to understand Mandy’s motives and methods, she appreciates the other woman… read analysis of Mandy

Julie

Julie is a librarian in the town of Massacre Plains who helped Albert Gondiwindi research Aboriginal Australian culture and the history of Prosperous Mission. Clearly sympathetic to Albert’s goal of saving his farm from the… read analysis of Julie

Minor Characters

Jimmy Corvette

Jimmy Corvette is an Aboriginal Australian man and Great-Aunt Mary’s son. Jimmy babysat August and Jedda when they were young and sexually abused them. Having always sensed something dark within Jimmy, Albert confronted him after Jedda’s disappearance and killed him once Jimmy confirmed he’d murdered the young girl.

Alena Dimitri

Alena Dimitri is a White woman who lives in the town of Massacre Plains. An old school acquaintance of August’s, Alena covertly shows the Gondiwindis the propaganda Rinepalm is distributing to her school-aged students.

Dr. George Cross

Dr. George Cross is a British ethnographer during the early 20th century. Having become acquainted with Dr. Cross at the World’s Fair in Chicago, Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf writes him a lengthy letter appealing for his help protecting Aboriginal Australians from European oppression and exploitation.

Hans Keller

Hans Keller is a German man hired by Reverend Greenleaf to teach the Aboriginal Australian children living at the Mission.

Mark Shawn

Mark Shawn is Jolene Gondiwindi’s husband and the father of August and Jedda. He dies after being imprisoned for growing marijuana.

The Yield Characters