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Miller, Kai

Gomez, Marissa

Period 1

10-12-06

The Osage Orange Tree:

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS

By: William Stafford

SUMMARY:

      The crisis of The Osage Orange Tree, by William Stafford, is that the main character/narrator is a new student to a high school and does not know anyone.  The conflict of the story is that the narrator wants to get to know a girl named Evangeline better. In an attempt to do so, the narrator meets acquaintances with Evangeline and starts to sell her the paper even though her house was way out of the way from his paper route. As you read on in the book, the narrator discovers that Evangeline is from a poor family and that her brother was the janitor at the school. “A big dark boy he was - a man, middle-aged I thought at the time”, was how the narrator described Evangeline’s brother. As the year ended at the high school, the narrator had to start teaching a new paperboy his route because he would be moving soon because his father was a big salesman of farm equipment in that part of the state. On the very last day of school, when the seniors were receiving their diplomas, the narrator noticed that Evangeline was not at the ceremony. Finding this odd, the narrator speaks with Evangeline’s older brother after the ceremony to see where she was. Evangeline’s brother revealed to the narrator that she could not come because she had spent the money that she was supposed to have saved for her graduation dress. Finding this odd, the narrator rushes to find the new paperboy to get a paper to give to Evangeline at the tree where she always waited, but strangely enough, she was not there. So, for the first time ever, the narrator walks up the path by the tree to Evangeline’s house only to be told to go away by her mother. Part disappointed, part ashamed, the narrator walks back to the tree where he used to meet with Evangeline everyday. There he threw the newspaper he was holding under the bridge and then looked where it had landed, and what he found underneath the bridge was a years worth of newspapers. 

      This story is told from a 1st person point of view set in the past.   

      The conflicts of The Osage Orange Tree are internal and external.  The internal conflict is that the narrator wants to get to know Evangeline better.  The external conflict is that the narrator walked to the Osage Orange tree everyday in every kind of weather to give Evangeline her newspaper. 

      Conflict:  Person vs. self

                  Person vs. person

                  Person vs. nature

                  Person vs. society 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

      The main character of this story develops from being a new student at a high school to a normal kid who fits in and has a few friends. He meets a girl named Evangeline and finds a way to see her every day and possibly grow closer to her, but ends up not being able to see her again. 

THEMES: 

  1. Determination: The narrator of this story got the newspaper to Evangeline every single day in all weathers imaginable. This was because the narrator was determined to meet Evangeline’s expectations and to be able to see her out of school.
  2. Responsibility: The narrator of the story shows responsibility by going out of his way to deliver a newspaper to Evangeline in every kind of weather, no matter what.
  3. Caring: Evangeline tells the narrator that her father wants to buy the newspaper. But in the end when he goes up to her house after she didn’t show up to graduation, her mother says “GO AWAY! We don’t want the newspaper!” This is also when he finds the years worth of newspapers under the bridge, and finds out that the money Evangeline was supposed to use for her graduation dress she used to buy the newspapers. She only bought the newspapers to be able to see the narrator outside of school, just like he only went out of his way to bring her the newspapers to be able to see her outside of school.