Essay - Literature Human Croquet the Purpose of This Paper is to...

Literature

Human Croquet

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel "Human Croquet" by Kate Atkinson. Specifically, it will ***** the importance ***** trees in ***** novel. While this ***** chronicles the life of Isobel Fairfax, trees form the very roots of ***** novel, just as they form the root of all existence. Trees endure long after people have lived and died, as ***** novel clearly shows. Trees have also played a vital role ***** ***** since ***** very beginnings of time, ***** this novel illustrates. Trees are as much a p*****rt ***** life ***** breathing, ***** in this novel, ***** form the setting for some magical circumstances and fairy-tale qualities.

Throughout this quirky novel, the author refers ***** *****, ***** the importance they play in our lives. In fact, she even equates the heroine, Isobel, to a tree. She writes, "My body a trunk, my feet taproots, my toes probing like pale little moles through the dark soil. My head a crown of leaves growing towards the light" (Atkinson 25). The ***** uses trees as symbols of life, and as symbols of death, ***** the forests are forever disappearing. Isobel lives on a street named for a tree and lined with *****s. ***** are present everywhere in the book; so much so that ***** reader begins to take them for granted, ***** as people take them ***** granted every day. The trees symbolize everything missing in modern *****, and how ***** take the most common th*****gs for granted, never thinking that one day they will disappear.

In addition to the symbols ***** trees represent, the *****'s description of trees throughout the novel al***** adds a sense ***** unreality and strangeness to the book. Many of the characters disappear into ***** woods never to return, so the woods are a place of magic and illusion, and the trees take on new life in *****ir own doma*****. Trees are not always benevolent and good, as ***** novel indicates. ***** are the very center of our souls, but ***** can also harbor dark secrets. The trees in the novel, especially the Lady Oak, ***** long-lived and symbols ***** strength and endurance to ***** people of Glebelands. In the book, trees also indicate man's *****, and help keep the time shifting elements of the novel cohesive. Wherever ***** goes in time, ***** Lady ***** is there, ***** it will endure long after Isobel and the others are gone.

Interestingly, the book takes many references from Shakespeare's play "As you Like *****," and in fact, that play is set in the Forest of Arden, where Isobel lives. This explains ***** many ***** to Shakespeare in the book, and helps enhance the ***** ***** darkness and *****stery surrounding ***** forest that has served as a setting for hundreds of years. What makes ***** so mysterious? Perhaps it is the darkness of the deep *****, ***** how forests can hide many secrets. Just as in ***** play, in the Forest of