“The Osage Orange Tree” by William Stafford is the short story being analyzed. “The Osage Orange Tree” centers on the friendship of a newspaper boy, who is new to the community, and Evangeline, a shy girl who comes from an impoverished family. Evangeline has been an outcast from the rest of the children in the community for as long as she had lived there. Until the newspaper boy comes to town there was no one she considered a friend. Everyday, the boy goes out of his way on his paper route and the girl walks 200 yards from her house just so they can meet each other at an osage orange tree where the boy gives Evangeline a newspaper in exchange for a dime. Although this only time they really talk to each other they both consider each other …show more content…
as good friends. On graduation day the boy notices Evangeline is not there to receive her diploma. He goes to her house to discover all the newspapers from the entire year hidden under the osage orange tree and he realizes that all year she was stealing money from her parents to pay for the newspapers as an excuse to see him. This is the exact moment when their friendship began to fade. Throughout the story William Stafford uses many literary elements, like symbolism, to enhance the story. The symbol of the osage orange tree represents the friendship of the newspaper boy and Evangeline. An analysis of this symbol, the osage orange tree, invokes the theme that everyone needs a friend. A symbol is a literary element that represents both itself and something else. In the story William Stafford uses the osage orange tree to symbolize their friendship, specifically the growth and change in their friendship. An osage orange tree has specific traits to it that directly represent their friendship. The osage orange tree is a stout thorny tree that grows to a height of 60 feet and is remarkably resistant to the kind of drought that is common on the prairie. The round rough, yellowish fruit resembles an orange but cannot be eaten (Stafford 104) The fruit of an osage orange tree that “cannot be eaten”, reveals that their friendship lacks substance (Stafford 104). According to the Oxford English Dictionary a friendship is “a close relationship between friends”. Evangeline and the paper boy aren’t normal everyday close friends. They rarely talk to each other around others, making their friendship lack meaning, and their entire friendship is based on a misunderstanding. The boy misunderstood Evangeline real intentions behind buying the newspapers, just like one could misunderstand the fruit on the osage orange tree, because they look eatable and like all other fruits even though they are not. The tree is also described as “resilient”. Resistant means “unyielding; not susceptible” (Oxford English Dictionary). By describing the tree as resistant, their friendship is also being called resistant. Their friendship is resistant because no matter how little they talk their friendship status is still strong and unchanging. The tree is also said to be grow 60 feet tall, and most trees don’t reach this height. The tree being so big shows how much of a big role this friendship plays in both the boy and Evangeline’s life. Towards the end of the story the tree is being described differently, symbolizing a change in their friendship. The boy describes the tree as “ragged” (Stafford 110). When one thinks of something ragged the image of something old, run down, and beaten up comes to mind. This is exactly how the boy sees their friendship now that he found out about the newspapers hidden under the tree. He also portrays the tree as little (Stafford 110) , meaning “small in amount or degree” (Oxford English Dictionary). In this case by calling the tree little he is saying their friendship is little in degree of importance. Before the friendship was such a big part of their lives and now it is not. By calling the remarkable 60 foot tall tree little, shows the drastic change in their friendship from the beginning of the story to the end. He also says that the tree is “feeble”. According the Oxford English Dictionary, feeble means “weak.. having little power of resistance”. The change in their friendship is extremely evident when their friendship that used to be and strong resistant is now being described as exactly the opposite, have no power of resistance. Lastly the boy describes the tree as “neglected” (Stafford 110). When something or someone is neglected, it is lonely and uncared for. And this is exact how the newspaper boy feels like when the girl is not at the tree. Everyday no matter the weather or anything else, Evangeline would always be waiting for him at the tree, and this is the first time he goes to the tree and she's not there and he feels lonely and forgotten about. The symbol of the osage orange trees reveals a lot about human behavior.
From the analysis of this symbol it is evident that all humans need someone they can call a friend. From the beginning it is noticeable that their friendship has no real substance. Like the fruit of the osage orange tree their friendship is just their to deceit people, manly themselves. They want to have the title of being friendship even though they're so called friendship doesn’t meet the standards of a true friendship according to its definition. Yet still both of them still do consider their friendship a big part of their life, and go out of their way to see each other everyday, and they do this because they are all each other has, and they both need someone they can call a friend. Evangeline risk getting in extraordinary trouble with her parents, and the boy goes a mile of his route everyday just so they can see each other. And Evangelizing always knew that eventually her lie would catch up to her and she wouldn’t be able to see the boy after her parents found out about her stealing the money, although all of it was worth being able to call someone a friend for the time being. And it wasn’t until the end of the story, when Evangeline was in great trouble and the newspaper boy feels neglected and hurt, until they realize that what they had wasn’t a true friendship. A friendship based on misunderstanding and minimal communication is not a true friendship, but it didn’t matter to them if it was a true friendship or not because all they needed someone they can call a
friend. When reading and analyzing “The Osage Orange Tree” I gained much insight about myself as a reader. I realized that I have to read a story many times to be able to grasp all aspects of the story. When reading the story the first time through I really only understood the setting and a brief overview. The second time reading through I discover many of the literary elements although I didn’t understand their significance .The third and fourth time reading through the story I was able to understand all the literary elements, their importance, and how they all link to each other. This paper also helped me realized how important the adjectives and other describing words being used are to the overall plot of a story. It was the first time I wrote an essay analyzing specific words rather than entire passages and I found in much more revealing. Although it was still hard picking which words best help describe the theme I was proving.
Suzak is saying that true friendship is shown through common interests, and friends would do anything for their friend no matter what it is. “The two of them gradually become friends due to the fact that neither of them was terribly interested in fighting. They preferred shooting rolling cigarettes to rolling in the snow and mud. They preferred shooting craps to shooting bullets. A firm friendship was built on gambling, smoking, and music, not to mention a shared desire for survival” (Zusak 175). Hans and Erik’s friendship grew through their share of common interests. All they wanted was to survive and go back home to their families. “It said, “Hubermann, sir.” The voice belonged to Erik Vandenburg. He obviously thought that today wasn’t the appropriate time for his friend to die” (Zusak 177). Erik Vandenburg saved Hans’ life by telling the sergeant that he had the best penmanship and should stay behind. So when Erik went into war that day he never came back meaning Hans survived. Which this shows a true friendship between Hans and Erik. “Now I think we are friends, this girl and me. On her birthday, it was she who gave a gift - to me” (Zusak 235). Max explains that he thinks that him and Liesel are becoming to be friends because instead of him giving her a gift on her birthday she gave him a gift. Liesel brought newspapers home for Max when what she saw one just to show that she cares
A friend doesn’t have to be a human, a friend can be anyone who cares. This story also taught
Friendship is an unbreakable bond between two people and contains loyalty and love. In the story Chains, Isabel finds herself in grand friendships that play throughout the story. She showed how devoted she was towards Lady Lockton, Curzon, and Ruth by being there for them during tough times. In the end, friendship is the light through the darkness, powerful and important.
A friendship is a special relationship between peoples , It occurs between friend that care about each other. In talking about friendship , the novella from John Steinbeck “Of Mice and Men”. Two friends George and Lennie ,they are trying to find a job together to complete their dream of having a farm. But Lennie is an adult size with a child's mind, he gets in trouble a lot and as his friend, George helping him solve the problem and taking care of Lennie. Later George and Lennie finds a new job , but George lies to the boss about the problem that Lennie has.
Theme: Situations and surroundings can shatter the innocence of friendship, but more the identity of the individuals.
Throughout the story, the theme of friendship is expressed in many different ways. A characteristic of being a good friend is looking out for the other person. Mildred and Yvette are best friends and both of them have different religions. Even though they are separated at lunch, they still look out for each other to make sure they're okay. Yvette is very poor and comes from a big family. She appreciates the little things in life and she does not let things get the best of her. “Yvette looked forward to the Hershey’s chocolate bar that Mr.Fox, Mildred’s father would give her.” Mildred’s family looked out for Yvette and helped her whenever she needed. The chocolate bar is a symbol because something so simple put a smile on Yvette’s face and always tried to look at the best of the situation. These two best friends also
The entire story was a symbol of Needy’s life. The setting in the story was symbolic to the way Needy was feeling. Needy’s life was diminishing right before his eyes, and he did not realize it. The different changes in the story represented how much Needy’s life had gradually changed over time. By reading the story the reader can tell that Needy was in a state of denial.
We see this with Owen Meany when John tells us that Owen “gave me more than he ever took from me” (A Prayer for Owen Meany 2.509-511). Even with the death of John’s mother at the hands of Owen these too prove to be the best of friends. A friend is someone who is “A positive influence on your life” (What is Friendship? Friendship.about.com), this friendship proves this theory by the boys helping John finding his identity and Owen’s destiny. Along with friendship in the novel we see the importance of family and the role that it plays throughout the novel.
Only when your neighbors problems affect you personally or instill a degree of emotion in you then do we begin to try to help them out. We see this when the narrator says that he despises Sonny’s friend. That Sonny’s friend only ever asked for money and that for some reason the narrator always gave in to his request and gave him a dollar or two. After the narrator talks to the friend about Sonny’s recent happenings he again asks the narrator for a dollar. The narrator makes a comment that he did not mind giving him what he had in his pocket this time because they both connected in a way because of Sonny’s situation. There was an invisible venn diagram in the narrator's mind that beforehand had nothing in the middle overlapping circle to connect him to the friend. Now, because of their both shared worries, the narrator begins to warm up to the friend. We see this again when the narrator points out that his own troubles made Sonny’s problems real. When Grace - the narrator’s daughter - dies, the narrator talks about the fact that he had written to Sonny in a long time. This simple action or the idea that my problems make me understand your problems also stems from a capitalistic society. In this day and age, how many companies and businesses make decisions that either push their own agendas or benefit their investors without regards for the good of the rest of their society? Sea world
In the first stanza, “one leaned on the other as if to throw her down” symbolism has been used to show the intensity of the embrace between the two. In stanza two, “and finally almost uprooted him” symbolism has been used to show how much the female dominates in this relationship. “He was thin, dry, insecure one” this symbolized that the male did not have much power nor say in the relationship.
Many people in this world have no true friends and those that do have very few. A true friend could have seen that something was not right with this man. Perhaps the first speaker in the poem thinks that he was closer to the second then he actually was.
Friendship expectations play a huge role in “establishing, maintaining, and terminating friendships” thus playing a factor of ones’ interpretations and through their affiliations (West & Turner, 2016). A companionship is dependent on
The word ‘friend’ often carries vague connotations and assumptions that have no real purpose to the meaning of the word that is important here. Within the boundaries of a true friendship, the superiority of one individual over another should never be outward nor should one individual benefit at the other’s expense; also, an individual should not claim ownership over the other within a relationship termed a friendship. A relationship where an individual contains more power over another and asserts this power cannot be defined a friendship regardless of how kind each individual is to the other. Through the account of an unnamed female, Aphra Behn outlines such a relationship within the narrative of Oroonoko and his encounters with other characters as a royal slave. One character in particular, Mr. Trefry, a plantation supervisor, takes a keen liking to Oroonoko and holds him up on a pedestal of excellence for all to see; however, his actions towards Oroonoko suggest that he sees him as a prize possession rather than a man of equal value. Trefry’s unwillingness and eventual failure to free Oroonoko from slavery insinuates that the relationship between the characters is not that of mutual respect and, consequently, cannot be defined as friendship. As Aristotle claims, there is no difference between a good friend and a friend for a “friend is one who will always try… to do what he takes to be good for you” (emphasized), which is a belief that, evidently, is important here (Aristotle Rhetoric I.1.5). In Jonathan Swift’s tale, Gulliver’s Travels, Part 2, Gulliver, again, meets a collective group of individuals who are of unequal size to him, but this time who are larger. Swift takes a satirical and more literal approach to the notion of ...
The famed nurses study from Harvard found “Not having a close friend is as detrimental to your health as smoking.” Lennie and George’s friendship is necessary to keep the better for each other. Throughout the story, Lennie and George need each other and look out for one another no matter what. Lennie and George’s friendship and journey throughout the story symbolizes the struggles to achieve the American dream. Steinbeck, in the story Of Mice and Men, combines characterization and symbolism to prove friends do whats best for eachother.
As friends, we all make sacrifices for each other. Some friends risk their lives for a friend. An example of this true friendship can be found in the movie, American Pie. Todd had a championship football game, but on the same day there was an All-State choir going on. Todd and his girlfriend were both into choir. He couldn’t be in two places at once, so he gave up his football game so that he could be with his girlfriend. Everyone on the football game looked up to him because he made a sacrifice to be with his girlfriend. When his girlfriend asked why. He responded, I did it for you. This shows friendship through a humble heart.