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The Mark/Snail
If humanity is associated with a fast-paced lifestyle and destructive materialism, trees symbolize the opposite of that—namely, slowing down, growth, and being present. Their long lives and slow yet constant growth provide an alternative to rapid and ruinous human development. The narrator describes the ways that new technologies impede human connections, as being packed together on the underground and on omnibuses leads people to look at each other with emptiness and “glassy eyes.” Trees, on the other hand, create nurturing communities for other plants and animals, building symbiotic relationships that the narrator contrasts with the isolation of modern humans. She describes the ways that trees grow over the course of years without paying attention to their surroundings, and in doing so provide spaces for cows to swish their tails in the shade on hot afternoons, for birds to sing in June and for insects to sun themselves on the leaves. Even after succumbing to a storm and falling, “there are a million patient, watchful lives still for a tree,” as they turn into furniture and housing for human activities. This makes trees inherently social, as well as nurturing and protective, in contrast to the “wasteful” and “haphazard” destructive tendencies of humans. Essentially, the lives of trees progress towards growth and community even in their afterlives, as their only goals are growing slowly and being present. Humanity, on the other hand, rushes to develop new technologies, wage wars, and accumulate heaps of material possessions—none of these things can persist. The hubristic desire for the domination of the world leads to isolation and a shrinking, rather than a growth, of one’s knowledge and possessions.
In addition, a tree tapping on the windowpane catches the narrator’s attention, interrupting the domestic isolation of her living room. Like the snail, the tree also proves that the stark walls humans put up between their lives and the natural world are not impermeable. At times, the narrator appears to identify with the tree, imagining herself leading such a life, as opposed to her civilized life. Because this is a real tree (rather than an imagined one), the tree also represents the importance of paying attention to one’s surroundings. By anchoring in solid material objects, one can find a sense of peace outside the various distractions of the fast-paced civilized world.
The Tree Quotes in The Mark on the Wall
The The Mark on the Wall quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Tree. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Mark on the Wall Quotes
The tree outside the window taps very gently on the pane… I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle; I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
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A tree interrupts the narrator’s thoughts—this marks the first concrete action in the story. The tree breaking into the narrative in this manner shows the permeability of the domestic space—that is, despite the walls and fire and armchairs, the narrator’s living room is still susceptible to natural interruptions. This in turn indicates that nature cannot be completely dominated by mankind. The narrator’s desire for peace and isolation generates an alternative to her reflections on the crowdedness of public spaces. In this instance, she desires a protected space for herself away from others. She seeks ease and the absence of hostility Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Ape
Wood is a pleasant thing to think about. It comes from a tree; and trees grow, and we don’t know how they grow. For years and years they grow, without paying any attention to us, in meadows, in forests, and by the side of rivers—all things one likes to think about.
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The transition to thoughts on wood might appear unprompted, but recall the tree outside her window. The narrator’s identification with that tree has been the only consistently positive direction in which her imagination has wandered during this story, and in this quote she explains that fascination in more detail. She specifies the growth of trees as their primary symbolic quality, with two particularly unique components: trees grow slowly, and their growth remains a relative mystery to mankind. This slowness provides a rich symbolic alternative to the bustle and chaos of cities—it offers an alternate mode of living, one which integrates Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. U
Even so, life isn’t done with; there are a million patient, watchful lives still for a tree, all over the world, in bedrooms, in ships, on the pavement, lining rooms, where men and women sit after tea, smoking cigarettes. It is full of peaceful thoughts, happy thoughts, this tree. I should like to take each one separately—but something is getting in the way. . . . Where was I? What has it all been about? A tree? A river? The Downs? Whitaker’s Almanack? The fields of asphodel? I can’t remember a thing. Everything’s moving, falling, slipping, vanishing.. . . There is a vast upheaval of matter.
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Having considered the role of a tree during its lifetime, the narrator transitions into dwelling on what happens after its death before a voice interrupts her. Trees do not disappear into dust upon death, like Troy or the barrows in the South Downs—they become parts of new useful objects and continue to integrate into new environments. Because of this, nature remains a part of the civilized world, if an almost invisible one. Rather than characterizing the changes caused by the passage of time as loss (as she did with human material possessions), the narrator seems to see new uses of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At
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The Tree Symbol Timeline in The Mark on the Wall
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Tree appears in The Mark on the Wall. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Mark on the Wall
...the mantlepiece to the dust which buried Troy and considers herself a poor housekeeper. A tree taps on the window outside, and the narrator pictures Shakespeare sitting in an arm-chair before...
(full context)
...thoughts. She wants to find pleasant thoughts and fixates on the solid image of a tree, growing outside the bounds of human knowledge and creating an environment for cows, rivers, and...
(full context)
