The Daughter and Mother
Although the poem is told from the first-person perspective of the daughter, as characters they are not only equal, but inseparable. The opening lines of the poem situate the speaker’s most significant self-identity within the role of daughter. The narration essentially posits the two as a single entity made manifest by the recurrence of the pronoun “we” six times while the speaker uses “I” just four times. This close relationship is established right from the opening as the reader is thrown headlong into a domestic debate over the future of the titular tree.
It is also made immediately clear that they are facing serious financial hardship as the subject of the debate is whether or not to sell the tree for lumber in order to raise enough funds to pay off the mortgage. That the economic hard times have also brought emotional stress is made evident by the speaker’s bleak defeatist justification for selling the tree: it will mostly like topple onto the house with the next heavy storm anyway serving only to intensify the problems they face. The debate is not between the two women; they are not representatives of opposing sides. The speaker presents both herself and her mother as considering the decision rationally by applying logical pros and cons to both options. Or, at least this is how the speaker wishes to present circumstances.
When the speaker relates a dream she had that night, she discloses more personal information. Her paternal lineage immigrated to Ohio from Bohemia and carved out a successful life raising planting and tending vineyards and orchard. The relation of the dream by the daughter also provides psychological insight: she is the type who takes dreams seriously as signs to be used to guide actions. The dream creates a sense of shame at the idea of selling the tree and having nothing but an empty yard to show for own part in the family history. The speaker has listened to the instructions of her subconscious and has decided to pay attention to them. The close bond of mother and daughter continues unabated as both agree to forestall paying off the mortgage for another year by giving the tree one more year to prove its value.
