Analyzing A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud (PJP)

In Carson’s McCullers’ story, A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud, we are introduced to a character who is experiencing the aftermath of his lost love. The overall theme of the story is explaining that love should be simple. The story first starts off when the old man tells the paperboy of his lost love. This scene in the story is important because it shows a grown man talking to a young boy about love. In perspective of the paperboy, this has to be an awkward situation because a random person is explaining his love life to him. In the story the man says, “Sit down and have a beer with me. There is something I have to explain” (26). The paperboy comes to the conclusion that the man might be a “lunatic” and has gone mad because of love.

The man begins his journey to “find his love”, however after reaching a certain point the man begins to deny that he was hurt by the divorce. The man says, “When I lay myself down on a bed and tried to think about her my mind became a blank. I couldn’t see her” (29). This means that he has mentally started to ignore the things that make him sad and he is starting to find better things to love. He is essentially starting to love the small things in life so that it could replace the love he once had for his wife. So the lesson that I think the man is trying to explain to the paperboy is that you should love things that cannot reject or hurt you.

The old man is using drinking as a way to channel his depression. He feels lonely and he wants someone to talk to. The man talks to the paperboy because he is a young boy who would be willing to stick around and listen to an adult. If it was another adult then the person probably would have left thinking he was crazy from what he had to say. So in conclusion, the story is about a man who learns to love the smalls things because he realized what happens when the love of your life leaves you.