Merwin uses trees as a symbol of identity, specifically Hawaiian identity, in Native Trees. The first line states, “Neither my father or mother knew the names of the trees where I was born” (pg. 1). The child is curious to know about his culture and past, in which knowing these things forms identity. By asking questions about the trees, the child can have a greater sense of his identity. The parents do not answer his questions about the trees because they do not know the answers to them. “Both my father and mother said they never knew” (pg. 1). The reason to why they might not know the answers may be that the parents have never questioned the “trees” as their child does. It appears th

at they have accepted the deterioration of their Hawaiian identity while their child longs to find it. “There were no questions, They had forgotten”. The attention of their fingers were focused on the surfaces of furniture (pg. 1). Merwin portrays trees to be more than just a habitat of the land but as important as one’s identity.

Memory can be used to unveil certain emotions that we suppress, or certain longings that we wish to have. In Hearing the Names of the Valleys, there is a struggle to preserve the Hawaiian language. An old man is telling the forgotten names that an individual longs to grasp the meaning of. The individual has a hard time understanding the importance of the words that the old man is saying. “I hear no meaning and cannot remember the sounds” (pg 60). The reason that this individual cannot grasp the meaning is that there are different words to represent the same thing in Hawaii. For example, there are different words to describe the different winds. He has lived his life not knowing the importance that language can have. “I have lived without knowing the names of water from one rock an

Some topics in this essay:
Native Trees, Names Valleys, WS Merwin’s, Valley’s Merwin, pg 60, pg 1, Hearing Names, grasp meaning, questions trees, understand importance, hearing names, native trees, father mother, importance language, hawaiian identity,