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The Black Walnut Tree Analysis

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The Black Walnut Tree
In Mary Oliver’s “The Black Walnut Tree,” Oliver employs personification, split section, and conflict between literal and figurative to establish the tree’s role in the family as a symbol of both the adversities and the rewards that arise from their endeavor to preserve their family history.
The personification of “black walnut tree swing through another year of sun” is used to convey the fresh and renewed spirit of the family once they decide to keep their family together. The idea of the tree “swinging” represents a cheerful spirit. Since the author chooses to embody this cheerful spirit in her writing, it demonstrates the idea of family and home; money tends to draw people apart, but happiness and favor comes with the idea of an object like the walnut tree that forges the relationship in a family. Since the mother and child decided to keep the tree for the …show more content…

In the first section the mother and daughter are the only two people present in this section and they are trying to plan whether they should sell the tree. There are also some images that are used in the beginning of this poem that create a negative image in the reader’s mind. The negative tone provided with the uses of “dark”, “smashing”, and difficult” show the reader the hard time the character are going though. In the second section, the characters are reminded of the significant of the black walnut. The author show this by shifting the tone of the poem to positive. The author uses of “leaping”, “bounding”, and “generous” to show some of the positive tone shift. This positive tone help show the happy memory that their ancestor experience because of the tree. Because of this sole reason, the characters treasure the tree and decided to keep it there because of the bond it share with the family. The mother and daughter also know that they would, "crawl with shame in the emptiness" meaning that they would be ashamed if they cut the

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