“The Tree of Man” by Patrick White and the Poetry of Daily Life
Life during the past year has been bland to say the least. Being confined to a single building for days on end seems to create some kind of meaningless vacuum where only you exist, along with junk food, a couch, Netflix and half finished projects scattered about. I was beginning to lose hope that I would ever be able to fulfil my cravings for a meaningful existence.
But one day something entered this vacuum that changed everything. It came in the form of a book called The Tree of Man by Australian Nobel laureate Patrick White. The first thing that passed through my mind when picking up this 500 page tome was ‘great, something to pass the time’, but it soon became so much more than that.
1. Below the Surface
The Tree of Man tells a simple story of ordinary lives. Stan Parker inherits some land in the Australian hills after the death of his father. He moves there with his wife Amy and together they start a family. Eventually the area becomes populated and the town of Durilgai emerges. We then follow the Parkers through the years as they face all the challenges that life throws at them, including floods, bush fires, infidelity, depression and death. Quite simply, their lives encompass the plot and we learn all we need to know from their reactions to each other and the environment.
The repetitive, boring lives of the Parker’s was easy to sympathise with, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle it for 500 pages. I considered putting the book down before even reading 50 pages, until I came across a line describing Stan Parker, that revealed the true nature of this book, that beneath the seemingly simple story there lies something profound, there lies poetry:
“He had in him great words of love and beauty, below the surface, if they could be found.”
It became clear that Patrick White juxtaposes the simplicity of the plot with his beautifully poetic and complex prose. It is a style of writing that cannot be skimmed over, as every word is intentional. White’s descriptions of the Australian landscape have reminded me of just how beautiful the country I live in really is (something many Australians need reminding of from time to time). One of the most incredible passages in the book is when White describes a bush fire that threatens the lives of the people of Durilgai. I had to read the whole scene out loud it was that well written.
“And the bush began to dissolve into grey tendrils of smoke, wreathing and twining between the leaves and twigs, like leaves and twigs released.”
1.1. White’s Intention
Patrick White had just returned to Sydney from England before writing this novel. In the essay ‘The Prodigal Son’, White explains that returning to Sydney left his life feeling “dreary, ugly, monotonous”. The boastful culture found in England is very different to the ‘cultural cringe’ many Australians expressed at the time. He wanted to find the hidden purpose and meaning of such a life, and so The Tree of Man emerged from this search.
“I wanted to try to suggest in this book every possible aspect of life, through the lives of an ordinary man and woman. But at the same time I wanted to discover the extraordinary behind the ordinary, the mystery and the poetry, which alone could make bearable the lives of such people…” — Patrick White.
2. A Common Search
Naturally, while reading this book I began to reflect on the state of my own life, and the lives of everyone else affected by the current lockdowns. Where can you find meaning while being cooped up like cattle? Where is the hidden poetry of my life? What am I doing wrong?
Stan Parker faces a similar crisis throughout the novel as he struggles to express himself and his search for beauty and spiritual guidance over the course of his life. He and his wife are constantly at a loss for words, unable to express their inner yearnings and love for one another, until it becomes just a silent, habitual affection.
But Stan finds joy in the landscape around him, he loves to look and often wishes to point and exclaim interest at the world to his family, but is unable to follow through. At one point in the book he takes his son out into the bush to try and bond. He points to a lizard which arouses “love and wonder” in him, trying to share this wonder with his son, but is unable to get the message across.
“As if he might suddenly interpret for his son, by some divine dispensation, with such miraculous clarity and wisdom, the love and wonder the horny lizard had roused in him.”
3. The Source of Meaning
Stan Parker is a man unable to express his inner poetic voice to others. He is unable to find the meaningful and spiritual existence we all search for in the world around us. It isn’t until the end of the novel, when we encounter one of the most incredible sequences in Australian literature, that we find the source of it all. Stan is sitting in his yard when he is suddenly interrupted by a young evangelist trying to introduce him to God. Stan feels he is too old to find salvation, but the young man insists. Eventually Stan spits and points at the glob on the floor saying “That is God”.
It is at this point that a “great tenderness of understanding arose in his chest” and all the events of his life become clear. Stan Parker’s God is a glob of spit on the floor, vile and disgusting, but also glittering in the light of the sun. It is a spirituality that comes from within himself, literally coughed up from his chest. It became clear that I too was searching for so-called “meaning” in the wrong places, looking to external sources, when the meaning lives inside all along.
“A great tenderness arose in his chest. Even the most obscure, the most sickening incidents of his life were clear. In that light. How long will they leave me like this, he wondered, in peace and understanding?”
4. Reflections
After finishing the book I decided to take a walk through the bushland near my house. I don’t know why but I have never fully appreciated the wonderful area, but now I was now feeling inspired. It suddenly occurred to me that meaning isn’t to be found in pondering over philosophical texts, or in forcing yourself to create some profound piece of art. It was not until I read The Tree of Man that I realised life itself, as it is, is poetic. As the sun began to set behind the trees I no longer felt I was being cheated out of life by isolating at home. Appreciating the little things in life is enough to give it meaning. Drinking a cold glass of water when it’s hot, having a warm shower when it’s cold, or waking up to the light of the sun, are all in my eyes, poetic. Maybe I’m still under the influence of the Patrick White’s spell-binding prose, but I hope this feeling doesn’t wear off too soon.
The Tree of Man is a modernist masterpiece. It can be hard going at times and is by no means easy reading, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. So if you ever feel that life is lacking and you need to find some poetry in the monotony, I strongly suggest you read The Tree of Man by Patrick White.
