The Black Walnut Tree Mary Oliver Analysis

The tree is meant to stand out from everything else and is disregarded by society. In the line “Oh fellow citizen, what have they done to us” it represents what the Indigenous people have had to go through and what pain the English brought with them. Similes are a powerful tool used by writers, they are used in communication as they help to create vivid and memorable descriptions by drawing comparisons between things that may not be inherently

The tree is a place where Gene and Finny can be themselves and do as they please. It symbolizes the freedom and joy of youth, and it represents a time of innocence and simplicity. The tree is a place where the boys can escape the pressures of school and war and be carefree. However, as the story progresses the tree becomes more of a grim and darker symbol that helps to signify the darker tone of the novel. As Gene grows more and more jealous of Finny and thinks that finny is secretly his enemy acting as a friend.

Zora Hurston's “Their Eyes Were Watching God” follows Janie Mae Crawford quest to woman hood and self discovery. Having to go to adulthood from childhood at the early age of sixteen this story helps show Janie’s struggle and the realizations of her dreams going through the hardships of three marriages. And, being a black woman in early 20th century America. The author used nature as symbolism to help guide us through Janie journey to finding herself. One of the most powerful metaphors to nature in this novel would be the blossoming pear tree.

Laurie Halse Anderson uses the tree as a motif to trace Melinda’s growth from someone who is afraid and depressed to someone who is strong and more stable. In the beginning of the story, we can tell that Melinda is very depressed despite her internal sense of humor. Since the party that she called

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, home to Janie is a place that has both positive and negative associations- the pear tree. Janie constantly goes to the pear tree for comfort; it is her place of happiness, peace and her love life. At the same time, Janie has the pear tree embedded in her mind. She constantly compares her partners to the pear tree and what their love should be like; so when the thought of an unwelcoming incident pops up in her head, he is tarnishing her pear tree. At sixteen, Janie’s grandmother caught her kissing Johnny Taylor; Janie spends most of her day under the pear tree in her backyard with her mind-boggling questions on virginity, love and marriage.

This kind of description shows the reader how impressive and majestic this tree is, as it puts a vivid picture in the reader’s mind as something that is not only unrivaled in terms of altitude, but it can also be seen from the sea, which highlights its stature as a wholly independent object. Old as it is, this pine is strong, and does not need any assistance from the ecosystem surrounding it. The importance of this giant tree, along with other details that make the story more interesting, is what dramatizes this young heroine’s adventure.

The woman gets ready to depart from their home where there is a tree representing her home life and how it is taken away when they leave. Before the woman leaves her home with her family, “She plucked a leaf from a low-hanging branch and went back inside the house” (Otsuka 12). The woman and her family will be leaving their old home where the tree is. The tree is representing better life that the woman and her family will be leaving behind. The family has to leave because they are Japanese-Americans are considered suspicious to the government, they are forced to live worse lives in camps.

Their teacher, Mr. Freeman assigns the class a year-long project to pick a random object and turn it into a real piece of art. Melinda’s object was a tree. As the year goes on her art develops and her tree does as well. And by the end of the year when she has begun to fully heal and move past what happened to her, her tree is finished, and a beautiful piece of art. Melinda’s tree is brought up throughout the book as a symbol of how she has

Meanwhile, in art class, Melinda still does not know how to draw the tree she sees in her mind, the “strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun¨ (78). Using symbolism, Anderson displays the person Melinda could be, the image of the strong tree, while also keeping Melinda the person she is now, struggling and ruining linoleum blocks with failed carvings of the simple trees she cannot get

Janie’s continuous interactions and experiences with nature prove its influential role in Janie’s life throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Nature is Janie’s pathway into womanhood and played a big role in starting her journey through life as a woman. Janie’s experience with the pear tree provokes this shift from childhood to womanhood for Janie. “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom [...] the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. [...] Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (11).

In the book “Roll of thunder hear my cry”, Mildred D. Taylor uses symbolism to provide context, and background information of the how their community is, and who the Logan’s fit in it. A great example when the author provides context and background information would be the fig tree. When the author is describing the fig tree, she describes it as “It keeps on blooming, bearing good fruit year after year, knowing all the time it’ll never get big as them other trees.” (pg 206) The author is trying to describe how the Logan family fits in in the community.

Near the end of the novel she observes, “In the years she had been tying scraps to the branches, the tree had died and the fruit turned bitter. The other apple trees were hale and healthy, but this one, the tree of her remembrances, were as black and twisted as the bombed-out town behind it.” (Hannah 368) The apple tree represents the outcomes of war. It portrays the author’s perspective that lives wither and lose life due to such violence.

This emphasises the enormity of the task Ofelia is about to embark upon and also her vulnerability as the tree’s dominating presence fills the frame. The fig tree itself is symbolic in its representation. Firstly, the entrance of the tree resembles that of a female’s ovaries, with its curved branches replicating the fallopian tubes. Moreover, the tree’s sickened state mirrors Ofelia’s pregnant mother’s own fragile condition.

“Schoolteacher’s nephew represents a dismissal by whites of the dehumanizing qualities of slavery”. When Sethe is raped, schoolteacher observed how her body is exploited. The scars on Sethe’s back are so many that they resemble the trunk of a tree with its branches. Sethe bear scars on her back because she was whipped due to her try of escape. Amy Denver, a white girl that helped Sethe when she was running away from Sweet Home, calls the tree a chokecherry tree.

Dana Gioia’s poem, “Planting a Sequoia” is grievous yet beautiful, sombre story of a man planting a sequoia tree in the commemoration of his perished son. Sequoia trees have always been a symbol of wellness and safety due to their natural ability to withstand decay, the sturdy tree shows its significance to the speaker throughout the poem as a way to encapsulate and continue the short life of his infant. Gioia utilizes the elements of imagery and diction to portray an elegiac tone for the tragic death, yet also a sense of hope for the future of the tree. The poet also uses the theme of life through the unification of man and nature to show the speaker 's emotional state and eventual hopes for the newly planted tree. Lastly, the tree itself becomes a symbol for the deceased son as planting the Sequoia is a way to cope with the loss, showing the juxtaposition between life and death.