The Education of Little Tree

“It is The Way. Tal-con caught the slow, and so the slow will raise no children who are also slow.”

Granpa’s explanation of “The Way” reflects the same idea as Darwin’s signature concept of “survival of the fittest,” in which only those most capable of surviving can do so, for nature will eliminate those unable to cope with the realities of their environment. This concept becomes significant to Little Tree because he must learn to be among the strong in order to live a stable and successful life on the mountain.

“Granpa always believed that his cousin fretted himself into an early grave, worrying at voting time which was the way to vote, in order to clear up his ‘trouble.’”

Granpa’s biases against the very existence of politics exemplifies Asa Earl Carter’s belief that politics causes more problems than it solves. With this quote, it is clear that Granpa has no faith in the transformative power of voting, whereas his cousin treats every election as significant. This passage presents only one perspective on the topic, however, for Carter does not develop Granpa’s cousin well enough for readers to understand the other side of the story. This is just one example of a common pattern, as Carter often uses Granpa’s views to propagate his own biased understanding of the world, and thus, this character’s pronouncements of various topics form a primary focus for critical readings of Carter’s text.

“Granpa said had many’s the time seen that same kind of thing, feelings taking over sense, make as big a fools out of people as it had ol’ Rippitt. Which I reckin is so.”

The conflict between acting on one’s emotions versus acting on logic is articulated in this particular quote. In this scene, the minor character Ol’ Rippitt has made a fool of himself by rushing into a situation, and Granpa believes that individuals who rush in without thinking or considering what is happening will always end up looking just as foolish as Ol’ Rippitt does. Little Tree, with his limited experience, has no room to disagree with his grandfather on this point.

“Granpa said it served him right and maybe this time it would learn him that you can’t cheat without making unnecessary trouble for yourself.”

This quote represents a significant example of The Value of Quality Work. One of the family’s dogs tries to take a shortcut and ends up having a more difficult chase because of it. Likewise, individuals who want to achieve success in creating quality work cannot take shortcuts if they want their work to stand on its own merits.

“Granpa said if there was less words, there wouldn’t be as much trouble in the world. He said privately to me that there was always some damn fool making up a word that served no purpose except to cause trouble.”

Once again, Carter uses the character of Granpa as a mouthpiece to perpetuate his own biases, for just as Granpa believes that individuals who rely upon meaningless words are nothing but trouble, Carter himself believed that people spoke up about politics and the civil rights movement solely as a means of causing trouble, rather than as a way of moving society forward and addressing injustices and imbalances in society.

“If ye don’t know the past, then ye will not have a future. If ye don’t know where your people have been, then ye won’t know where your people are going.”

This sentiment echoes the old adage that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. However, the statement is more culturally significant, for in this moment, Granpa wants Little Tree to understand their family’s own history so that he can realize that the people on the bus in the first chapter were making fun of them, not being jovial. This revelation helps Little Tree to understand the unspoken motivations and biases of the people outside of his mountain sphere.

“The Cherokees had nothing left. But they would not ride, and so they saved something. You could not see it or wear it or eat it, but they saved something; and they would not ride. They walked.”

The “something” here refers to the Cherokee people’s spirits and their pride. During the traumatic journey from their homes now known as the Trail of Tears, the Native American people who were forced to walk to new lands are presented to have refused to ride in wagons in order to maintain some semblance of pride and independence. However, in his failure to fully discuss the injustice and trauma of this scenario, Carter displays his own lack of understanding and sympathy for the very people his narrative claims him to be a part of. His insistence upon focusing on the Cherokee people’s pride in this moment—while ignoring the true depths of their torment—causes the narrative to fall flat; thus, Carter misses the opportunity to drive home a much more meaningful social lesson than that of maintaining one’s pride.

“Granma said if you used the body-living mind to think greedy or mean; if you was always cuttin’ at folks with it and figuring out how to profit off’n them…then you would shrink up your spirit mind to a size no bigger’n a hickor’nut.”

Carter uses Granma to speak out against one of the main tenants of capitalism, where people are only valued as far as they have financial value to contribute. In this section of the novel, Little Tree learns not to see people for what they can offer him, but instead for what they offer to the world around them.

“I said I didn’t care a thing in the world about being ahead. It would suit me might near total if I could just catch up. It was kind of lonesome, always being left behind.”

By this point in the story, Little Tree has been left behind many times; both of his parents abandoned him, and his family could not decide where he would be sent after they passed. His grandparents work to make him feel like an important and valued member of the family, but even so, he still retains a fear of abandonment that he must outgrow before he will be ready to leave the mountain and live his life to the fullest.

“But Granpa said everything you lost which you had loved give you that feeling. He said the only way round it was not to love anything, which was worse because you would feel empty all the time.”

Here, Carter articulates the emptiness that a person feels upon the death of a loved one or a pet. Little Tree learns that this experience is a normal part of loving and kinning someone. It is only natural to feel their loss when they die, and it is natural to be sad, because refusing to express the sadness would be worse; then, one would feel empty all the time.

“He said it was a funny thing, but when you got old and remembered them you loved, you only remembered the good, never the bad, which proved the bad didn’t count nohow.”

While focusing primarily upon one’s own good deeds rather than the bad is arguably a viable and useful sentiment, it nonetheless rings hollow, given Asa Carter’s highly controversial real-world beliefs, many of which stand in stark contrast to the values demonstrated in this particular novel. While Carter has made a significant contribution to literature with the creation of The Education of Little Tree, this single “good” act does not negate his stance in support of segregation, white supremacy, and other expressions of racism, prejudice, and hate during his lifetime. Likewise, the “good” aspects of his own novel cannot be considered without also considering the more questionable aspects of his own life. In no way can it be said that Carter’s own flaws in life “didn’t count nohow.”

“Ye see, Little Tree, ain’t no way of learning, except by letting ye do. Iff’n I had stopped ye from buying the calf, ye’d have always thought ye’d ought to have it. Iff’n I’d told ye to buy it, ye’d blame me fer the calf dying. Ye’ll have to learn as you go.”

Little Tree learns two valuable lessons about life. One lesson is that he must be careful when judging who to trust, because he has been swindled into buying a lame and sickly calf. The second lesson is that he cannot count on others to tell him whether his actions are right or wrong; he can only learn by doing and judging for himself. Although he has made a costly mistake, he learns his lesson well and remembers to do better next time.

“That’s why sharecroppers moved every year. Every winter they would hunt for a new landlord and find one. They would move to another shack, and set around the kitchen table at night, the Pa and the Ma, and build up dreams as to how this year on this place they were going to make it.”

This description bears some resemblance to the typical American Dream, where those who work hard will be able to improve their station in life. There is a potential contrast here, because Carter also asserts that those who move around without setting down roots, even if they are still working hard, cannot achieve success.

“Granpa said he reckined that pride was all he had…howsoever misplaced. He said the fella figured he couldn’t let the little girl, ner any of his young’uns, come to love pretty things for they couldn’t have them.”

This moment serves two purposes in Little Tree’s Coming of Age journey. First, it teaches him that his good intentions do not and cannot influence those who retain their pride and want to work for everything they acquire. Secondly, it teaches Little Tree to value what he does have and to recognize the privilege of having certain conveniences in life.

“Granpa said ye had to understand. But most people didn’t want to—it was too much trouble—so they used words to cover their own laziness and called other folks ‘shiftless.’”

This moment serves as a call to understanding others and also represents a moment of unintentional irony on Carter’s part, for it stands in sharp contrast with his own limited, prejudiced views of other social groups, in which he not only fails to understand others, but actively works to propagate his own lack of understanding.

“Granpa said he had never known anything in life that, being pleasurable, didn’t have a damn catch to it—somewhere. Which is right.”

There are two sides to every coin, and it is important that Little Tree understand that just as life brings good things, it will also bring negative developments and challenges. This lesson also serves as a rather cynical moral lesson for readers to take away from the novel—that most good things conceal something unpleasant, and that even desirable moments can only be had for a price of one kind or another.

“It made you feel like this was the last summer; that you had already left it and wanted it back, and here you was all the time. You wisht he hadn’t started playing, for you ached—and then you hoped he wouldn’t stop. It was lonesome.”

In this quote, Little Tree discusses the dual concept of coveting what one does not have and failing to appreciate what one does have. As Little tree reflects on the human tendency not to value something until it is lost, Carter uses the character to emphasize the importance of valuing one’s time with loved ones and favorite places alike.

“I figured it was Willow John’s way of saying what he had to say. His people were broken and lost, scattered from these mountains that was their home and lived upon by the preacher and others in the church. He couldn’t fight, and so he wore his hat.”

This quotation explains Willow John use of his hat as a form of protest against the actions of the past. Because people committed atrocities against the Cherokee people, Willow John refuses to remove his hat in church or show those same people respect by following their customs. Thus, something perfectly commonplace—wearing a hat—becomes a wordless political statement and form of quiet resistance for those who cannot otherwise express it.

“Everybody would look over to get Mr. Johnson’s head jerk, and then settle back satisfied as it was so.”

Though the preacher has the power in the church as the chief interpreter of the Bible, everyone respects the opinions of Mr. Johnson, a well-off individual who regularly contributes to the church and its maintenance. Carter uses Mr. Johnson to demonstrate that while there are official figures of power, the real power in any organization comes from those who fund the official authority figures and enable them to function.

“He said if you learnt a man to make for hisself, then he would be alright; but if you just give him something and didn’t learn him anything, then you would be continually giving to the man the rest of your natural life.”

Granpa dislikes solely giving people something without providing them with the knowledge of how to obtain such a thing for themselves in the future. Based on the old adage, “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man a fish, you feed him for a lifetime,” Granpa believes that those who receive without working will never feel the need to obtain things for themselves, through their own efforts.

“Mr. Wine said if you learnt to place a value on being honest and thrifty, on doing your best, and on caring for folks; this was more important than anything.”

Mr. Wine directly reiterates several themes of the novel, including The Value of Quality Work and Respect for Nature. It does not matter what something costs, or what one does; the most important thing is to pursue goals with the intent of helping people and making the world a better place.

“He had no purpose in storing food. He was going to die, and he knew it. Granpa said he was wiser than a lot of people. He didn’t fret about it. He knew he had served his purpose, and now his purpose was to die.”

Speaking about a bird who is refusing to gather food, Granpa acknowledges the importance of knowing when one’s life is coming to its end. This scene emphasizes that people should recognize when they no longer serve a beneficial purpose to others and allow themselves to let go. While this philosophy may seem harsh to some readers, it also reflects the pragmatic approach typical of a mountain man like Granpa, who has spent his life observing the patterns of the natural world and seeks to embody them in his own life.

“Pine boughs swept down over the trail and felt my face and run themselves over me. Granpa said they was wanting to make sure it was me.”

The theme of Respect for Nature comes to fruition in this penultimate chapter. Because Little Tree has learned to respect nature throughout the book, nature respects him back and welcomes him home with open arms, and Carter portrays the boy’s intimate relationship with the natural world by applying heavy personification to his descriptions of the trees, woods, and streams that welcome Little Tree home once again.