People and Trees
The Overstory continually reminds us that humans are not the be-all and end-all we often think we are. The author does this in different ways, each point all its own.
He points out our blindness to the significance of other life forms, and the clarity that emerges when one slows down long enough to really look.
Ray adjusts to his life of stillness after his stroke, seeing both his beloved books and yard full of trees with new eyes:
“To be human is to confuse a satisfying story with a meaningful one, and to mistake life for something huge with two legs.”
And in the ultimate compliment a botanist can pay a human being, solitary Dr. Westerford falls in love. What makes Dennis perfect for her?
“In his spare motions and abundant silence, he blurs the line between those nearly identical molecules, chlorophyll and hemoglobin.”
