The Overstory Lesson Plan

In the novel, as well as in interviews, Powers uses the term "tree-blind" to describe people who don't notice the trees around them. Going through each character introduced today, what level of "tree blindness" do we see in each?

On one side of the spectrum are Dorothy and Ray, who decide to plant a tree for their anniversary, often forget, and otherwise notice nothing about the natural world around them. There’s Olivia before her death and vision, and Neelay before he is thrown out of an oak tree and a frequent visitor of Stanford’s quad. Then there’s Mimi, who loves trees only in that they remind her of her father, and Adam, who also has connections to trees and the...