“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This is a phrase that has been uttered numerous times to children by their parents. This aphorism has been used to not only apply to books but also people. In The Black Walnut Tree by Mary Oliver, the speaker faces a conflict between the literal and figurative meaning of a tree in her yard. In the beginning of the poem, the mother and daughter “debate” selling the tree to “pay off their mortgage.” But with a shift from literal language to figurative language comes a symbolic representation of the tree, one that represents family heritage and their ancestors’ hard work. The poem commences with a debate between the mother and daughter about what they should do with the black walnut tree. Lines 1-15 are written in straightforward, easy to comprehend language. In these lines the speaker addresses why they should sell the tree. The two women give reasons by stating that the tree is growing weak, and given the tree’s proximity to the house, a storm will cause it to collapse into their house and pose a threat to their lives. In addition, the speaker claims that “roots in the cellar drains,” meaning the roots of the tree are getting bigger and spreading into the foundation of the house, thereby producing another danger to the well-being of the family. Moreover, the tree is getting older (“the leaves are getting heavier”), and the walnuts produced by the tree are becoming to gather. The tone of the mother and daughter shows their need for money but also a reluctance to selling the tree; they are desperately in need of money, but they don’t seem to be in favor of selling the tree. Although the reasons provided by the family are credible, they are not wholehearted. This is because the women “talk slowly…... ... middle of paper ... ...ow the tree “will churn down its dark boughs, smashing the house.” But the tree is so significant to their family that accepting the risk of injury is sensible. The tree “swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit.” This sentence evokes images of happiness and serenity; however, it is in stark contrast with “month after month, the whip-crack of the mortgage.” The tone of this phrase is harsh and the onomatopoeia of a “whip crack” stirs up images of oppression. The final lines of the poem show the consequences that the family accepts by preserving the tree—their family heritage. When the speaker judges the tree by its cover she sees monetary value, but when she looks at the content in the book she find that it represents family. Even though times may be tough for the family, they are united by memories of their ancestors.
In the poem, it seems that somebody is inside his or her dwelling place looking outside at a tree. The person is marveling at how the tree can withstand the cold weather, continuous snow, and other harsh conditions that the winter brings. Witnessed throughout the days of winter by the person in the window, the tree’s bark stays strong, however the winter snow has been able to penetrate it. The tree becomes frozen, but it is strong enough to live throughout the winter until the spring relieves its suffering. When spring finally arrives, the effects of winter can no longer harm the tree. The freezing stage is gone, and the tree can give forth new life and growth in the springtime.
Walker begins the story by describing the yard in which the mother is waiting for her daughter to come home. She shows the yard to the reader as being clean and wavy, which, according to the mother, is "more comfortable than most people know" (875). She feels that it is an extension of the living room. She compares the hard clay to the living room floor being swept smooth. This leaves a cool place to sit under the elm tree and "wait for the breezes that never come inside the house" (875). The reader at this point has already experienced the feeling of the soft grass, hard yet smooth clay, the cool breeze, and the smell of the elm tree.
Beloved, a novel by Toni Morrison, highlights the physical and emotional horrors that slaves suffer after their escape from slavery. The symbolism of trees is prominent in this novel as a cultural symbol of life. However, Morrison uses trees to illustrate more than just a representation of life. She uses them to show how in a time of oppression and suffering, one can always mend the pain, escape from it, and eventually begin a new life. The idea that trees symbolize healing, freedom, and life is portrayed by the actions and feelings of the main characters, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D.
In Anne Bradstreet's poem "The Author to Her Book," the controlling metaphor is the image of a baby being born and cared for. This birth imagery expresses the complex attitude of the speaker by demonstrating that the speaker's low regard for her own work and her actions are contradictory.
Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a tale of poignant family relationships and childhood and also of grim privation. The story revolves around the protagonist of the story, young Francie Nolan. She is an imaginative, endearing 11-year-old girl growing up in 1912, in Brooklyn, New York. The entire story revolves around Francie and the Nolan family, including her brother Neelie, her mother Katie and her father Johnny. An ensemble of high relief characters aids and abets them in their journey through this story of sometimes bleak survival and everlasting hope. As we find out, the struggle for survival is primarily focused against the antagonist of this story, the hard-grinding poverty afflicting Francie, the Nolan’s and Brooklyn itself. The hope in the novel is shown symbolically in the “The “Tree of Heaven””. A symbol used throughout the novel to show hope, perseverance and to highlight other key points.
Even Sixo, the wild man, went among the trees at night to “keep his bloodlines open.” Each one of these characters has endured the horrors of slavery and faced this ordeal in different ways, but they all deal with slavery with the comforting and harmless aspect of nature, trees. Although people today don’t have to live through slavery, people still have to face their own tough personal situations. Instead of having nature to soothe one’s problems, people today drown their sorrows in material possessions and controlled substances, unfortunately a problem plaguing society. Readers can only remember a time not too long ago when the little secret hiding place in the woods or one’s special thinking rock meant a great deal more than material items, a simple healthy escape from life and it’s problems.
1. The tree is the crucial symbol in the novel. The tree represents the enormous fear in which Gene lived at school, from the summer of 1942 until the spring of 1943. When he was a student at Devon, the tree seemed "tremendous" to Gene, "an irate, steely black steeple beside the river." When Gene does climb the tree, he enters into "a mild state of shock." He jumps from the tree "with the sensation that I was throwing my life away . . . ." Finally Gene returns to The Devon School after fifteen years and the tree is the main focus of his visit. Going to the river, Gene has trouble even differentiating it from the other trees. When he does identify it, the tree seems smaller to Gene, "shrunken by age." It seems "weary from age, enfeebled, dry...
Words possess many different meanings. The context of the sentence and how the words are used help to create an experience in the reader. In Mary Oliver's, The Honey Tree, she structures her poem in a way that punctuates on the action in the text. Oliver uses the multiple meanings of words to help create a more vivid picture.
“The Pain Tree” written by Olive Senior tells the story of a woman who comes back home after many years and begins to think about her childhood in a new light, which changes much of what she thought she knew of her family and childhood. The story shows the main character, Lorraine, revisiting the memories of her family and the woman who had taken care of her as a child, Larissa. Children mainly focus on the happy memories which may be tied to more important topics that they do not understand until they are older. Most children do not pick up on many of the complicated things happening around them. Lorraine can now see the bigger picture of her relationship with Larissa and how large the divides were between Lorraine’s family and Larissa’s
To start off with, “A Hickory leaf, still summer green (on its tree),” in “Snapping Beans,” simulates the young girl being home. Corresponding the leaf and girl has never experienced anything, but their home settings, and what it has to propoundment. “I snapped beans into the silver bowl…” and “We didn’t speak until the sun overcame the feathered tips of the cornfield,” are remarks that signifies the familiarity and relaxation of the girl’s cognizance of her home surroundings and duties a such as the leaf’s home. Parker being home resulted in her being calm and lovable, unlike her ongoing to college.
The poem contains the central idea that many of these children never understood what home really means. In Native American culture the people venerate earth and it is referred to as mother nature which we see in the poem. The rails cut right through their home but they don’t view them like the average person. They view the tracks as if they are scars across mother earths face and her face is the Native American’s homeland. She is scarred for eternity but she is perfect in their dreams. This symbolism is ironic because the children try to reach home using the railroad that ruined natural life for them and many other Native Americans. In the second stanza the speaker says “The worn-down welts of ancient punishments lead back and fourth” (15-16). Which can be talking about the marks on the children’s bodies after getting caught while running away. But the “word-down welts” can also symbolize the welts that were put on mother nature throughout history. The last five lines of the poem sums up the symbol of hope through their memories and dreams. The last line of the poem says, “the spines of names and leaves.” (20-24). The “spines” symbolize the physical strength of the children and their ability to maintain hope individually “names”, and for their tribe
In a typical family, there are parents that expected to hear things when their teenager is rebelling against them: slamming the door, shouting at each other, and protests on what they could do or what they should not do. Their little baby is growing up, testing their wings of adulthood; they are not the small child that wanted their mommy to read a book to them or to kiss their hurts away and most probably, they are thinking that anything that their parents told them are certainly could not be right. The poem talks about a conflict between the author and her son when he was in his adolescence. In the first stanza, a misunderstanding about a math problem turns into a family argument that shows the classic rift between the generation of the parent and the teenager. Despite the misunderstandings between the parent and child, there is a loving bond between them. The imagery, contrasting tones, connotative diction, and symbolism in the poem reflect these two sides of the relationship.
There are many symbols through the book that help tell the story of family, friendship and survival. Mr. Logan talks about the fig tree that grows on their land, “But that fig tree’s got roots that run deep, and it belongs in that yard as much as that oak and walnut. It keeps on blooming, bearing good fruit year after year, knowing all the time it’ll never get as big as them other trees. Just keeps on growing and doing what it gotta do. It dondo not give up. It give up, it’ll die” (Taylor, 1991). Mr. Logan is telling Cassie that they are the fig tree, they will never get as strong and powerful as the white families, but that does not mean they just give up. They should do their best in life, plant their roots like the tree, be a strong family and not give up, no matter what life throws at them. The fig tree is the family 's connection to the land, the family and the tree roots both run deep on the
Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” written in the 1960’s, is a short illustrated story that is cherished dearly by children and admired by adults (Kimmel 1). The Giving Tree is about the relationship between a loving apple tree and a playful little boy, which represents the relationship between a parent and child; however, the reader is able to decipher a much deeper meaning by looking at the story closely. Moreover, Silverstein uses the characters in “The Giving Tree” to demonstrate the parents’ unconditional love for their children; the lively apple tree portrays how giving a person too much support can hinder them from attaining full independence, and also shows how unconditional love can be damaging both psychologically and physical.
Many sands had the tree known; many green neighbors had come and gone, yet the tree remained. The mighty roots had endured such whips and scorns as had been cast upon it, but the old tree had survived, a pillar of twisted iron and horn against the now sickly sky. In the waning light of evening, the tree waited.