On Emblematic Megaflora Summary

In “On Emblematic Megaflora” Farmer explains how he notes that people use trees as sources of meaning. The trees represent a connection between natural and urban world, but they also can gain a certain familiarity with the people. He writes that “Old ones can be imagined as guardians or grandparents. It requires little effort to individuate and anthropomorphize single-trunk plants” (535). With regards to anthropomorphism, Lawrence Buell defines it as “the attribution of human feelings or traits to nonhuman beings or objects or natural phenomena” (134). This can be applied to Grey Owl’s Tree as well. The Tree becomes the emblem of nature as a tenacious entity that is not only self-reliant, but able to withstand a great amount of abuse. That …show more content…
Both text treat of an extraordinary tree. For Farmer, it is El Palo Alto, for Vaillant, the Golden Spruce. The emblematic giant in both cases has become somewhat of a flagship entity or, to use a term closely related to the one coined by Farmer, a type of “charismatic megaflora”. They are extraordinarily big plants who have been given a particular status. Farmer notes that “at this point, El Palo Alto has more visibility as a simulacrum than an organism” (544) while Vaillant writes that “the golden spruce has become the most widely dispersed Sitka spruce on earth” (236). Both statements fasten the idea that the tree can achieve a kind of fame that propels it into the social consciousness. Vaillant’s account of the spruce puts it into a category set aside from common people or common flora. To do so, he draws parallels with the human protagonist, who is given superhuman characteristics. As such, by continually being compared, it is understood or deduced that the tree is somewhat of a super-tree as well. By looking at the description of the setting, the reader can already see that the inhabitants both human and otherwise, can be seen as some kind of higher beings. Vaillant describes the coastal forests as “huge, holy, and eternal-feeling, like a branched and needled Notre Dame” (8). Already, there is a sense of higher power experienced through the coastal forest. Thus, knowing that Hadwin spent most of his life in the forest, having experienced it more than anybody else, he can be seen as an embodiment of the description above. Moreover, he is described as “in tune with actual nature” (103). As for the golden spruce, the simple fact that it is part of the forest makes it a candidate for holiness, but its uniqueness renders it even more likely. Hadwin, as well as the tree are treated as kinds of mythical beings. For instance, the man is “the