Essay on The Persimmon Tree by Marjorie Barnard

Before reading the third chapter of “The Forest and the Trees”, I remember learning in the second chapter about symbolism, ideology and the construction of life in different cultures and societies around the world. For example, something interesting I remember learning was how every social system has a culture, consisting primarily of symbols (including words), ideas and practices. I believe this also connects and refers to how we tend to build our own sense of reality through the words and ideas that we use to mean something and people may use to name interpret what they experience and how cultures consist of symbols of ideas or words being portrayed. Based on what I read in the second chapter and the title of the third chapter, “The Structures

Betty Smith’s classic tale A Tree Grows in Brooklyn utilizes an assortment of intriguing, relatable characters to tell the emotional tale of a young girl, born into the depths of poverty, and to detail the traumatic life events that occur that shape her into her future self. Set in impoverished Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1912, this story centers around the Nolan family: hardworking, tough mother Katie, impractical and romantic father Johnny, momma’s boy Cornelius “Neeley”, and the protagonist, eleven-year old Mary Frances “Francie”, a sharp-witted, loyal daydreamer through whom the reader sees life occur throughout the book. Francie’s ability to daydream about a greater life for her and her family help her to escape

The mood of the speaker changes to guilt as the speaker and her mother realize they would "crawl" with "shame" and leave an "emptiness" in their father's heart and yard. The author negatively connotes "crawl," "shame," and "emptiness" to invoke a more serious and shameful tone. The beginning of the conveyed a more matter-of-fact and pragmatic tone, but changes into a more sentimental one by the end to convey family is more important than the money. The symbol of the tree represents the family, and connects it to their father's hard work and dedication to the family. If they were to cut it down, it would be symbolic of their betrayal. Imagery of the tree is used to describe the freedom and beauty of the tree as it "swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit." The tree represents their family bond and how strong it is even through the "whip-crack of the mortgage."

Author use many symbolism in the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. She uses symbolism because it makes it easier for readers to understand the deeper meaning or feeling of the character or the events that are happening. For example, author uses the symbolism of bean trees as transformation and Ismene as the abandoned children to show the deeper meaning of them.

The Wild Trees is a book by Richard Preston about a small group of botanists that are curious about what the canopy of the redwood holds. The redwood tree comes from the sequoia family and is the largest single organism in the world. A group of people that include Michael Taylor, Steve Sillett, and Marie Antoine. Michael Taylor came from a wealthy family. His father did not want Michael to grow up spoiled. He tried to raise him as a middle class child who did not get whatever he wanted. Eventually when Michael went to college he did not pass his classes and decided to change his major. Michaels father was not very happy about this and gave him one last chance. Eventually when the time came again, Michael did not complete his classes for the

differences in her character "I was liking Lou Ann a great deal these days. In

Write a composition based on the novel you have studied discussing the basis for and impact of individual choices. What idea does the author develop regarding choices?

(AGG) All around the world, there has been situations like PTSD affecting people’s daily lives, as the author uses it in a book. (BS-1) Millions of people have been affected by PTSD from what they have seen and it makes things harder to not forget about the event. (BS-2) PTSD affected Najmah, because her dealing with hard losses. (BS-3) Nusrat and Najmah struggles with themselves, showing an internal conflict of Man vs Self. (TS) Throughout the book, Under The Persimmon Tree, the author uses real life situations, like PTSD, to change and shape a character’s personality.

In The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver uses characters and symbols to show that families are not genetically made up, rather built from love and support. As Kingsolver establishes the dynamic roles of Taylor Greer upon meeting Turtle and Lou Ann Ruiz throughout the novel, she also includes the symbolic significance of the rhizobia to illuminate the message of The Bean Trees.

Symbolism the main rhetorical device mentioned throughout the novel the most. The gate and pear tree stand out the most in the book and film. The gate signifies a change coming Janie’s way in the first couple of chapters in the book but in the movie water symbolizes a change in her life. “A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her” (Hurston 32). The pear tree in the book symbolized love, but the tree that Oprah showed in the film did not look like a pear tree, but it symbolized love as well. “Hurston mentions this symbol repeatedly throughout the novel… Janie bases her whole idea of love off the pear tree and the perfect harmony the tree has with nature” (Symbolism). Janie uses that idea because she thought marriage equaled love when it really did not. Hurston added the pear tree and gate to show how it connect with the main character of the

By the end of the novel, Melinda finds a way to live again and bring the tree to life. Melinda finally overcomes her emotions about that night which has caused her lack of identify and paint a tree which symbolizes herself and her healing. The tree symbol reappears in Melinda’s beautification of her yard. Melinda rakes piles of abandoned leaves out of the bushes. She works with the "dead leaves still clinging to the oak branches by the street" (167). Melinda's life is symbolized by the leaves because she feels dead inside and struggles to find a safe haven, just as the leaves struggle to grasp onto the branches. The sick tree in the yard has a section dying which causes the entire tree to weaken and collapse. Melinda's life after the rape is like the sick part of the tree; her pain and suffering threaten to cross over to the other aspects of her life and ruin her entirely. On page 122, Mr. Freeman is trying to help Melinda develop an identity for herself because he tells Melinda when she is struggling with the trees, “The next time you work on your trees, don’t think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or rage. When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time and walk through their days with no idea that they are.” Trees are a significant symbol throughout the novel as she experiences ninth

Critics have continuously characterized Peter Taylor’s work, as a social critique of the South and how it shows “the effects of cultural inheritance on its people” (Bryant 66). In his story, “The Old Forest,” Taylor examines the regional history and social structures that shaped his own past and how breaking the architecture that has existed for generations is not easily accomplished. Although it takes place in 1937, with progressive girls and college students filling the city of Memphis with intellectualism and open sexuality, the social constructions of the past, most specifically the descendents of plantation owners and rich socialites, are not easily forgotten. Lines have been drawn between those

her own person, and increasingly a part of the society in which she is an

In the short story, “A Rose For Emily” written by William Faulkner, there is a myriad of examples in which the theme of isolation and exclusion is implemented. Emily Grierson, the main character, is known to the town as old and alone. Emily inhabits the past and is not introduced to the town’s social norms. As the town began to industrialize, Emily’s residency has not evolved into the modern day world. The community continues to grow, whereas Emily begins to grow old in her forgotten home among the town, thus leading her into isolation and exclusion.

The third part of the poem begins with a more personal and philosophical tone. The speaker claims to have been such a youthful swinger of birches, an activity he can go back to only by dreaming. The birch trees, probably both ice-bent and boy-swung, stand for the order and control missing from ordinary experience. The "considerations" he is weary of are conflicting claims that leave him disoriented and stung. The desire to "get away from earth," importantly qualified by "awhile," shows a yearning for the ideal or perhaps for the imaginative isolation of the birch swinger. His "I'd like to