“The Tree of Two Woods”
The metaphorical term which Cudjo assigns himself to describe his unique distinction in the world by the time Hurston has come calling for his studio is an expression which translates roughly into a description of two trees that have grown so inextricably mingled together that they appear to be as one.
Savor the Little Things
To facilitate the continuing acceptance when she returns after a short hiatus to speak with Cudjo, Hurston brings along a couple of hams and a watermelon. The hams are a gift for him, the melon a joy to share. But as Hurston points out, too many things in life come and go too fast to properly enjoy:
“Watermelon, like too many other gorgeous things in life, is much too fleeting.”
No Borders for the Reaper
One of the book’s most heartbreaking moments is when Cudjo describes the death of his teenage daughter. Cudjo poignantly describes—written in the dialect that characterizes his speaking patterns—the despondency which gripped he and his wife before accounting in metaphor for the provenance of her passing:
“Dat de first time in de Americky soil dat death find where my door is. But we from cross de water know dat he come in de ship wid us.”
The American Dream
The pursuit of the American Dream becomes significantly more complicated in the case of immigrant-through-slavery. The immigrants who choose to come to America do so because of the extension of this metaphorical dreamland whereas slaves never asked to be brought here and once freed are then doubly persecuted by not having that dream extended to them. As the book’s editor put its in the Afterward:
“The American Dream is a major theme in the narrative of racial difference. The shadow side of that dream, which is not talked about, entails the plundering of racial `Others.’”
The End
The part of the book actually comprised of Hurston’s narrative draws to a close on a moving metaphorical portrait of Cudjo, the man with two lives. The one which was stolen from him and the one which was enforced upon. Neither really his own to claim, but both of which capable of haunting him waking and sleeping mind:
“I am sure that he does not fear death…But he is full of trembling awe before the altar of the past.”
