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Kelsey The theme of The Fig Tree is that perspectives change as a person grows, and develop while exploring the world. The father and grandmother want to think Miranda is pure; they try to control her by covering up her hair. By placing the white bonnet on her head they are trying to stifle her power of thought. Miranda enjoys the black figs, which symbolize life and death intertwined. She has trouble deciphering between the two worlds of life and death. However, her Aunt helps her to climb the ladder, a passage from one plane to another to view the moon through a telescope: "Great-Aunt Eliza invited the children to climb the ladder with her and see the stars through her telescope...'Oh, it's like another world!'" (p. 268) This gives Miranda a different perspective on the worlds of life and death. Miranda is slowly beginning to be able to decipher between the two worlds. Throughout the story, Miranda believes she has killed the chicken; she does not understand what death really means: "When Miranda found any creature that didn't move or make a noise, or looked somehow different from the live ones, she always buried it." (p. 262) Miranda complains to her family, saying she needs to go back for her doll: "Miranda hated dolls. She never played with them...[she] wailed suddenly, 'Oh, I want my doll!'" (p. 265). The dolls are a representation of the human soul, and she needs to go back to save her spirit. So when her Aunt explains to her that the noise she has been hearing is merely some frogs and not the dead chicken, her life is renewed. Due to the events that take place in Cedar Grove, Miranda transforms from not being able to decipher between life and death, to better understanding such differences. Her perspective changes as she explores the world. Kirsten The theme of Katherine Anne Porter's, The Fig Tree, is that through scientific thinking and questioning a person discovers the the reality of the outside world. Miranda is a child who is kept within a world of innocence by her Aunt Nannie and her father. Aunt Nannie would pull, "a freshly starched white chambray bonnet over her ears and forehead" (p. 259), and would say, "don't you take this off your head till the sun go down" (p. 259). The white cap symbolizes childhood innocence. Neither Aunt Nannie nor Miranda's father want Miranda to, "get freckles" (p. 259), because freckles are a result of being in the sun, a symbol of absolute truth, thus freckles would be a symbol of knowing this truth. The fear that Miranda is going to be hurt by this discovery drives her Nannie's and her father's desire to hide her from it. Her father says: "You mustn't get sunburned. No, let it alone. Show the pretty curls" (p. 260). Because Miranda is sheltered from reality, she has naive ideas about difficult concepts like death. When she fears that the bird she has buried is still alive, Miranda is confused and cries, "Oh, I want my doll!" (p. ??) While Miranda dislikes dolls, they are symbols of the pure, perfect form of innocence, and the messy concept of death leads Miranda to yearn for something from the clean world of childhood. Great-Aunt Eliza, though, helps Miranda bridge the gap between childhood innocence and grown-up reality. Great-Aunt Eliza dwells in the realm of science. She invites Miranda to peer through her telescope, and Miranda exclaims, "Oh, it's like another world!" (p. ??). Great-Aunt Eliza breaks the supernatural explanation of the sounds Miranda hears by offering her the scientific truth of the situation. Great-Aunt Eliza says: "'Hear them?' she said. 'They're not in the ground at all. They are the first tree frogs, means it's going to rain'" (p. 270). This scientific explanation ushers Miranda out of childhood innocence and into the scientific world of logic and truth. Kathryn In The Fig Tree, the theme is that it is necessary to find balances of perspective in order to live peacefully in the world. Throughout the story, Miranda is not discerning in her perspective. Her ideas about life and death are intertwined in a way that makes it difficult for her to function. She enjoys black figs, which represent both life and death. She is worried about creatures who have died, and tries desperately to give them peace: "When Miranda found any creature that didn't move or make a noise, or looked somehow different from the live ones, she always buried it in a little grave with flowers on top and a smooth stone at the head." (p. ??) Her grandmother and her father try to stifle her ideas, represented by tightly tying her hair and covering it with a white bonnet that signifies the innocence they wish her to have. When Miranda believes that she has accidentally buried a live chicken, she is worried about her soul; willing to use dolls as an excuse for going back to the grave site. At Cedar Grove, Miranda meets Eliza, who has the qualities of a scientist in that she observes and applies logical meaning. Miranda discovers that a frog made the noise she feared was a chicken buried alive, and this marks a re-birth of her soul similar to that transformation that takes place when a frog sheds its skin. "...through her fog of bliss at hearing the tree frogs sing, 'weep, weep'..." (p. ??) Miranda discovers a new perspective towards the world, which allows her to function in a more balanced mode. Cameron In The Fig Tree, Miranda, great-aunt Eliza, and the grandmother all show different perspectives. Miranda thinks, "Sometimes he [father] called Grandmother 'Mama,' but she wasn't Mama either, she was really Grandmother." (p. ??) This train of thought has to do with perspective. Miranda, the young girl, acts similar to Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, by asking many questions, and absorbing all that is around her. Great-aunt Eliza uses the perspective of reasoning and science to draw conclusions from nature, while the Grandma is very narrow-minded and follows tradition. The telescope & the microscope at Cedar Grove symbolize a different perspective. Miranda develops her own way of thinking, and finally challenges the knowledge of Eliza and her grandmother. Miranda says. "But the ones at Cedar Grove were big soft greenish white ones, and these at home were black and sugary." (p. ??) Miranda is fond of the fig tree that is green and soft which symbolizes hope and youth. Opposite is the black fig tree representing corruption. Miranda notices the slight difference in these two trees because she is thoughtfully developing her own perspective. At the black fig tree Miranda thinks she kills the chicken because of the weeps. When she goes back to Cedar Grove, she discovers at the green fig that it was the frogs making the weeping noise and she is relieved of her guilt. Miranda also learns about the frogs from Aunt Eliza. Eliza says: "...tree frogs shed their skins, they pull them off over their heads like little shirts, and they eat them." (p. ??) A frog represents the renewal of life; as a result of her new knowlege, Miranda'sperspective on life and death changes. The Fig Tree shows Miranda's development of character as she gathers valuable insights from people around her to make her own conclusions. Bailey In The Fig Tree, by Katherine Anne Porter, Miranda lives a very sheltered life: "Aunt Nannie gathered up Miranda's scalp lock firmly, snapped a rubber band around it, jammed a freshly starched white chambray bonnet over her ears and forehead..." (p. 269) The white bonnet symbolizes her family's need to keep her pure and sheltered. Miranda's grandmother is very set in her ways and is unwilling to see things from a different perspective: "It must be done this way, and no other!" (p. 262) Though Miranda's grandmother is a symbol of narrow thought, Miranda's Aunt Eliza symbolizes knowledge and the idea of looking at things from different angles and perspectives. Aunt Eliza is very scientific and seems to always be seeking the truth of what is going on. Eliza's telescope reveals her insight into other things. The telescope allows people to see farther and to see more clearly things in the distance, opening eyes to what else may be out in the world. Aunt Eliza and Miranda's Grandmother are very opposite people; while grandma is stuck in custom and tradition, Eliza is scientific and constantly looking at things with a new eye. Aunt Eliza says to Grandma, "You wouldn't know if I told you." (p. 269) This difference between the women resembles much of society: there are some people who look at something without preconceived ideas or look at something with open eyes, while there are others who make decisions based on tradition or strict beliefs.

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