Out of Darkness

Trees play various roles in Out of Darkness, as a place of security and secrecy and a vehicle for violence and terror. In the beginning of the novel, the reader finds Naomi in a tree, avoiding the first day of school. Wash “meets” her there for the first time, though they don’t speak face to face. She is above him, outside his grasp, but he nevertheless reaches out to her by returning her shoe. Naomi continues to climb trees, and from this vantage point, she is able to watch Wash and her half-siblings grow closer, getting to know the boy from afar. When she becomes more comfortable with Wash, she invites him to a hollowed-out trunk she found, which then becomes their meeting place. There, hidden away, they can share their secrets and express their affection for each other. It becomes an essential meeting place as they begin to plan their escape, a crucial spot where they can discuss their options and leave notes for each other.

However, trees become macabre toward the end of the novel, first when the twins’ scarecrows are hung from trees as a lynching effigy, and then when Wash is tied to a tree and murdered. Wash being tied to a tree while Naomi is raped by Henry leaves him unable to save her—an example of the literal and metaphorical power held by white men over people of color in this time period. Finally, when Beto shoots Henry against a tree, it echoes the instance in which Henry forced him to kill a wounded bird in the woods.