Sees Behind Trees

While the first two chapters focus on The Importance of Embracing People with Disabilities, the next two chapters address the dangers of hubris, which is a motif in the novel. This episodic structure allows Sees Behind Trees’s coming-of-age story to encompass multiple different lessons. From the first chapter section to the second, Sees Behind Trees moves from being embarrassed by his eyesight to being overconfident in his new ability, but that hubris ceases to be central by the end of Chapter 4. However, while the focus of the novel changes in each section, this narrative style implies that none of the issues Sees Behind Trees faces are entirely resolved, instead proposing an indefinite process of learning and growth.

Chapter 3 opens with the development of Sees Behind Trees’s hubris, as he notes that the members of his community are treating him with more respect. The problem with this is that Sees Behind Trees starts expecting preferential treatment. In literature, hubris is often exposed through a challenge to authority, which Sees Behind Trees does by defying his parents. When his parents try to wake him up in the morning, offering him corn cakes, he responds, “Save at least two of them for me […] For when I’m finished thinking” (22). The novel frames this behavior as disrespectful both because he is ignoring his parents’ request that he get out of bed and because he is demanding food without first showing respect to his family by joining them. Sees Behind Trees imagines his “family whispering so that they would not distract [him] from whatever important thing [he] [is] doing” (22). However, the “important thing” is daydreaming, highlighting that Sees Behind Trees sees himself as more important than his family.

Brings the Deer breaks Sees Behind Trees’s illusion of superiority by dumping water on him. In part because Sees Behind Trees perceives adulthood as rooted in seriousness, he is upset with Brings the Deer, asking, “Will you laugh if I dump water on you when you’re asleep tonight?” (23). By ignoring the context for Brings the Deer’s actions—i.e., Sees Behind Trees’s own behavior—the remark merely underscores the problem: For Sees Behind Trees, the only perspective that matters is his own. Brings the Deer’s response draws attention to this. He remarks, “[I]f you choose to sleep when you should be awake…funny things can happen to you” (24), pointing out that adult treatment is rooted in adult responsibilities. If Sees Behind Trees wants to be treated as an adult, then he needs to behave like one, which includes respecting his family. The episode thus furthers the theme of Maturity Achieved Through Responsibility and Empathy.

The examination of hubris leads into the theme of Mentorship and Intergenerational Learning, as it provides Gray Fire with the opportunity to explain his past to Sees Behind Trees. When Gray Fire tells Sees Behind Trees that he was the fastest runner in the community and even judged races, Sees Behind Trees is impressed and associates Gray Fire’s situation with his own. However, this is not the moral Gray Fire has in mind. As Gray Fire tells him, “It’s a mistake to let any one thing about yourself become that important […] It can make you forget your weaknesses” (35-36). Indeed, even before Gray Fire tells Sees Behind Trees about the loss of his toes, he has already brought up a downside to hubris: Gray Fire became a judge because the community would no longer let him race since he always won. Sees Behind Trees, too, is isolated—not so much by his ability itself but by the fact that he sees himself as better than his peers and elders.

The final line of Chapter 4 is Sees Behind Trees’ response to Gray Fire’s request, which is simply, “I’ll try.” This line resolves the issue of hubris as it relates to Sees Behind Trees’s character development; he does not respond with an overconfident “I will,” instead tempering his response to indicate his understanding of the limits of his ability. It thus also signifies his willingness to help others for their own sake rather than as an exercise in talent, suggesting Sees Behind Trees’s growing empathy. At the same time, Gray Fire’s insistence on finding the beautiful place recalls his own advice to Sees Behind Trees about not letting “any one thing” become too important (36). This ending foreshadows Gray Fire’s actions in the coming chapters, setting up Sees Behind Trees to surpass him in maturity and wisdom.