Diction

Knowles uses diction to express Gene’s thoughts encompassing the tree that Finny had fallen from. Through elevated diction, Knowles creates a reminiscent tone by showing the tree as a fading part of Gene’s life. Although the tree seemed to be the center of all of Gene’s problems during school, when he returns years later it seems to be only a tree. As a kid, the tree seemed “tremendous” and extraordinary (Knowles 6). It seemed to carry with it the distress caused by Finny’s accident. However, when he returns years later after Finny’s death no longer seems drastic, the tree is “absolutely smaller, shrunken by age” and is evidently not as much of a problem as he had remembered it to be (6). The contradiction in the connotation of these words— tremendous and shrunken—adds to the reminiscent tone by showing that Gene realizes that the problems the tree had created were now forgotten and their impact was shrinking along with the tree. He reflects on the issues that had surrounded it and takes into consideration that since his problems have begun to disappear, so too is the tree. Gene looks back and explains the tree as a “steely, black steeple” that he feared but goes on to say that now it seems “weary” and “enfeebled” (6). Once again the past and present descriptions contradict each other, thus adding to his reflective tone by incorporating change in his life and the trees. Gene thinks about the stress the tree caused him and the memories that it held in its years and realizes that the issues no longer hold any threats. This adds to the reflective tone by including a flash back to how the tree once appeared to be and the feelings that once encompassed it in comparison to the little importance that it holds now.