The Overstory

Nick’s life is defined by death. His narrative begins with his ancestors, the generations who came to America, moved to a rural area, and planted a chestnut tree. When Nick’s direct family dies in a tragic accident, he loses direction in his life and simply exists, spending the life insurance money until it runs out while creating art that he tries to give away for free. His life is off its axis until he meets Olivia. She gives him purpose, but then she also dies. Once again, Nick begins to drift and struggles to know what he should do with himself. Just as the death of his family defined his early life, the death of Olivia defines the later part of his life.

This relationship with death can also be read in the Hoel’s chestnut tree. Planted more than a century before Nick is born, the tree is a symbol of resilience. It has escaped a blight that killed most of its species in North America, including the other chestnut trees on the farm. But eventually, the tree becomes infected. When Nick returns to the farm to collect his art, he finds it has been cut down and the seedlings growing from it are already infected with the disease.

Like Nick, the tree’s existence begets death. Once a survivor, it becomes infected with loss to the point where every legacy it leaves has a trace of its own demise. The art Nick creates in later life is similarly marked by loss. His relationship with death is pervasive and all-consuming. His art and his actions function as an extension of this relationship and the way in which it defines him. 

Mimi Ma is the daughter of a Chinese man who emigrated to America to escape the communist revolution. She was very close with her father, and she is devastated when he dies by suicide. Mimi’s interest in environmentalism springs from the impressions her father made on her during her childhood.

Mimi is one of the smartest characters in the novel; she trains to be an engineer and then a therapist. She is awarded numerous degrees and is well compensated for her work. But as clever and successful as she is, she struggles to come to terms with her father’s shocking suicide. In part, her quest to save the forests is an attempt to give meaning and purpose to the lessons her father taught her. Mimi’s memories of the sights, sounds, and smells of the natural world are among her most treasured; they are also the memories she most associates with her father, which she rediscovers in the forests while joining the protest.

After the failed arson attack, Mimi cuts ties with her friends. She changes her name and moves to a new state. She becomes a therapist, who is renowned for very intense, very expensive sessions where she simply stares into her clients’ eyes and forces them to interrogate their own character. The sessions also help Mimi process her own life; just as she is helping her clients, she is helping herself come to terms with the reality of what happened to cause Olivia’s death. This is difficult, however, and the news of Adam’s sentencing brings everything back to Mimi. The closing moments of her story, as she devours any information she can about her old life, suggest that she will never truly be able to leave her past behind. She can change her name and her profession, but Mimi is too intelligent to simply forget her past. 

Douggie was a participant in the Stanford Prison Experiment when he was young. This notorious experiment left a huge psychological scar on him, teaching him about the power dynamics between the powerful and those in their control. Afterward, he joins the armed forces and is sent to Vietnam. He flies numerous missions and can see from above the vast devastation caused by the military’s actions. When he returns to America (with medals for his bravery and terrible injuries), he plants seedlings to repopulate deforestation he discovers around the country. This is an attempt at redemption, a way to give back to nature and make amends for the damage in which he has been complicit.

Once again, however, Douggie is unsatisfied with the work. He learns that his planting efforts merely help the logging companies and accelerate the deforestation taking place around the country. Douggie becomes radicalized. He meets Mimi and then joins Nick and Olivia. When their protests are unsuccessful, they decide that more direct action is needed. Douggie’s military experience helps them plan the attack, but when the plot ends in tragedy, he is forced apart from the makeshift family he formed. Cut adrift, Douggie continues trying to find meaning in his life. When a woman discovers his writings, in which he confesses to his crimes and implicates his friends, the FBI arrests him. The department agrees to drop the charges against the other protestors in exchange for one name, which he provides—Adam’s. Doug meets with Adam while wearing a wire and gets him to incriminate himself. This is Douggie’s final attempt at redemption. Though he feels guilty about betraying Adam, he does so because of his love for Mimi. He wants to save her and, locked away in his cell, he imagines meeting her again and explaining his choice. Douggie’s life is a search for redemption and meaning, a search which is ultimately unsuccessful. 

Adam is an outsider. He grew up in a household in which his father, mother, and siblings mocked him for being less intelligent and sociable than other children. He found solace in science, laying the foundations for a future interest in psychology, which would become his career. He first becomes involved with the protestors as part of his thesis research. He views them with cynicism and skepticism, a mocking tone that is soon abandoned when he meets Olivia. Her sincerity destroys his reservations and, eventually, he joins the protests. He gives himself a new name and becomes involved in acts of domestic terrorism, none of which he could imagine himself doing before. Adam notices his cynicism being diminished because within this group, he is welcomed and embraced. He finally has the acceptance that he has craved for his entire life.

But Adam’s newfound family does not last. When the arson attempt fails and Olivia is killed, he takes a pragmatic view of events. He does not attempt to get help, knowing that Olivia is fatally wounded and calling an ambulance will only implicate the others. Douggie and Nick resent this pragmatism forever. Soon, Adam returns to academia. He is highly successful; his work is well regarded, and he becomes a professor at NYU. Adam even marries and has a child, but he never seems to grow close to them.

Adam lives in constant fear of his criminal past being uncovered. As such, he returns to being the outsider. He is unable to truly commit to anything or form strong, lasting bonds. When Douggie meets with him and extracts his confession for the FBI, Adam is arrested. He does not fight the charges and chooses to accept the double life sentences, practically ensuring he will die in jail. In this respect, he achieves the physical isolation that mirrors his social isolation. Adam is cut off and alone once again, but this time, he is satisfied with his decision. In accepting his fate, he hopes that his prison sentence will raise awareness for environmental issues and give his life some kind of purpose.