Throughout history men have always shown great love for their land and have always worked hard to ensure that their field produces enough food to support their family and generate a profit. In the novel "Wild Geese", by Martha Ostenso, the theme of man's closeness to land is one of the predominate ones and Caleb Gare is faced with the challenge of producing a crop that grows enough food to support his family and at the same time create a profit. He works very hard but works his family even harder and that is the secret behind most of his success. The problem with that is that his neighbours do not work their children as hard as Caleb does and Judith in particular is upset with how hard they are worked. Even though Caleb is simply trying to produce a good crop he is causing conflict between himself and Judith and himself and the rest of his family.
Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners) upon receipt of t...
English: Cover painting for the novel Wild Geese
CalebJudith is a young woman who is more interested in boys more than she is working for her father on the farm. She would like to move away but her father continues to force her to remain on the farm and support the family. One of the ways he does this is by purchasing her things. "The next day Caleb returned. He has shoes for Judith, stout leather things with room for heavy woollen stocking. There would be another winter." The fact that it says there would be another winter leads the reader to believe that the father has bought the shoes for Judith so that she would stay at the house for a longer time. He attempts to make her feel guilty about leaving her family behind with the responsibility of running the farm without the extra hand.