Sees Behind Trees

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Sees Behind Trees Reading Response The Michael Dorris novel Sees Behind Trees uses a simple story to convey an understanding of the most feared human experience. Death is a word to frighten any person young or old, and this children's book approaches death subtly but masterfully. The book seems to be an explanation for the beauty of death, but I don't remember reading that word once in the novel. Death is described in metaphors such as this one, "Where does a runner run when he has arrived at the only finish line he doesn't want to cross?" (40). The book also conveys the continuation of life beyond death through symbols of circles throughout the story. The land of water is a major symbol in Sees Behind Trees because of its mystical wonder, and its connection with childhood and death. The land of water is meant to symbolize an individuals acceptance of death. Grey Fire describes the land of water as being "too beautiful" (40). He tells of the sky as "like the surface of a still pond," that "reflected back everything that was below" (38). The awesomeness of this land of water put Grey Fire into a trance. When Grey Fire originally found the land of water he was a child. This image stayed locked into his thoughts throughout the course of his life. So the land of water is described as being too beautiful to understand, and too powerful to let you go. Grey Fire searches for the land of water because of his fear of death. He says that he has "crisscrossed the woods" (45) in order to find this place. Grey Fire is searching for beauty beyond beauty; a land of water that was only visible to him when he was a child. He has grasped onto this vision for years, and no doubt has used this moment as a symbol for the beautiful years of his youth. His last memory of the land of water is the pain after he cut is small toes off. This struck me as a beautifully simple metaphor of
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