What would it mean (if anything) if someone "identified" with a tree(s)? As in always having one in a picture, a fascination etc. Would it signify anything?

-- M.J. Brown (clh2ofljanie@netscape.net), June 03, 2003

Answers

It probably means something, but one would be hard pressed to know what. One would have to study the symbolism of trees across cultures and across time, for one thing--which would in itself be a considerable challenge. Trees are pretty common in both photographs and painted portraits, so I'd be more interested in the position (is the tree more prominent than the people?) or the type of tree (a painting might, for example, depict a tree that doesn't exist). You'd have to ask all the questions that art historians and critics ask about all the elements in the painting. Or I'd ask about the emotional qualities of the painted tree--as I'd ask about other artistic components. To "identify with" suggests a level of empathy that we don't usually associate with inanimate objects, but one might say that someone who lobbied against deforestation and tree harvesting identified in some way with the tree. So ... a wide range of psychological questions suggest themselves. One really can't know what it means without asking the person who is doing the identifying.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), June 03, 2003.

Does it have to "mean" anything at all? Why can't someone be interested in trees without it being "pathological." Environmental scientists, for instance. Botanists -- esp. "tree doctors." Forest fire fighters.

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), June 04, 2003.

M.J. - to find out why someone identifies with trees, ask that person to write a fictional short story about one specific tree that's standing in one of the pictures you mention.

-- visualize me (visualizeme@webtv.net), June 12, 2003.