trees

•  during the afternoon of Geraldine’s rape, Joe and Bazil uproot seedlings that had begun to grow into their house’s foundation, causing the concrete to crumble. As Joe completes the task, he does it with unusual focus and attention, but he also feels guilty about uprooting the trees and he shows his compassion by moving them off of the sidewalk and onto the grass
• although Joe understands that the saplings must be uprooted in order to protect his childhood home, he also feels a sense of regret about the destruction that it necessitates. 
•  As the last memory that Joe has of the time before his mother’s rape, the saplings seem to represent for Joe a time of blissful innocence. 
• The saplings, therefore, symbolize Joe’s departure from childhood over the course of the book and the mature choices he has to make—choices which upset Joe, but which are necessary to protect his family.
• The violent act of uprooting the saplings for the sake of maintaining his family home’s stability symbolically represents Joe’s decision to kill Linden in order to restore his family’s tranquility— an act which, in turn, kills Joe’s own innocence.