A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud: A Twelve-step Program

A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud: A Twelve-step Program

            For many it is love at first sight, for others it is a spiritual journey: the quest for love. In Carson McCullers’ “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud,” we explore the fundamentals and experiences of love through the stories of a forsaken man, and through his words, learn of a “science” to love: “I am talking about love… With me it is a science”, (McCullers 29). The thought-evoking short story, written in the perspective of an unnamed paperboy listening to an older man, revels in an earthy, unorthodox path of love leading up to “the last step in my science,” (32).

            Throughout the boy and man’s conversations, the man reflects on his past blunders with love, namely his “one year, nine months, three days, and two nights” (29) marriage to the woman who abandoned him. After this experience, the man sought out to find his wife and recover his abandoned marriage. In a turn of events, the man discovers a new “science” to love: ”When I laid myself down on a bed and tried to think about her my mind became a blank,” (30).  His noticing of the memory of his wife evaporating led him to an epiphany: “They start at the wrong end of love. They begin at the climax.” His “science” theorizes that one must first love “A tree. A rock. A cloud” (31) before one can reach the “climax,” (31) suggesting a sense of simplicity leading up to more complex emotions.

            The man’s “science” suggests that, perhaps, if man loved the earth and the simple things before they “undertake the most dangerous and sacred experience in God's earth,” (31) man would be able to properly love a woman. It lays way for a series of “steps” essential to take before reaching the “climax.” In the end, the boy questions the man if he has reached the last step; the man is left pondering. He later responds no: “I go cautious. And I’m not quite ready yet” (32). The man left the paperboy with the words “Remember, I love You” (32) before he left smiling. The conversation succeeding the bizarre events left us with the conclusion that the man was not crazy, and eluded to the possibility that, perhaps, his “science” will allow him to reach the last step and find love.