Title: The Woods
Were Tossing with Jewels
By: Marie St.
John
Recently
I had just finished reading “The Woods Were Tossing with Jewels” by Marie St.
John. The whole story has described the migratory life of a farmer’s family at
the beginning of the 20th century through the eyes of a girl of five years old
Firstly, I think that the word “Jewels” in the title “The Woods Were Tossing
with Jewels” have a lot of meanings to it. There are four implied meanings of
“Jewels”:
(1) The jewels
stand for the happy life and enjoyment which happened in the woods.
(2) The jewels
stand for the dedicate love among the members of such a big family and the
harmonious life in the joint family.
(3) The growth
of children likes jewels which were flashing in the woods.
(4) The jewels
stand for the spirits of the father.
I would like to talk about the understanding
of this story on my own and explain why the jewels represented such four
meanings I have mentioned above. The story started in 1899, when the century
its turn. It was also the time when the American westward movement was
gradually coming to an end. The American westward movement which had lasted a
century more or less had an import impact on the formation and development of
the American national spirit. It developed the American political and social
awareness of democracy, especially cultivated the "American-style freedom,
equality and competition", which had created the American spirits of
audacity, adventure and the pursuit of wealth.
The
father of this little five-year-old girl was affected by this. So the father
was a man with an urge for adventure and independence. He made the decision to
take his family to the southern tip of Florida where he staked a claim on one
of the offshore islands. It did not mean the family had a bad living condition
before this migration. Actually, they lived a comfortable life in palmetto. The
father just wanted his children to have richer food and gave them a taste of
the way he grew up, which could see the father was proud of his adventurous
life he had experienced. For the little
girl and the whole family, this migration was full of interests and
stimulation. Through the author’s descriptions, we did not see fear and dismay.
Instead, what we actually saw was her the joy over the beautiful trees, flowers
and birds in abundance, the excitement during the fishing tours, the happy
memory of the “sumptuous” dinner table and the birth of a new baby.
Nevertheless, there were also some misfortunes occurred to the author’s family,
such as the bad living condition at first, the bully’s oppression. These
unhappy and simple experiences were ended finally, which also made the author
and her family cherish the time they lived in the woods still further. What’s
more, after the family’s living condition became stable, the author’s
grandmother, father’s little brother, and uncle were all moving to live with
the family. The big families were living together in a friendly way, caring and
understanding each other deeply. These admirable relationships like jewels
which were shining in the woods.
Joy,
vitality and care which happened in this big joint-undivided family have big
influences to everything which was attached to the woods. Both the joy enjoyed
in the woods and the happy life living in the big family was shining like
jewels in the eyes of the little five-year-old girl. Then, what must be
mentioned during their adventure was the guy--Edgar Watson, the infamous
outlaw. Watson moved from Oklahoma to the Florida Everglades and built a sugar
cane plantation in the late 1800's. It was thought that he murdered several of
his hired hands who demanded pay for their work. The author’s father was a man who lived with
a heart of gold, a will of iron. Protecting the whole family from hurts which
come from the animal and the people is the father’s most important task.
Therefore, when Watson did not give the father full money agreed on, the
father’s inside adventurous spirit led him not to bow his head to that guy. He
went to meet Watson without gun, and finally took the money back which belonged
to their whole family’s hard working.
The
father’s spirits of leader took important roles in family and like jewels which
were shining. Also, this matter showed that the father’s purpose had been
brought about. As I mentioned above, Father’s purpose was to farm this island
but behind this it was his wish to give children a taste of the way he grew up.
When the bully, Watson raised a pistol and wanted to shoot father, he saw two
boys in the boat, each with a rifle held in small, capable hands and bead drawn
down on the man who threatened their father. Children have grown up. They began
to care about their father and even could protect their father. The most
important is that the children inherited the firm and indomitable characters,
which their father had held in heart all his life. Obviously, the growth of the
kids would be the brightest jewels for the whole family.
In all, the story show us why more than
seventy years later the author is still so nostalgic about that hard and simple
life the family once lived. We could feel the author’s praise, and missing to
her father, her enjoyable big family, including her admire to her father. We
could also learn from the article that we should treat our life in positive,
aggressive, passionate attitude. We should care more about our family than
ourselves and regard protecting our family as the biggest and most important
task we have taken. A happy and harmonious family is bound to be the most
precious jewels in our whole life.
