Stand Tall

“It’s getting harder for me to sneak up on people.”

When a nurse changes Grandpa’s bandages after his surgery and asks how he is, this is his response. Grandpa’s words demonstrate his light-hearted nature, which in turn highlights his positivity. Instead of complaining about losing his leg, he makes a joke that being sneaky is now a challenge. In saying this, Grandpa models for Tree how humor can lighten the burden of adversity.

“Tree took the weight. If there was ever a reason to be a too-tall seventh-grader, it was so you could help your grandpa get walking again.”

Even though Tree dislikes his height and the expectations that come with it—specifically that he should be good at basketball—he acknowledges its benefits. He loves his grandfather, and his size provides support for the man as he relearns how to walk, first with one leg, and eventually with his prosthetic. This is the first time Tree views his stature as a positive.

“He put the pen back together piece by piece, saw the clean lines of each ink cartridge, the small tunnel for the laser beam that had to be fixed on the little battery just so. The batteries had to be put in the right way or the flashlight wouldn’t work. There was no other road to take in the battery world—the negative and positive ends had to be touching.

He turned out the light and shone the laser on the wall, making circles and slashes like a space warrior.

He wished life could be simple like a laser pen—with clean lines and a clear purpose.”

When Tree cannot sleep, he takes apart and reassembles a laser pen, a rewarding task he enjoys. He wishes he could also dissect life when difficult things happen so he could understand it better. In many ways, Tree’s enjoyment of taking things apart and analyzing how they work is like his mom’s organizational coping strategies. He enjoys this hobby because machines have a structure and everything has a purpose. He knows what he must do to reassemble it, highlighting the order Tree wishes he had in his life. Furthermore, he notes that the positive and negative ends of batteries need to touch. This observation suggests that life is very much like batteries, even if Tree cannot see it yet.

“‘There is hidden talent on this team, and we’re going to find it.’ He stood in front of Tree and gazed up.”

Tree is not an athletic kid, and he struggles with basketball. The Pit Bulls, his school team, is not strong, and the coach attempts a pep talk here. When he mentions hidden talent and stands before Tree, he implies that because the boy is tall, he will excel at basketball. Coach Glummer represents the pressure of social expectations on tall people—that they must be good at a sport requiring height, like basketball.

“I think important things are worth fighting for, but there’s nothing glorious about battle, nothing cool about holding a gun. It’s scary and lonely, and too many people die young. Never be a person who wants war—hate it with everything you’ve got. But if you’ve got to fight to protect people, try to do your job the best you know how. Protecting people is the only reason to ever fight.”

During Tree’s oral presentation on the Vietnam War, he plays this recording of his grandfather speaking. Although this passage is about war, it contains a general life lesson about being peaceful unless people need to be protected. Grandpa’s words highlight the importance of loyalty and doing what is right, another lesson Tree learns throughout the narrative.

“‘We’re going to grab hold of the first rule of electrical power,’ Grandpa hollered. ‘You need a negative charge and a positive one to get something moving. We’ve got the negative; we’re going to find the positive if it kills us.’”

When Tree, his brothers, and his father pick up Grandpa from the hospital, they struggle to get him into the van. After Grandpa hits his head, and Larry steps on Tree’s hand, the elder man states this. Although he is joking, for nothing is going right, these words are more of Grandpa’s wisdom. He compares the opposing charges of electricity to life: For something to be set in motion, there must be bad along with the good. This is a reminder that nothing is perfect in life, a sentiment Grandpa shares often. Furthermore, his determination to find the positive in tough situations is highlighted when he notes that they will do it, no matter the cost.

“‘You give me a person with vision,’ he’d say, ‘they can take the most broken-down piece of junk and turn it into something beautiful. They don’t let a few scratches worry them. They see to the heart of the piece.’”

These words, spoken by the Trash King, one of Grandpa’s Vietnam buddies, are about his job selling junk. However, they can be applied to life as well. People and situations do not need to be perfect to be beautiful and valuable. Tree ponders these words during a physical therapy session when Grandpa insists on being Santa Claus at the children’s hospital again, even though he will be in a wheelchair, and it may be painful for him for kids to sit on his lap. The Trash King’s sentiments reflect an important life lesson and highlight Grandpa’s resiliency.

“We begin dancing like we begin most new things—by taking a risk.”

Sheila, the ballroom dancing instructor, says this on the first night of lessons. Her words encourage the kids to try something new, which most of them are reluctant to do. These words also highlight the life lesson that although new things are hard, it is essential to go outside one’s comfort zone. Additionally, Shelia’s minor role in the narrative suggests that important lessons can come from anyone, not just close friends or relatives.

“‘It was nice, what you gave him.’ Tree didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t imagine having a father like that.”

Tree accompanies Sophie to Baltimore to give her father a Christmas gift. Afterward, Tree compliments Sophie’s present, a recording of her playing Christmas music on the flute, which highlights how much care she poured into the gift. Filled with compassion for his friend, Tree recognizes her efforts. However, his words also suggest that he tries to temper her disappointment with compliments, and that he is grateful for his own father.

“Then a little girl climbed up on Tree’s knee and told him that she wanted her lung to get better for Christmas.

Tree didn’t know what to say.

Then she whispered, ‘I know you can’t really give me that. I just wanted to tell you.’

And she hugged him like he was the genuine article.

It made Tree feel about a foot taller, which was really saying something.”

While at the children’s hospital for the Christmas celebration, a young girl crawls into Tree’s lap and asks for the impossible: to be healed of her sickness. She understands the impossibility of this request, but still hugs Tree, making him feel “genuine” or like he truly is Santa’s helper. Her love and belief make Tree feel taller, not literally, but figuratively, meaning that it makes him feel good. This brief interaction highlights how sincere belief in someone has the power to lift them up.

“Tree scrunched down next to her, put his arm around her shoulder. ‘You’ve got to laugh Mom. If you don’t, you’ll cry.’”

After smoke fills his mother’s new house on Christmas Day, the boys laugh that the smoke alarm works, but his mother is not amused. In this moment, Tree comforts his mom, illuminating his compassionate side. Furthermore, he repeats something Sophie told him earlier, demonstrating that he is learning and applying life lessons and maturing as a result.

“He picked up an acorn. It was so small, so compact—the seed of a new tree just waiting to be released in the earth.

With his boot, he dug a little hole in the cold ground, put the acorn in it, covered it with dirt and snow.

He liked the idea of planting a new tree.”

The acorn and the act of planting a tree are symbolic for Tree, whether he realizes it or not. Although he wishes his parents’ divorce never happened, he also subconsciously recognizes that there is no turning back. The best option is to begin again and find a way to live and enjoy a new life, much like planting the seed for a new tree.

“We hear about casualties on the news—114 dead. Two murdered. Over three thousand killed. Numbers don’t tell the story. You can’t measure the loss of a human life. It’s all the things a person was, all their dreams, all the people who loved them, all they hoped to be and could give back to the world. A million moments in life cut short because of war.”

At the Vietnam Memorial, laying memorabilia by the names of his fallen friends, Grandpa tells Tree this. His words highlight the impact of war as well as the humanity of it. People tend to analyze the number of casualties, but the numbers are limiting for they do not account for each soldier as a person or the future goals they had. The veterans who returned to an angry public understood this, which made their mistreatment even more painful.

“‘Stand tall,’ Sophie told him. ‘Wear it proud.’”

When Sophie and Tree are chosen to demonstrate the tango at ballroom dancing lessons, Sophie says this. Her instructions are literal, for Tree to stand up straight, but they also represent pride and confidence in oneself, the other meaning of the novel’s title. Moments before, Amber and Jeremy made fun of them, but Tree barks at them to stop, which silences the bullies. With Sophie’s encouragement, Tree is learning to be proud of his height and to stand up for what is right.

“Mom and Dad smiled at each other and laughed.

It was a sound Tree hadn’t heard from them in the longest time.

He sat on the couch, listening to his parents’ laughter.”

When Mom visits for dinner, Grandpa takes off his prosthetic leg and puts it on the table. Everyone cracks jokes about what they can do with the leg, and laughter ensues. Tree’s “listening” suggests more than just the physical act of hearing the noise, for it also implies his joy at hearing the sound. He has not been happy since the divorce because things have been so tense; this laughter is new and signals to him that things will be okay even if his parents are split.

“Tree carried Bradley to the car, wrapped in a Baltimore Orioles beach towel. Grandpa followed, moving better on his new leg. They drove to Mom’s house. She got in the backseat and started to cry.”

The morning Bradley can no longer move, the Bentons anticipate having to put him down, so they go to the vet together. Even though Mom and Dad are divorced, they are still a family and can band together when needed. This moment also highlights the theme of The Power of Community, as they all draw strength from each other in the face of Bradley’s imminent death.

“Tree knew it wouldn’t last forever, but he decided to focus in full on whatever time was left.”

When Bradley musters the strength to bark and ward off a cat, he evades death and can return home with the family. Tree decides to focus on what he can control: how he spends time with Bradley while he is still alive. Focusing on this positive allows him to cope with the inevitability of the dog’s death; it also shows that he is learning and applying Grandpa’s lesson about focusing on things he can control.

“It’s hard to understand the power of nature when it’s unleashed on you like that. Man can walk on the moon, orbit Mars, and cure so many diseases, but no one can stop a raging river once it decides to flood its banks.”

Tree makes this observation about the power of nature when his family drives up the hill while evacuating during the flood. This passage presents one type of conflict present in literature: conflict with nature. Tree’s description emphasizes that no matter what a person or people are capable of, some things are outside of their control. Furthermore, the sheer force of the storm and flooding also underscore the theme of Resilience in the Face of Adversity, for to survive and recover from the devastation will take prolonged effort by everyone in the community.

“Amber Mellencroft and Sarah Kravetz shuddered in a corner, blankets over their shoulders.

Tree remembered Grandpa saying how in Vietnam it didn’t matter how much money you had, how good you’d been on the football field, how smart you’d been in school.

War is the great equalizer.”

Amber and Sarah, the girls who consistently bully Sophie, huddle together at the evacuation site just like everyone else. Tree’s recollection of Grandpa’s wisdom about war—that it makes everyone the same—applies here are well. Although not in battle, the townspeople face the storm’s destruction, and no one person is better than another. This realization gives Tree hope; moments later, he even persuades Mr. Cosgrove to save Jeremy Liggins’s hamsters, even though the latter has tormented Tree for years. To weather a storm together, literally or figuratively, people must set aside their differences.

“Grandpa steadied himself, Old Ironsides.”

When they return home after the flood, much of the house is in ruins, for the basement and first floor are flooded. Tree cries at the sight, but Grandpa stands strong, not only comforting the boy but providing a plan for reconstruction. Calling Grandpa Old Ironsides is a metaphor, for it refers to the battleship USS Constitution, renowned for its impenetrability in battle. Even though it first launched in 1797, the ship still sits in the water today. Like the ship, Grandpa is resilient and seems capable of withstanding any setback.

“He wondered if something awful, like a flood, could have a good side.”

Tree thinks this after sharing with Sophie that his family will stay at his mom’s house temporarily. Although his words are wishful thinking, Tree applies a lesson his grandfather shared with him earlier: always look for the positive. Tree paradoxically demonstrates both maturity in applying Grandpa’s lesson and naiveté in his unrealistic hopes that his parents will reunite, which is a reminder that although he is growing up, he is still a kid.

“You’ve got to be patient to fix a thing right.”

While restoring his brothers’ athletic awards that were damaged in the flood, Tree reminds himself to be patient. This mindset is valuable not only in restoring damaged goods but also in damaged relationships. Tree and Larry have always had a strained relationship, but their cooperation after the flood has helped them become closer.

“Over the next weeks, Tree knew something had changed […] Phantom pain does get better.”

After the flood, Tree notices that the bullies now leave him and Sophie alone, that the construction of the house is going well, and that he has come to terms with his parents’ divorce. Phantom pain refers to the sensation a person experiences after losing a limb, the feeling of pain as if it were still there. Although Tree has not lost a limb, his phantom pain is the grief for things he has lost. His acknowledgment that the pain lessens indicates that he is healing and moving forward after his parents’ divorce.