Key Facts
full title · The Land
author · Mildred D. Taylor
type of work · Novel
genre · Historical fiction, young adult novel, African-American fiction
language · English
time and place written · Late 1990s, Colorado
date of first publication · 2001
publisher · Phyllis Fogelman
narrator · Paul-Edward Logan
point of view · The narrator speaks in the first person, and he tells the story of his youth from an adult perspective. His perspective is subjective, and he only narrates his own observations of other characters' emotions or motivations.
tone · Paul narrates his story as though he is handing down family history—honestly but with obvious passion for his subject matter.
tense · Past
setting (time) · Post-Civil War era
setting (place) · Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi
protagonist · Paul-Edward Logan
major conflict · Paul, the son of a white landowner and his black mistress, is estranged from his family and possessed by a singular desire to own several hundred acres of land. He struggles to purchase the land, hindered by a racist social structure in postbellum south.
rising action · After suffering several setbacks, Paul, with the help of his friend Mitchell, finally manages to finance a deal on the 200 acres of land he wants. However, an angry poor white man shoots Mitchell and Paul's horse, leaving Paul with almost no means to meet his payments on the land.
climax · Paul's estranged white brother appears with an envelope from Paul's black sister, Cassie. Inside is his mother's bequeathal: enough money to pay for the land.
falling action · Paul proposes to his sweetheart, Caroline, and moves with her to his hard-won land.
themes · The nature of kinship; passive methods of fighting oppression; the intersection of class and racial oppression
motifs · Loyalty; haggling; naming, unnaming, renaming; reading and writing
symbols · Horses; land; the rocking chair
foreshadowing · Paul's defense of Mitchell foreshadows Robert's betrayal of Paul; the presence of the two white boys on the forty acres foreshadows trouble for the black men
