Blog #3: "The Black Walnut Tree"

   "The Black Walnut Tree"

Thesis:  The idioms “money doesn’t buy happiness” and “money doesn’t grow on trees” are well-known, yet in the poem, “The Black Walnut Tree”, situational irony occurs in the fact that selling the Black Walnut Tree would shame the family’s ancestry, but solve their financial problems.

Where am I?

The poem takes place in the fall because the “fruit [is] harder to gather away”(I. 14-15) normally harvested in autumn.  It’s in Ohio- “fresh and generous Ohio”(I. 24).  The poem describes a feeling of the outdoors and the daughter describes the life of the tree and the atmosphere around the yard bare of anything except the Black Walnut Tree- “emptiness we’d made in our own and our fathers’ backyard”(I. 28)

Who am I?

The speaker of the poem is a daughter debating with her mother (I. 1) We know it is a daughter because of her peaceful yet frantic tone as well as the description of the two women (I. 9).  The poem describes the family ancestry of the fathers of Bohemia- Czech Republic, Europe (I. 22).  The tone of the poem is described through the panic and debate of the the walnut tree to pay for the mortgage.  

What do I want?

The speaker, daughter, is debating with her mother whether they should sell their tree and relieve their mortgage or to keep the tree and find another way to pay.  The daughter wants to keep the tree, because something is moving her and her mother to keep it; they ‘talk but won’t do anything’.  

The Black Walnut Tree is a symbol for overcoming hard times and pride stored in heritage.  The author reveals through the main character that selling the Black Walnut Tree would be like selling her soul because it represents her ancestry and values.  They believe that selling the tree will leave them in shame and disappointment of the family pride.  Even though the speaker and her mother could take the shortcut to their financial problems by selling the tree, they continue to hold out against the “whip-crack of the mortgage”(I. 34-35) like they have for previous months.

WHAT IMPRESSION WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONVEY? WHY? WRITE ONE CHUNKY PARAGRAPH JUSTIFYING THIS, USING LINES FROM THE TEXT.

The impression we would like to convey through our performance to the class is that there are two women that are sitting in front of their old Black Walnut Tree and they are discussing selling the tree to pay off the mortgage and we use country accents to show they are from the farms. This is important because living on the farm shows how important the land is to them and that it is such an important resource. While they are speaking they have a little bit of a guilt tone when they describe how if they cut down and sold the tree they would “crawl with shame in the emptiness [they]’d made in our own and fathers backyard” (I. 2 7-28) They are not selling  the tree out of the guilt that they would have if they did. However they also have to worry about the “whipcrack of the mortgage”  (I. 34-35) every month.  Which carries a burden on their shoulder and they are conflicted on whether or not to sell it because they could be getting so much money from selling the tree that would “pay off the mortgage” because the burden of it is getting  “heavier”(I.13).So conveying a guilt tone will presenting it would show this to the audience.

WHICH PROPS AND COSTUMING WILL BE USED? WHAT KIND OF LIGHTING WOULD YOU USE? WHY? WRITE ONE CHUNKY PARAGRAPH JUSTIFYING THIS, USING LINES FROM THE TEXT.

To recreate the poem through acting, we would present outside to try to place the main character and her mother’s conversation near their topic.  The natural light would emphasize the nature that surrounds the family and their heritage of  “filling the blue fields of fresh and generous Ohio with leaves and vines and orchards” (I. 23-25).  For costumes, we would wear normal clothing, to highlight the fact that the mother and daughter have drifted from their farming ancestry in “Bohemia” (I. 22).  The props would reflect this history to show the shame that still burns in the characters as they decide to hold onto their values through the Black Walnut Tree.

WILL YOU DRAW ATTENTION TO CERTAIN PHRASES OR WORDS? WHY ARE THESE WORDS (OR WORD) IMPORTANT? WHY DOES THE REPETITION OF THIS WORD/THESE WORDS REINFORCE THE MEANING OF THE POEM AS A WHOLE. WRITE ONE CHUNKY PARAGRAPH JUSTIFYING THIS, USING LINES FROM THE TEXT.

We are going to try to add emphasis and draw attention to the last phrases of the poem. We are going to emphasize “So the Black Walnut Tree swings through another year.” (I.30-31) because that is the conclusion and closure to the poem. Although they opened the poem with the internal conflict between cutting down the tree for money, they end up not cutting the tree. Doing so the they are somewhat relieved because they no longer have to worry about upsetting or letting down their ancestors. Although that is no longer the problem, it seems they are going to have to find another way to deal with their financial situations. Also when talking the mortgage in the beginning of the poem, that is surrounded by words like “storm” (I.6)  and “dark” (I.7) which helps create a mood at the beginning the poem.

Group Close Reading of "The Black Walnut Tree"