The Persimmon Tree by Marjorie Barnard

How does the extract affect the whole story? (The Persimmon Tree by

Marjorie Barnard)

Extract: “I liked the room from the first… anyone who appeared to have

her life so perfectly under control.”

Question: How does the extract affect the whole story?

The writer of the story “The Persimmon Tree”, Marjorie Barnard, was

born in Sydney. She was a novelist, historian, biographer as well as

librarian in her lifetime. She wrote many books, and among them, A

House is Built (1928) and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1947) are the best

known (124 tutorial 30-10-01). Although “The Persimmon Tree” is

generally thought to be a piece of subtle work, and we may find it

difficult to get the hidden meanings of the words, Barnard has made it

charming by associating different things. She entitles the story “The

Persimmon Tree” partly because persimmons represent the narrator – a

weak and lonely individual whose life is in sharp contrast with what

Barnard describes, the “shadow of the tree”, which represents the

outside world. Barnard has delicately presented the narrator’s complex

feeling living between her “shell” and the outside world, and how the

outside forces contribute to her reform in the end of the story.

Obviously in the beginning of the extract, Barnard suggests that

“shadow” does not merely mean “shade that is caused by an object [it

is the trees in the story] blocking direct rays of light” (Oxford

Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary: 1380). Barnard, in

fact, associates “shadow” connotatively with two things: changing

matters in the outside world and new life. Although it is not

presented clearly in the story, Barnard reflects her idea through the

descriptions of the narrator about the “shadow”: “the mov...

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... her current help.

The story has an open ending, as there is not enough space for further

development. We are not sure about what happens next, although the

narrator “[thinks] [her] heart would break [that represents changes to

a better self]” (par.14). However, in my opinion, Barnard succeeds in

portraying the struggle of the narrator when she is put to different

tests (the “shadow”, the “woman” and herself). As we read the story,

we can see how delicately Barnard sets each character and expresses

their feelings under different settings. In conclusion, “The Persimmon

Tree” is a piece subtle and delicate work.

Bibliography

Barnard, M. (1976) in Heseltine, H. The Penguin Book of Australian

Short Stories UK: Penguin pp126 – 129

Hornby, AS. (1994) in Lee, Peita Oxford Advanced Learners

English-Chinese Dictionary UK: Oxford University Press page 1380