analysis and themes

• Our work is consecrated by the sun. Compared to winter days, let's say, or digging days, it's satisfying work, made all the more so by the company we keep, for on such days all the faces we know and love [...] are gathered in one space and bounded by common ditches and collective hopes.' ch1,pg7- analysis


  - the joint satisfaction both Walter and villagers get from reaping the crop.

  - "consecrated" suggests a sense of holiness, allows villagers to connect with nature and elements like the sun however instead rather than actual religion.

  -shows the disregard for Christianity and instead a reliance on land-based ritual instead.

  - "bounded by common ditches and collective hopes." this shows how the villagers are penned together (links to Master Jordan and his enclosure of land).

  - by using the same language before and after Jordan's arrival Crace heightens the contrast between the initial security and eventual dispossession.
• Our work is consecrated by the sun. Compared to winter days, let's say, or digging days, it's satisfying work, made all the more so by the company we keep, for on such days all the faces we know and love [...] are gathered in one space and bounded by common ditches and collective hopes' ch1, pg7- themes


  Individual and Community

  Religion and Ritual

  Progress and Dispossession

  Destruction of rural community and their way of life
• "But what are documents and deeds when there are harvests to be gathered in? Only toughened hands can do that job. And Master Kent, for all his parchmenting, would be the poorest man if all he had to work his property were his own two hands and no others [...] Ours are the deeds that make the difference." ch2, pg 18- analysis


  - describes balance of power between the villagers and Master Kent

  - the system provides stability for everyone and innovative ideas such as Master Jordan's will disturb this harmony.

  - the contrast between the villages ancient stability and its rapid collapse will be used to argue that ideas of progression shouldn't be embrace unthinkingly.
• "But what are documents and deeds when there are harvests to be gathered in? Only toughened hands can do that job. And Master Kent, for all his parchmenting, would be the poorest man if all he had to work his property were his own two hands and no others [...] Ours are the deeds that make the difference." ch2, pg 18- themes


  progress and dispossession

  imagined authority and power in rural community

  physical power vs monetary power/status
• The organisation to all of our advantages that the master has in mind-against his usual character and sympathies, against his promises-involves the closing and engrossment of our fields with walls and hedges, ditches, gates. He means to throw a halter round our lives. He means the clearing of our common land.' ch3, pg40- analysis


  - Master Kent is enacting change to the villages structure in their favour

  - Walter as an outsider sees its enclosure of the land and its harmful nature

  - it means restricting "our lives".

  - in contrast to Chapter 1, when Walter was happy to be "bound" with his neighbours to harvest

  - he however isn't happy to be bound by "walls and hedges, ditches,gates" a mixing of natural and man-made

  - boundaries once suggested the security of the villagers roots however now it signifies the villages loss of control over the land.
• The organisation to all of our advantages that the master has in mind-against his usual character and sympathies, against his promises-involves the closing and engrossment of our fields with walls and hedges, ditches, gates. He means to throw a halter round our lives. He means the clearing of our common land.' ch3, pg40- themes


  renewal and decay

  progression and dispossession

  abuse of power, selecting words and hiding the true meaning behind them, veiling their own future

  enforced social change and its damaging effects on the politically powerless
• We know we ought to make amends for shearing her. That's why she's standing there, awaiting us. She's asking us to witness what we've done [...] For a moment, the temper of the barn is not that she has shamed our evening but that we've found our Gleaning Queen.' ch3, pg46- analysis


  - Walters use of "We" suggests a collective understanding of wrongdoing (to Mistress Beldam)

  - Walter imagines a way to amend the situation by letting her join in the celebration.

  - the villagers could atone and draw upon the promise of fertility she brings (in a village of depleting numbers)

  - however they do nothing and she disappears, this leads to the villages retribution and demise.
• We know we ought to make amends for shearing her. That's why she's standing there, awaiting us. She's asking us to witness what we've done [...] For a moment, the temper of the barn is not that she has shamed our evening but that we've found our Gleaning Queen.' ch3, pg46- themes


  renewal and decay

  progression and dispossession

  outsiders and blame

  effects of prejudice, especially insular attitudes and xenophobia

  lack of resistance, rebellion and transgressions to register protest

  injustice and punishment

  isolationism
• But this was precisely what I most liked about this village life, the way we had to press our cheeks and chests against a living, fickle world which in the place where I and Master Kent had lived before only displayed itself as casual weeds in cracks or on our market stalls where country goods were put on sale, already ripe, and magicked up from God knows where.' ch4, pg63- analysis


  -Walter is reflecting on the agrarian life.

  - Walter likes the village because of it makes him feel more connected to the cycle of death and renewal- e.g. the harvest dies in winter but returns is spring

  - city-dwellers are alienated from this cycle and don't understand it

  - Walters speech shows the beauty of the harvest however, in contrast to whats to come the "casual weeds" will be the only plants after the enclosure, bringing in a tone of poignancy and tragedy.
• But this was precisely what I most liked about this village life, the way we had to press our cheeks and chests against a living, fickle world which in the place where I and Master Kent had lived before only displayed itself as casual weeds in cracks or on our market stalls where country goods were put on sale, already ripe, and magicked up from God knows where.' ch4, pg63- themes


  renewal and decay

  community and individual

  rural vs urban

  capitalism, profit, measurable value
• The moment is always a rousing one. Our labors are condensed to this: a dozen tokens of our bread and drink, each tucked and swaddled in the oval of a grain, and sitting on a child's undamaged skin. What should we do but toss our hats and cheer?' ch4, pg68- analysis


  - the barley in Lizzie's hand symbolises the end of ones life (the mature crop), which fuels the life of another (villagers).

  - her action symbolises the cycle of renewal and decay that has sustained the village for generations

  - cheers of villagers show awareness of this

  - this ritual, is worshipping the earth through a female intermediary, very similar to pagan principals rather than Christian.

  - Rituals like this show the unchanging village life

  - this will later contrast Master Jordan's Christianity, which isn't connected to the villagers or real spiritual belief, only serves to re-enforce his own power.
• The moment is always a rousing one. Our labors are condensed to this: a dozen tokens of our bread and drink, each tucked and swaddled in the oval of a grain, and sitting on a child's undamaged skin. What should we do but toss our hats and cheer?' ch4, pg68- themes


  Renewal and Decay

  Religion and ritual

  value of harvest to the village, compare to monetary profit
• Their suspicion of anyone who was not born within these boundaries is unwavering. Next time they catch me sitting on my bench at home with a cup and slice, they are bound to wonder if it tastes all the sweeter for not being earned with labour.' ch4, pg82- analysis


  - links to Walters feeling of needing to 'fit' into the village and wanting to be looked upon kindly

  - Villagers see it as essential for all to work equally, this allows for their system to work without any formal government but don't allow for any individual circumstances e.g Walters hand.

  - however this inability to adapt will be exploited by Master Jordan.

  - Walter's fear of censure shows that even before Master Jordan shows his relationship with the others was tenuous.

  - the community thrives on isolation, a moral defect which allows for the death of the father and Mistress Beldam's unfair treatment.
• Their suspicion of anyone who was not born within these boundaries is unwavering. Next time they catch me sitting on my bench at home with a cup and slice, they are bound to wonder if it tastes all the sweeter for not being earned with labour.' ch4, pg82- themes


  Individual and Community

  Outsider and Blame

  Prejudice, insular attitudes and xenophobia

  Mob mentality

  Social division
• The air was cracking with the retributions and damnation's that, in my heart of hearts, I knew that some of us deserved. I prayed that this was just a dream and that soon the couldn't-care-less clamour of the sunrise birds would rouse me to another day, a better day, a bloodless one, one in which, despite my hand, I'd do my common duty and drag up a log or stone to make that short man tall.' ch5, pg86- analysis


  - Walter has realised that they've essentially murdered the man

  - "common duty", this phrase is interesting because it shows both his embrace of the village mores but also how he differs from them.

  - the villages ideas of "common duty" excludes and is hostile to strangers; the acts against the Beldams in order to 'protect' their shared resources and stability.

  -this also shows a strong sense of individuality even at the beginning of the novel he has a different approach to the word "common"

  - for him it means an extension of basic kindness to anyone who needs it.

  - his sense of duty point out the villages moral flaws, he doesn't always act upon them. e.g the father.

  - this shows both Walters strengths and short comings
• The air was cracking with the retributions and damnation's that, in my heart of hearts, I knew that some of us deserved. I prayed that this was just a dream and that soon the couldn't-care-less clamour of the sunrise birds would rouse me to another day, a better day, a bloodless one, one in which, despite my hand, I'd do my common duty and drag up a log or stone to make that short man tall.' ch5, pg86- themes

  Individual and Community

  Outsiders and Blame

  Tension between Thirsk and village

  Mob mentality

  Lack of action, passivity of thirsk

  Injustice and punishment
• I bring you sheep, and I supply a Holy Shepherd too. There'll be a steeple, higher than the turret of this house, taller than any ancient oak that we might fell. This place will be visible from far. And I will have a bell cast for the very top of it to summon everyone to prayer. And hurry everyone to work.' ch6, pg102-3- analysis


  -Master Jordan outlines his plans for the village, they're disguised as charity rather than a takeover

  - his approach to religion contrasts the villages pagan style rituals.

  - the gleaning ceremony presents a close relationship to the earth however, Jordan's steeple "taller than any ancient oak", represents human dominance over the earth.

  - Master Kent's speech at the reaping festival creates a link between aristocrat to peasant to animal (creates an egalitarian culture in the village)

  - Jordan's impersonal "bell" represents the control he has over the villages spiritual and economic life.

  - the villages rituals and affirm an atmosphere that is beneficial to the inhabitants however, Jordan's Christianity is entirely based upon power, and serves to establish dominance and has no good intentions for the inhabitants.
• I bring you sheep, and I supply a Holy Shepherd too. There'll be a steeple, higher than the turret of this house, taller than any ancient oak that we might fell. This place will be visible from far. And I will have a bell cast for the very top of it to summon everyone to prayer. And hurry everyone to work.' ch6, pg102-3- themes


  sheep

  progress and dispossession

  renewal and decay

  enforced social change and its damaging effects on the politicaly powerless

  disregard and destruction of rural community and its natural way of life while chasing profit

  abuse of power
• It feels as if some impish force has come out of the forest in the past few days to see what pleasure it can take in causing turmoil in a tranquil place.' ch7, pg115-116- analysis


  -After the murder of Willowjack, Walter wonders how his life has suddenly become so dominated by crime and suspicion.

  - the use of "impish" suggesting a supernatural force it shows Walters acknowledgement that the land can also produce chaos and violence.

  - Walter is acknowledging the entropy that exists in the village before Jordan.

  - Walters comment is also important because it is almost fact Mistress Beldam murdered Willowjack.

  - Describing an enigmatic force originating in the forest, where shes hiding, suggests shes been committing these crimes out of pure malice.

  - desire for retribution?

  - Walters inability to see her logic for this, reflects his inability to grapple with the full injustice of the villager's behaviour towards her family
• It feels as if some impish force has come out of the forest in the past few days to see what pleasure it can take in causing turmoil in a tranquil place.' ch7, pg115-116- themes


  ritual and religion

  destruction of rural community and way of life

  consequences of injustices and wrongful punishments

  progress and modernity
• There's nothing like a show of heavy justice-and a swinging corpse-to persuade a populace not used to formal discipline that their compliance in all matters-including those regarding wool and fence-is beyond debate.' ch7, pg121- analysis


  - Walter makes a contrast between Jordan's promise of violent reprisal for the murder of Willowjack and the habitual norms of the village.

  - Jordan views the lack of "formal discipline" as a problem.

  - however, the absence of a formal governance is what has allowed for the village to survive.

  - Walter is aware that Master Jordan doesn't care about finding the criminal, only about enforcing his own authority.

  - he essentially is eliminating any meaningful law and order from the village

  - this passage shows the removal of long-respected-if not formal-legal rights (theme of dispossession)
• There's nothing like a show of heavy justice-and a swinging corpse-to persuade a populace not used to formal discipline that their compliance in all matters-including those regarding wool and fence-is beyond debate.' ch7, pg121- themes


  Progress and Dispossession

  Sheep

  use of violence by those in positions of authority and ways in which privileged intimidate and control the powerless

  abuse of power

  injustice and punishment

  selfish endeavour for power and wealth
• "Nothing but sheep," he says, and laughs out loud. His joke, I think, is this: we are the sheep, already here, and munching at the grass. There's none more pitiful than us, he thinks. There's none more meek. There's none to match our peevish fearfulness, our thoughtless lives, our vacant, puny faces, our dependency, our fretful scurrying, our plaints." ch7, pg122-3- analysis


  - Master Jordan sees the Villagers confusion as character flaws, a contrast to his own cunning.

  - their tranquillity becomes "meekness", their austere existence "thoughtless lives", their relationship with the land mere "dependency".

  - By calling them "sheep", he makes clear that he thinks of them as vehicles in which by he can profit.

  - his cruel comparison symbolises the clash between the villagers satisfaction with their way of life and larger outside forces which not only don't value that lifestyle but have the power to destroy it.
• "Nothing but sheep," he says, and laughs out loud. His joke, I think, is this: we are the sheep, already here, and munching at the grass. There's none more pitiful than us, he thinks. There's none more meek. There's none to match our peevish fearfulness, our thoughtless lives, our vacant, puny faces, our dependency, our fretful scurrying, our plaints." ch7, pg122-3- themes

  Progress and Dispossession

  Sheep

  destruction of rural community and their way of life

  disregard for others

  political and social inequality and injustices to which inequality leads

  power of landowner, lack of democracy and true justice
• But none of these compare for patterned vividness with Mr. Quill's designs. His endeavours are tidier and more wildly colourful-they're certainly more blue-than anything that nature can provide. They're rewarding in themselves. They are more pleasing than a barley-corn.' ch8, pg133- analysis


  - Comparing the drawings to the intricate patterns he observes in nature, Walter says that nature doesn't compare to the "patterned vividness" of Mr. Quill's art; by saying it's "more pleasing than a barley-corn," he elevates the contemplation of art above the harvest, the most important event in the village.

  -Master Jordan represents an unwelcome threat to the village's intimacy with the land around them. By making Walter appreciate art, which exists outside the village paradigm and can't be contained by it, Mr. Quill brings a more intriguing, and thus more destabilising, challenge, eroding Walter's confidence in the superiority of his limited way of life.
• But none of these compare for patterned vividness with Mr. Quill's designs. His endeavours are tidier and more wildly colourful-they're certainly more blue-than anything that nature can provide. They're rewarding in themselves. They are more pleasing than a barley-corn.' ch8, pg133- themes


  renewal and decay

  destruction of community and a way of life

  erasure in pursuit of excessive wealth, quill hired by capitalists to aid him
• Dissent is never counted. It is weighed. The master always weighs the most. Besides, they can't draw up a petition and fit it to the doorway of the church as other places do. It only takes a piece of paper and a nail, that's true. But, even if they had a doorway to a church, none of them has a signature.' ch9, pg145- analysis


  - Watching his neighbours prepare to confront Master Jordan about his abduction of Lizzie Carr and two village women, Walter is sad and cynical about their prospects.

  - His reflection here is a notable contrast to the villagers' former relationship to Master Kent. Earlier in the novel, Walter noted that Master Kent's education and "parchmenting" was useless to the important work of farming and actually put him at a disadvantage with the villagers, on whom he depends to work his land.

  - Formerly, the village's isolation and simplicity meant that formal education or an understanding of legal rights were irrelevant.

  - Now, Walter sees the villagers' lack of a "signature" and inability to formally advocate for themselves as grave handicaps. More importantly, he notes that the system of justice is inherently stacked against them, prioritising Jordan's power over their wishes. Thus, this passage reflects both the abrupt change of village governance and a profound disillusionment with the new system.
• Dissent is never counted. It is weighed. The master always weighs the most. Besides, they can't draw up a petition and fit it to the doorway of the church as other places do. It only takes a piece of paper and a nail, that's true. But, even if they had a doorway to a church, none of them has a signature.' ch9, pg145- themes


  progress and dispossession

  attempts at resistance as a means of registering protest to oncoming change

  damaging effects of enforced social change on politically powerless- can't protest in the new way introduced

  change in the ways of village disrupted, dismissing rural way of life
• Our church ground has been desecrated by our surliness. Our usual scriptures are abused. This body on the cross is not the one that's promised us. Yet, once again, it's Mr. Quill who teaches us our shortcomings. It's Mr. Quill who's intimate and kind. It's Mr. Quill who's valiant. It will not make him popular.' ch9, pg148- analysis


  - On their way to beg Master Jordan to release the women who have been abducted by his men, the villagers pass the pillory and see Mr. Quill conversing with and comforting the young man still imprisoned there.

  - Where Master Jordan deliberately misinterprets the village's virtues, through his actions now Mr. Quill accurately points out the village's failings, namely its violent hostility toward strangers.

  - While Jordan shows the dangers of outside interference, in this case, the presence of an outsider with different values has the potential to refine and improve village character.

  - Moreover, by openly comforting the suffering man and displaying attributes like "kindness," Mr. Quill aligns himself with the Christ narrative the young man is unwillingly reenacting

  - He's the character who most actively displays Christ's radical compassion, and like Christ he will suffer an ignominious death as a result.

  - Through Mr. Quill, the novel expresses serious doubt about the moral fibre of societies-both the village community and the one created by Jordan-that don't reward, but rather punish, these displays of incontrovertible virtue.
• Our church ground has been desecrated by our surliness. Our usual scriptures are abused. This body on the cross is not the one that's promised us. Yet, once again, it's Mr. Quill who teaches us our shortcomings. It's Mr. Quill who's intimate and kind. It's Mr. Quill who's valiant. It will not make him popular.' ch9, pg148- themes


  Individual and Community

  Religion and Ritual

  Outsiders and Blame

  The Pillory

  effects of prejudice, insular attitudes and xenophobia despite quill attempting to aid the villagers

  destruction of rural village and enforced change to its way of life

  isolationism
• "I have the sense my cousin is taking pleasure from sowing these anxieties, in the same way we take pleasure in the sowing of our seed," says Master Kent. "I fear his harvesting. I think he means to shear us all, then turn us into mutton."

  ch10, pg158-9- analysis

  - Visiting Walter to tell him about the women's imprisonment, Master Kent shares his despair and impotence in the face of his cousin

  - Using agricultural metaphors, he eloquently shows how the position of the villagers has shifted relative to their land and their landlord.

  - Formerly, processes like "sowing" and "harvesting" are highly positive events emphasising the regeneration promised by the land and the villagers' active role in stewarding their fields.

  - However, Master Kent casts his cousin's "harvesting" as ominous, putting an end to the old cycles through which the villagers have thrived; by using habitual language to describe this shift, he makes it even starker and more poignant.

  - His final prediction that Jordan will make "mutton" from everyone continues the pattern of comparing the villagers to sheep and emphasises that under Jordan's rule they are objects of profit, rather than a community with agency and value.
• "I have the sense my cousin is taking pleasure from sowing these anxieties, in the same way we take pleasure in the sowing of our seed," says Master Kent. "I fear his harvesting. I think he means to shear us all, then turn us into mutton."

  ch10, pg158-9- themes

  renewal and decay

  progress and dispossession

  Sheep

  disregard for rural community and destroying its way of life

  enforced social change

  lack of power regarding oncoming changes due to lack of social power and legal ability
• He must realise I'm not truly a villager. He knows I used to be the manor man. He sees that I stand apart. I'm separate. Indeed, I haven't felt as separate in years. Perhaps it's just as well, this recent, saddening detachment from the drove. I almost welcome it. These loose roots might save me yet.' ch11, pg180- analysis


  - After the villagers have fled, Master Jordan recruits Walter to stay on as his manager, while he himself returns to the city. Walter has been worried that he'll face blame for the attack on the groom or Willowjack's murder, so this show of favour should be a relief.

  - Walter knows it's certainly practical to go along with Master Jordan and to start thinking for himself, rather than as a member of the "drove."

  - However, he's actually ashamed that Master Jordan, an outsider, can so easily perceive his differences from the other villagers, when he's spent so many years trying to establish himself as one of them.

  - His ambivalent feelings here reflect the tension between the individuality he's always possessed and now needs to use, and his desire to subsume himself in a strong community, even if that community has proved all too ready to abandon him.
• He must realise I'm not truly a villager. He knows I used to be the manor man. He sees that I stand apart. I'm separate. Indeed, I haven't felt as separate in years. Perhaps it's just as well, this recent, saddening detachment from the drove. I almost welcome it. These loose roots might save me yet.' ch11, pg180- themes


  Individual and Community

  Suspicion

  Mob mentality

  Separation due to social status and connections

  isolationism

  social division through knowledge and lack of relation to village
• I'll not forget her blowing on the grains to winnow off the flake and how the barley pearls were weighty on her palm. But now she is like chaff herself. A sneeze could lift her up and take her off. She's hollowed out and terrified.' ch13, pg195- analysis


  - The morning that Master Jordan leaves, Walter hides and watches as the imprisoned women finally leave the house. He's most struck by the appearance of Lizzie Carr, the former Gleaning Queen.

  - When Lizzie gathered the first barley-corn at the beginning of the novel, the resemblance between her and the plant was pleasing, reminding the villagers of the land's ability to sustain and protect them.

  - Here, Walter again compares her to barley, but this time it's in order to emphasise the harm she's suffered. While comparisons to nature were almost unequivocally positive at the novel's start, by this point they're often ambivalent or outright ominous.

  - This shift in language shows Walter's growing realisation that the land can't always be relied on to protect its inhabitants. In fact, rather than being oriented around cycles of renewal, as Walter originally asserts, the land is always freighted with the possibility for meaningless destruction.
• I'll not forget her blowing on the grains to winnow off the flake and how the barley pearls were weighty on her palm. But now she is like chaff herself. A sneeze could lift her up and take her off. She's hollowed out and terrified.' ch13, pg195- themes

  renewal and decay

  suffering of the innocent at the hand of powerful in order to give a show of authority

  subsequent abuse of power

  loss of community and way of life shown through decay of youth compared to degrading harvest
• We're used to looking out and seeing what's preceded us, and what will also outlive us. Now we have to contemplate a land bare of both. Those woods that linked us to eternity will be removed by spring [...] That grizzled oak which we believe is so old it must have come from Eden to our fields will be felled and rooted out.' ch13, pg196- analysis


  - Standing together for the last time, Master Kent and Walter contemplate the land to which they arrived together and from which they must now leave.

  - Remarking on the security of always knowing "what's preceded us and what will also outlive us," Walter notes his veneration of the land's cycles and the stability they've given to his life.

  - By providing a connection to "eternity," the integrity of these cycles informs a profound spirituality that's much more satisfying than any religion Master Jordan could import.

  - Walter's reference to the "grizzled oak," soon to die, recalls Master Jordan's earlier boast that his church will replace the tall trees. Drawing on the two different spiritual paradigms present throughout the novel, this passage depicts the contrast between cyclical continuity and Jordan's aggressively modernistic new vision.
• We're used to looking out and seeing what's preceded us, and what will also outlive us. Now we have to contemplate a land bare of both. Those woods that linked us to eternity will be removed by spring [...] That grizzled oak which we believe is so old it must have come from Eden to our fields will be felled and rooted out.' ch13, pg196- themes

  renewal and decay

  progress and dispossession

  religion and ritual

  destruction of rural community and dismissal of way of life

  modernity and pursuit of wealth/efficiency
• Frost and furrows. That's the prompt. I know my duty now. I have to put the earth to the plough. The time has come to put the earth to plough, no matter what the Jordans say. The frost will finish what the plough begins. Winter will provide the spring.' ch14, pg213- analysis


  - Alone in the village, Walter sleeps uneasily, plagued by various nightmares.

  - When he wakes, he's struck by an epiphany that he must plough the wheat fields, even though he knows they'll never be used again.

  - Walter's use of the word "duty" shows how loyal he still is to the village's communal lifestyle, even though his neighbours have disowned him and disbanded.

  - It also reflects an idealistic confidence in the strength of the land to "provide" and remain strong against human incursion. Here, Walter clings to the cyclical nature of agriculture, with its promise of infinite renewal, that has defined his life for the last dozen years.

  - However, his awareness that he's facing many "Jordans," not one man but the entire class of capitalist modernisers he represents, undermines his resolve and reminds the reader that Walter's stand against the village's dissolution can be symbolic at most.
• Frost and furrows. That's the prompt. I know my duty now. I have to put the earth to the plough. The time has come to put the earth to plough, no matter what the Jordans say. The frost will finish what the plough begins. Winter will provide the spring.' ch14, pg213- themes


  progress and modernity

  renewal and decay

  abuse of power

  capitalism and pursuit of wealth

  attempt at rebellion by resisting jordans orders

  protesting change in community and way of life