Language
The language of the short story “The Highest Branch on the Tree” by Ray Bradbury is simple and easy to understand. The writer uses casual language including idioms like “broke wind” (ll. 82-83) which means ‘to fart’, or “looking down his nose at us” (l. 5) which means treating others with contem…
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Imagery
Imagery means creating visual or sensory images for the readers, to draw them into the atmosphere of the story. This is typically achieved through descriptive phrases. In one example, the author helps us imagine how the bullies ran after Harry:
… see Harry in full flight and us ninth graders after him, myself in the lead, and his pants in the air flung up to the highest branch a…
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Similes and metaphors
Similes and metaphors contribute to imagery and convey deeper meanings about the story. For example, the simile “fresh as a potted daisy” (ll. 73-74) used to describe Harry running effortless contributes to creating irony and sarcasm and shows one of the reasons other classmates envied him.
Another comparison helps convey the idea that the narrator feels uncomfortable with meeting the person he bullied in school again: …
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Repetition and rhetorical questions
Repetitions typically help emphasize ideas and set motifs in stories. For example, the narrator repeats the name of the character “Harry Hands” various times in the story. This repetition hints the narrator’s obsession with Harry because he feels guilty for bullying him when they were teenagers.
In another case, repetition emphasizes how common bullying is and subtly draws attention to this social problem: “Happens every year, every school, everywhere at one time or anot…
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Symbols
The short story includes several symbolical elements which add meanings to the plot and help suggest the story’s themes.
The most important symbol is that of the tree. The narrative mentions two different trees. The first one is the tree in which teenage bullies threw Harry’s pants and from where teenage Harry peed on them. For the narrator, that tree is a symbol of his guilt over having been a bully. The second tree is in Harry’s office building, 40 years after the bullying episode.
For the narrator, the tree remains a symbol of bullying and loneliness: “It was a single tree of some forty or fifty feet in height, a barren winter tree…
