Introduction
The Overstory is an aspiring novel containing an urgent environmental message. It speaks of activists determined to save endangered giant redwood plants. The book weaves stories of trees from a supportive yet crucial angle (Powers, 2018). The novel addresses nine essential narrators who were presumably independent people. However, the last sections of the book shed light on how the reporters’ lives are intertwined. An important aspect is that trees bring them together, while death takes them apart. Moreover, the Overstory characters’ messages expound on how humanity links with the trunks, crowns, and seeds of trees.
Nicholas Hoel
Nick is a young man from a farmers’ lineage, but he endeavors to be a sculptor. He starts a nine-year journey of tree carving after losing his family at a tender age. The sculptures draw the attention of a young lady who takes Nick on a life-changing adventure (Powers, 2018). At the beginning of the Overstory, Nick is profoundly connected to trees because his forefather had a chestnut farm. Further, he meets Olivia, who encourages him to improve the “Free Tree Art” consciously and fight to safeguard forests (Powers, 2018). Therefore, it can be argued that her words about the environment give Nick life meaning and purpose. He develops beautiful artworks, which reflect stories of the natural world.
Mimi Ma
Mimi is an exciting narrator in the Overstory novel whose father is a Chinese immigrant, while the mother is a Virginian resident. She is a famous engineer who becomes an earnest tree activist (Powers, 2018). However, Mimi turned into a devout supporter of trees when someone sneaked at night and cut a ponderosa pine near her office window. She also ascribes to her father’s view on enlightenment and connects with colleagues (Powers, 2018). Therefore, Mimi can be seen as a therapist who tries to disengage her past faults by assisting others. Guilt threatens to overwhelm her, but she strives to remain faithful to Douglas, who offered an ultimate sacrifice for her.
Adam Appich
Adam is a clever youthful man who is cynical by nature. He assesses the mentality, convictions, and ideologies of tree activists. Consequently, he grows into an arsonist, and the words of a lady who hears trees’ voices captivate him. Adam’s colleagues betray him, leading to his arrest over wrongdoing he initially did not intend to commit (Powers, 2018). Obviously, Adam’s detention enlightens him about the world of trees, and he maintains the relationship with all his collaborators.
Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly
I perceive Dorothy as a highly independent lady who ensures Ray follows her plans. The couple battles infertility and a brain aneurysm, which seem to ruin their love affair. At first, Dorothy plans to help Ray stabilize before pursuing a divorce (Powers, 2018). Ultimately, she commits long-term, extensive care and rekindles their love. They discover sense in each other and the souring nature (Powers, 2018). In my outlook, plant identification connects them at the time Ray is confined to bed. Dorothy and Ray talk about a free-spirited daughter and vow to leave her a heritage filled with wild plants.
Douglas Pavlicek
Douglas is a Vietnam veteran who narrates how a banyan tree saved him. He aspires to curb tree cutting and maintain pure woods. He also engages in love affairs with Mimi Ma, and the two enter a violently protesting world (Powers, 2018). Douglas joins the arsonists, and his crimes lead to his arrest. The veteran betrays Adams to protect Mimi and is subjected to a light sentence (Powers, 2018). Subsequently, he writes a “manifesto of failure” regarding how he turned into a traitor to humankind. Douglas uses their neighbors’ forest to unleash his frustrations, wondering what bewitched humanity.
Neelay Mehta
Neelay is a youthful Indian man who desires to develop a game world similar to a real human environment. His determinations enable him to understand the surrounding nature and how people willfully destroy it (Powers, 2018). He returns to Stanford but looks remorseful because trees no longer produce soothing sounds. Neely’s phone buzzes with updates, and he reiterates people are currently focused on simulation and symbols (Powers, 2018). A suggestion from his bot pops up and reveals a hundred years of chestnuts in twenty seconds. Neelay inspires the neighboring community to learn the significance of wildlife and embrace life-sustaining features of the earth.
Patricia Westerford
Patricia is a genius who discovers trees talk to each other. Many people who hear his discernment ridicule the views of the conversing forest but later validate them. She dedicates her time to studying trees and making humans appreciate the uniqueness of flora (Powers, 2018). Patricia marries a gentleman who encourages her to pursue her dreams of planting trees. Further, they establish a seed bank, hoping they will replant tree species lost due to destruction. Patricia purports that the most fundamental thing humans can undertake for trees is to die willingly (Powers, 2018). The outlook influences her to commit suicide, and she passes away in an occupied auditorium.
Olivia Vandergrift
Olivia is a charismatic college lady who dies, but beings of light bring her back. In my perspective, Olivia hears the voices of trees and rallies four individuals to commit serious offenses. She is a zealous protector of trees who believes vegetation deserves defense (Powers, 2018). Olivia gets into a love affair with Nick, and they protect the remaining giant redwoods. She dies during arson violence, and her death pinpoints the termination of the agreement the five arsonists made (Powers, 2018). There are hopes Olivia’s demise influences people to commit their lives to safeguard trees.
Trunk
The Overstory characters protest against excessive tree cutting for timber. I recognize the background of Douglas and Mimi’s relationship arose from their desire to guard trees. The novel makes readers meditate on the meaning of being human (Powers, 2018). Douglas asserts the fundamental question is what influences humanity’s motives. Ray and Dorothy are plant-blind and do not take note of the outside world until they reach the last stages of their lives (Powers, 2018). Similarly, Patricia is smart but seems to be ignorant about trees. She suggests the best action human beings can take for trees is committing a free-will suicide.
Crown
The Overstory novel ends the characters’ narrations by befitting them to tree crowns’ diversity and how humankind destroys forest canopies. Activists burn Olivia’s body, say goodbye, and disperse to Portland (Powers, 2018). Ray can only converse using mix-up words, but on one occasion, he tells Dorothy he wants to undertake their crossword morning ritual. Furthermore, when Douglas takes a walk, a solid ridge breaks (Powers, 2018). He manages to cling to a tree and imagines Olivia’s comfort. Likewise, Patricia travels across continents to collect seeds because she precludes extinct of some tree species. I perceive narrators resemble tree crowns that struggle to regrow after surviving human destruction.
Seed
Importantly, the stories presented draw attention to special moments and the astonishment non-human beings bring to the world. Olivia dies, but her memory is free in the minds of activists. Nick creates artworks and uses them to teach a broad audience about the significance of the natural world. I also recall Nick has a new project of creating a message viewable from space and earth. A Native American and two sons help Nick develop the word “still” (Powers, 2018). Douglas saves Mimi and goes to prison with a light sentence. He listens to Patricia’s audiotape and finds peace while reflecting on the trees he strived to protect (Powers, 2018). Mimi serves as a therapist in San Francisco, renews her identity, and seeks to honor Douglas’s sacrifices. She sits under a tree in Dolores Park and watches a videotape of a sewn tree. Memories of her young age linger in her mind when she sees trees float upwards and burns (Powers, 2018). As seeds fall from a cut tree, the Overstory narrators internalize their roles and limitations aligned to their transformed lives.
Conclusion
The Overstory novel draws attention to nine key characters and traces their family backgrounds across different continents. The narrators are lawyers, psychologists, college students, engineers, and scientists. The novel criticizes humanity’s assumptions they are the only beings who collaborate, change, and have agency. An impressive understanding is trees and people intertwine in daily endeavors. Therefore, protests against the irreversible destruction of nature are a worthwhile course of action. The novel also explores how far activists should go while addressing human short-sightedness and greed.
Reference
Powers, R. (2018). The overstory: A novel. W.W. Norton & Company.