The Rain Tree in the Valley

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

For instance, when Rose Mary left a piano outside, she expressed that “Most pianists never get the chance to play in the great out-of-doors” (33), or, when Jeannette told Rose Mary that she cannot live happily being vagrant, Rose Mary told her, “Why not? Being homeless is an adventure” (161). Therefore, the Joshua tree’s management to stay alive through turbulent climate compares and symbolizes Rose Mary’s optimistic character. When life threw lemons towards the Joshua tree in the form of wind and sand, the Joshua tree made lemonade by creating a mutualistic connection amongst itself and nature by growing sideways. The life of the Joshua tree points out how good always outshines bad which is what made it “one of the most beautiful trees [Rose Mary] had ever seen” (21) due to the way it continued to flourish in spite of the hindrances it has overcome, thus alluding to the hopeful and trusting personality Rose Mary

In Allen Johnson’s “The Forest, The Trees, and The One Thing”, he expresses that in order to understand sociology we need to be able to understand the relationship between biography and history. To explain this, Johnson uses five rules to sociology called the sociological imagination. These rules explain how an individual relates to social systems.

The second device that is ubiquitous in this passage is symbolism. The symbols found in this passage include rain, sunlight, lightning, and the aroma of rain. A common theme in The Bean Trees is plants. This theme is introduced in the passage through the symbol of rain. Rain is a meaningful symbol due to the fact that rain is a key factor in the growth and development of plants. Since plants have symbolised both Taylor and Turtle, the rain that occurs in the passage creates a sense of growth for both characters as they are both in the process of growing and developing.

The wind started to roar the suddenly dark sky sent a chill down the old mans spine. Every limb on their beloved peach tree began to shiver and sway. Creak! Creak! The tree branches said as they bent down over the now humbled old couple.

trees until one day when a young man showed up. This man went by the

Then one day the lot was cleaned. People started to plant gardens and put up fences. There were all sorts of people there. There was one man in a large straw hat who seemed to be trying to help everybody else. One day he was trying to help a boy with his lettuce. The boy had washed his seeds away when he was watering them. The boy couldn’t understand the old man, so the

Mary exposed her eyes through the trees to the sun, knowing it happened again; she sleepwalked through the forest. Mary forced herself up, again thinking of the trip before everything went wrong.

For a long time, individuals have been moving to The United States from everywhere throughout the world in quest for the photo immaculate America that is celebrated as the "place where there is the free." The "American Dream" is an expression used to catch the utopic thought of the capacity, by buckling down, of anybody in America to ascend from any financial class to a higher one, in which he or she builds up an upbeat, fruitful life, as a rule with a crew. This thought is positively a fantasy of numerous, if not most Americans. Then again, this longing is not so much one that can be satisfied by anybody. Despite the fact that we have made gigantic steps in Women's Rights subsequent to the 1920's, there are still some inconspicuous,

“There once was a time when it did not rain for a great many months. The Prairie turned brown from the Sun, and the Great River that nurtured the land began to dry up. The Plants struggled against the dry Earth to breathe and grow, while the Animals became weak and could not hunt. All the while the People waited, looking towards the sky and wondering what they had done to bring such misfortune upon themselves. While the People waited, Fear grew. This Fear grew so quickly that in a very short time it began to spread across the entire Prairie, choking out everything and everyone in its path until at last it covered all but one very small place in the Prairie where only the Children and the Old Ones would sit and play together.

While I mournfully headed back with Brittany, I glanced back at the tree, noticing a few remaining leaves fall down to join the ones on the floor. My mind started to wonder again. I started to question motion of the leaves and other objects.

I always thought I was a water-resistant plant, the kind with thick, rubbery leaves, intended to withstand burdensome rivers of water flowing over them. However, as the murky sky above the Boston Commons spat, each pelting raindrop withered me. How did this happen? I was the girl who flopped her limbs in ‘rain dances’ on the elementary school lawn and begged classmates to scribble ‘precipitation’ on their Christmas wishlists.

How a little Indian boy and girl were lost in a blizzard and had frozen to death… a beautiful red fern had grown up between their bodies. The story went to say that only an angel could plant the seed of a red fern…’”

Resting underneath the shade of the trees, I found myself appreciating the scent of pine needles; the ambiance of Christmas. Encompassed by the thick heavy air, I watched as a single sparrow fluttered high above the emerald forest. A few feet next to me an eager chipmunk hastily scampered from tree to tree, awaiting the chill of winter. The forest, I realized, was home to many wild creatures. In giving protection and food, the forest was gladly rewarded with the company of these animals. Beyond the horizon, I could see the community of newly formed saplings. They appeared as little children, learning under the guidance of their grown and fully matured parents.

In a tumult of wind and rain, a hail of twigs and leaves thundered through the trees and tore the arching grasses out by the roots. The deer bolted and hid, quivering, in the darkest thickets. The sky boiled, and the younger saplings were bent almost to the ground. Even as the shadows bounded up the stalks and blades of weeping grass, and the soft plink of falling rain quickened to a constant hiss and sputter, the sun found its equal. A thousand stars came down to earth and unleashed their pent-up fury on that wood.