This Tender Land

Krueger draws attention to the plight of vulnerable groups in society, including children, ethnic groups, and those in lower economic classes. After Odie tells the story about the windigo, Mose responds that “there are monsters and they eat the hearts of children” (31). Such monsters include those who, like DiMarco and the men at the rail yard, beat and molest children. It also includes those who, like Mrs. Brickman and her father before her, use children to profit financially. Other monsters prey not on children but on those of certain cultural or ethnic backgrounds. After Mose is shaken by the discovery of a skeleton belonging to a Native American youth, he makes a concentrated effort to learn about past injustices, including the execution of 38 Sioux men. Odie later finds evidence of prejudicial treatment of Jews living in St. Paul, including police brutality. There, he also becomes aware of the economic disparities that keep his newfound friends from enjoying indoor plumbing even as they face flooding, hunger, and other privations. Conditions are even worse in the multiple Hoovervilles through which he passes. The disadvantages associated with various identities are shown to multiply as they intersect, as in the case of the poor, orphaned, Native American children who attend Lincoln School.