Summary “The Tree of Man”


This is a story about the life of two simple Australians – farmer Stan Parker and his wife Amy. Their life begins with the century, and in it the events of its history and the processes taking place in the Australian reality are reflected in its own way.

A story unfolds slowly about how the young Stan Parker cleanses his plot from the wild undergrowth and starts building a house. The picture is ordinary and at the same time symbolic – the beginning of the beginning: a long life, the development of a virgin land, in some ways even a human race. Stan achieves everything with his work, and work becomes for him and his wife a ritual that embodies the ultimate meaning of existence. Labor brings to the mysteries of existence, reveals the ineffable charm of the earth, which feeds the person, brings it closer to nature, with which the Australian farmer is closely connected, gives the opportunity to acquire a special language that is understandable to the person who lived a

natural life. Work helps you to know yourself and survive in the fight against the elements – fires and floods crush Parkers, but they do not give up. These are the “average” Australians – the nation’s support.

Noctilucent forest fire, which swept through the village, the house of the Armstrongs burned, and the miraculously saved Madeline lost her fire in her hair. The obsession dissipated with time, and Amy again found peace of mind, giving herself up to the original occupation of the wife of a farmer, her mother.

The true life lies in the other – “… look at the sky, look for signs of weather in it, listen to the oats, pick up a wet calf just dropped from a cow’s womb and try to prove that he can stand on his feet.” Children Parkers on their feet could not resist, but the family did not die, and Ray’s son bears in him the ability to comprehend the secrets of life that his grandfather, who admired every leaf, every living being, had. However, what was not given to his grandfather, with a vengeance given to his grandson – the ability to

express in words the delight of the greatness of life, nature. Stan could observe and admire, but he did not have enough words. What he could not say, he wrote in his poem, his grandson: “There will be a smell of bread, and vague wisdom of youth… and girls with reddish pigtails that whisper about love… and ruddy apples, and a small a white cloud that, as soon as the wind blows it, grows into a huge horse and plows heavily all over the sky. “Stan’s grandson, Ray, symbolizes a new step in the spiritual development of a nation overcoming provincial backwardness, stagnation, passivity of the mind limited only by material demands. White, are contrasted with the official Australian myth, professing the cult of strength, physical beauty, material wealth and, in general, primitive, unreasoning consciousness. In this myth there is no place for creative consciousness, the personality of evil Nick – that’s why it is so tragic fate of geniuses in White’s novels, which is why the artist commits suicide in Gage “Tree Man”, when encountering life on dull indifference and misunderstanding, however, it is the gift of the creator combined with such wonderful Australian character qualities.


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

Summary “The Tree of Man”