Stone Trees is a short story written by Jane Gardam, which deals with the binding truth encountered after the loss of an important person.

        As mentioned earlier, the structure of the story is quite peculiar. It looks like it follows the         character's thoughts without any sort of filters. This enables the reader to furtherly         understand the character's state. This is particularly effective, giving that it has to do with a         topic which evokes such strong feelings. The extract is full of flashback, because of this         stream of thoughts, that have no particular chronology. She transitions from the funeral to         her youth years in Cambridge and then to the Isle of Weight, where she sees stone trees,         which symbolize the death of her husband, and which give the title to the story.

        The whole story developes from a first person point of view. The most eye campturing part         of the piece is probably how she adresses her husband. We get that they were really close         when instead of saying you and I, she rather uses you/I. Also, she first referrs to his death in         third person to then switch, and proceeding with a direct conversation, using “you”. Except         for adding meaning to the story and character, it gives the whole extract an extremely         interesting and original touch.

        We do not get very much information about the characters from reading the story. We do         understand in depth the woman's feelings, however nothing more. It is understandable that         Anna and Tom are some close family friends, which knew both her and her husband quite         well and probably from a long time. Tom  was a priest and unlike the dead husband, he did         not change throughout the years, as well as Anna. She is described as a really good person,         someone who never did anything wrong, her view on having sex before marriage is clearly         stated, adn delineates her character.

        The language used by the author is very effective and memorable. She uses short and crude         senteces, and repeats various word many times, as “now that you're dead”, and “ you and I”,         which are probably the key sentences in the whole extract. She uses such language to         accentuate the confused and nostalgic state of mind that the main character has. She also         uses sentences as “the boat crosses. Has crossed. Already. Criss-cross deck. Criss-cross         water.” this also stressed her lack of concentration and ability to think about one thing only,         which is caused by the difficult situation she is in.

        Despite being a quite complex text, after having it read a couple of times, I can say that I         really enjoyed it and I will definately remember it. The use of language and style to give         meaning to  the whole story is quite magnificent and rare. The thing that probably stick out         the most is the ending which contains slight black humor, when the two young girls talk         about getting rid of men in front of a woman who's life has just completely fallen apart         because her man passed away.