"That Tree"

(Flowering Judas and Other Stories, 1940)

(at Andalusia, March 2010)

Katherine Anne Porter begins her story by holding up the main character's dream of being a "cheerful bum lying under a tree in a good climate writing poetry."

Then she smashes that ideal, even though he knew "his poetry was no good"...his yearning for the lifestyle of an artist in a foreign land (Mexico) was considered ridiculous by his first wife, Miriam, so when she finally leaves him he becomes a journalist just to spite her.

We're nearly half-way into the piece before we find out that "the journalist" is sitting in a cafe' where the most "utterly humiliating moment of his whole blighted life" occurred. Not to give too much away, but Miriam had decided to hide under a table instead of hiding behind her man when a precarious situation presented itself.

...but she had no intention of wasting her life flattering male vanity. 'Why should I trust you in anything?' she asked. 'What reason have you given me to trust you?'

The musing and remembering continues until the story between the two has been revealed. End scene....I was searching around to see what others have written about this particular story. I didn't find too much.

The only other story I've read by Katherine was "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," which had a similar looking back theme. I adored that story--so much so that I wrote two separate papers on it for two separate classes.

I don't know whether or not to like Miriam or the ending. Shouldn't we all be able to follow our dreams? I didn't think the poetry thing was too far fetched. But I would say that.

~~J