The first section "January Thaw" mainly has to do with winter coming to an end with spring right around the corner. The skunk wakes up from hibernating throughout the winter. Some of the animals are described as being happy that spring is coming and other animals are sad that spring is coming. The main theme is the " freedom from want and fear". The mouse was sad about the flooded tunnels. The tunnels are flooded because the snow is melting as winter gets closer to an end. Mice view snow as freedom from predators because the mice used these tunnels for protection. The mice may not know why snow falls but they do know that they can use it for tunnels. This section is great because it talks about the animals that are lower in the food chain having …show more content…
This tree provided the family with its wood. During a storm, the tree was struck down by lightning. The inner rings of the tree have been through historical events. The first ring is estimated to have been dated back to 1865. The outer rings have been through newer events and the inner rings have been through earlier events. As he cuts the tree with his saw, he thinks of the different events that happened in this tree's lifetime. This tree is more than just wood, it has a historical background dating back more than a century. The tree is then cut into pieces for humankind to use. The next section "The Geese Return" is mainly about the start of spring. Due to migration patterns, geese were flying from nation to nation before mankind discovered the different …show more content…
It took that long for this tree to grow to that size and we as humans can use it once it hits the ground. When the man was cutting the tree up with his saw and thinking of all the events that this tree lived through reminded me of when someone passes away and has a funeral. At the funeral, family members, friends, etc., think about all the things that the deceased person has done in life and been through. I was able to see a connection between both humans and this tree. In today's society with all the cutting down trees and deforestation in the world, the people that cut down these tree's don’t think about the tree as a living thing or think about the history of a tree. This makes me think of other resources that take centuries to create like sand, oil, and metal, which can take thousands of years to
Trees stand there, not saying a word, frozen. Melinda doesn’t talk a substantial amount in her class and social life, therefore, it is like she is frozen, not speaking. A dead tree can represent how Melinda wasn’t able to speak, the leaves on the dead tree are still clinging onto it, hoping it can live longer. Like that, Melinda would cling onto the idea that she would return to her happy self, maybe being able to freely express herself again. During Melinda’s science class, she draws a willow tree drooping into the water, this represents her sadness. “I look out the window. No limos... Now when I really want to leave, no one will give me a ride. I sketch a willow tree drooping into the water” (page 147). This shows how the willow tree expresses her negative emotion without saying a word. When Melinda’s dad was chopping down their tree; of course, it couldn’t say anything because it is only a tree. “ He is killing the tree... The tree is dying... There’s nothing to do or say. We watch in silence as the tree crashes piece by piece to the damp ground,” (page 187). This shows that when Melinda got raped, she did not say anything, instead she was dying inside, depression taking over. A tree in its various stages was an object that describes Melinda’s freshman year from the beginning to the
So she and her father started pruning the tree which is the process of cutting off all the old rotted branches that the tree does not need. ”He is saving it Those branches were long dead from disease All plants are like that By cutting off the damage you make it possible for the tree to grow again” The process of her and her father's pruning shows how she is trying to cut off all the bad and rotten things about her. She is trying to better herself and be confident in herself. Trees are symbolic and many different ways, this book is one of them.
Throughout the text, Michael mentions the snow. Considering the book’s about a blizzard, that’d be normal, right? However, in my view, the snow symbolizes something, like dreadful times. Scattered around, the context surrounding the snow can be interpreted as how you feel during those times. For example, later in the book, when the students realize just how bad it is, they explain it as, “There was no higher ground, no place left for us to go”(Northrop 158). Here, a relation to people feeling as if there’s nowhere else to go, so they’re trapped in the horrible event occurring can be made. Results tend to be mourning over those poor times in people’s lives. Similarly, Michael connects that to how we view bad situations. Early on in the book, description of the snow is showed as it being “small flakes”, “like grains of sugar… the flakes had fattened up and
| “This was the tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but that they are…shrunken by age.” Ch. 1, Pg. 14
The tree represents Gene’s growth in maturity and age from being a teenager who is frightened by the magnitude of the tree to an adult who looks at it as unthreatening and small. Whilst revisiting the tree as an adult, Gene utters that the tree reminds him of the enemies of childhood that, once faced again, seem insignificant (14). When Gene is reflecting upon the first time he jumped off of the tree, he states the tree “flooded [Gene] with a sensation of alarm all the
b. The snow symbolizes Ann’s depression. Cold is obviously associated with snow, which is how Ann feels about the cold. In reference to the text, Ann says “Wad something along the window sills to keep out the drafts. Then I’ll feel brighter. It’s the cold that depressed.” The depression is resulted from Ann’s isolation and she is always trying to fix it. A lot of the times in the story the snowy cold drafts creep through the window sill and makes Ann feel even more depressed.
Also the family's scared about not surviving.they don't have enough food and are trying to survive from the cold weathers.because every single day the family only eats like one meal a day or doesn't eat at all.So This means that the family is trying to survive by making plans of when they should eat like one or two meals a day.Also the family is also
Cutting down the tree represents a new beginning for Melinda it gets rid of the old worn out “dying parts” and replaces it with a clean slate. One example from the text is “He's not chopping it down. He's saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again. You watch--by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on the block."(187). This quote directly correlates to Melinda because her “tree” will be the strongest on the block because she will regain herself confidence that she once had before the incident. Now rather than having the whole school frown upon Melinda she has the entire schools sympathy and support. Since, Melinda has revealed what happened at the incident now everything will change positively. Another incident of growth in Melinda was when Melinda finishes her drawing of the tree on the last day of school. Melinda's tree finally is able to grow fundamentally and also in real life. Melinda states “My tree is definitely breathing little shadow breaths like it just shot up through the ground this morning”(196.) Her tree does finally grow in her art class but the major point is now she can breath. She can grow again rather than being stuck in her own thoughts all alone. Now she has support and the foundations to make her tree finally
In “The Giving Tree” the boy spent time with the tree during his childhood, but as he grew into a young boy then into a man, there was no time for the child to create cherished memories with. Once both the tree and boy were older than moldy cheese, the boy came back and the tree stated, “straightening herself up as much as she could, "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting come, boy, sit down. Sit down and rest." And the boy did. And the tree was happy.”
Oh, you don't know too much about trees, do you? Well let me tell you that trees are amazing, and I mean, we literally breathe the air they are creating, and they clean up our pollution, our carbon, store and purify water, give us medicine that cures ours diseases and food that feeds us.
In the conversation the Sioux woman has with the tree she explains why they are ‘killing’ it, and what their plans for the tree are. After the tree is cut down, it is not allowed to touch the ground. McGaa states that the men can only set the tree down four times to rest on the way back to the reservation (86).
Little Tree loses his parents when he is only five years old, while at the funeral he refuses to cry and instead holds onto his grandfather's leg. Throughout history Native Americans have had most of everything they cherished stolen by white men, much in the same way Tree has everything he knows taken from him. Tree clings to his grandfather just as Natives had to cling to their culture in order to keep anything familiar. Little Tree is taken to live with his grandparents much to to dismay of his other relatives. During his stay there his naivety shows, along with an unknown natural woodsman side. Tree’s granpa takes him out to catch tukey's, when it comes time to pick which three out of the six to take home Tree chooses the smallest three, he knows no better and his granpa doesn't say a word about it. What he lacks in naturally selecting out turkeys he makes up in his discovery. Tree/s grama tells him that the forest accepts him, and it shows. Little Tree is able to find a secret place that brings out his nature enriched body and
The look of the tree is compared to the old man by the use of personification. Although the man knew that the tree had to be much stronger because if the man took the trees place he wouldnít be able to stand alone.
Trees don’t just become something totally different overnight that’s just not possible. The tree is a old, used plant that you are watching get slowly burned. You can’t ignore something so important on a daily basis The tree in the Devon park represents the cultures like Vietnam who were mistreated during the war. The tree is a reminder that something so old, and known to everyone can be brought down, purely because people didn’t care about it. People look at the tree and see a stoic, and traditional thing.
The affect of environmental issues occur everyday and in particular deforestation is becoming a highly ranked subject. From animals to the human race, the alacrity of trees that are cut down affects every individual in a variety of ways. Not only do people need to help the planet but they need to help themselves and further generations to come, such as children and grandchildren because these natural resources that are being taken away from society are as well shaping the future. For comprehensible reasons, forests use to make up the world, until man made creatures started to destroy and destruct the most important supply to human kind which are trees. Trees are crucial to every living entity for the reason of providing oxygen to all.