A Tree a Rock a Cloud

by Carson McCullers

A transient stops at an all-night cafe and explains to the owner and a paperboy how the science of love helped him to recover after his wife left him.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, The United States Of America, 20th Century

Hardcover

First published February 1, 1989

About the author

Carson McCullers was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts in a small town of the Southern United States. Her other novels have similar themes. Most are set in the Deep South.
McCullers's work is often described as Southern Gothic and indicative of her Southern roots. Critics also describe her writing and eccentric characters as universal in scope. Her stories have been adapted to stage and film. A stage adaptation of her novel The Member of the Wedding (1946), which captures a young girl's feelings at her brother's wedding, made a successful Broadway run in 1950–51.

Reviews

[Ali Najafy · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستان خوب جالبی بود ، نویسنده مفهوم خوبی رو از عشقی که روح انسان می‌تونه داشته باشه و به دیگران منتقل کنه در یک داستان کوتاه ارائه کرد

[Emilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I met an old American man at the library who was just walking around the "English Fiction" section, handing people his favourite books. He noticed me and remarked that I seemed like "a true lover of literature". He then asked if I'd read Forster or Wodehouse or McCullers. I said I'd read both Forster and Wodehouse, but never any McCullers. He immediately disappeared and later returned with a stack of books. He said that if nothing else of hers catches my fancy, I had to at least read "A tree, A rock, A cloud". He said that this was the most geniune and profound description of love ever written.

Having now read it, I can kind of see what he meant.

[Scarlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best stories about love that I've ever read. I believe it's enough with just quoting the following:

"I'm not explaining this right. What happened was this. There were these beautiful feelings and loose little pleasures inside me. And this woman was something like an assembly line for my soul. I run these little pieces of myself through her and I come out complete. Now do you follow me?"

[B V S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sitting at the library, this piece appears right at my desk, and whilst sipping from my own mug, I can’t help but notice the familiarity in her words, why it seems I see myself somewhere between the lines —

This writing is an easy read, tastefully edging on deliberate, frank ideas from,

Three Characters; One that Got Away; the Science to a true Love.

McCullers wants the reader to see, how we all start with profound capacity for love from the moment we are born, seeing woman, it is the ultimate climax to be given life. As we move past stages of early childhood we lose the ability to remember things head-on, we forget, we lose ability to see more whenever we hold on to our past.

It’s not what we see at face-value that brings the love that lasts, you only know until you have travelled, and until you have lost. It is when you see the world and in every gravity that you move - you feel love is all around.

Love is even in “A Tree. A Rock, A Cloud”.

If you cannot give love to the little things then you may never know true love.

Love is the beginning and the end.

Love is the constant that flows.

Love is the reason to living.

[Moushine Zahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all of Carson McCullers's novels and this is the second short story I've read from my favorite American author.
I discovered years ago this great author thanks to books I borrowed from the public library in Casablanca. However, luckily for me I purchased this year from a bookstore a special edition In French language combining all of the author's novels and her 20 short stories in one book!!!

Like the other short story, this story is concise and detailed describing a scene where a leading character has strong emotion about something specific.

[Mariam David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon an extract in the foreword of “The Art and a practice of Loving”. What got my attention was how love is portrayed beyond it’s general romantic definition between two people that is constantly reiterated in society and in several forms of art and expression, but how it’s so simple and that it does not have to be complicated. Just start with small and random things and give it your all. It’s just like how we learn any language, we have to start with the basic.

[veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

“when I had enjoyed anything there was a peculiar sensation as though it was laying around loose in me. Nothing seemed to finish itself up or fit in with the other things”

We are all learning to love. We mess up when we love, we make mistakes when we love, we lose love. But we still continue to seek and spread love.

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This feels so corny, it could probably be microwaved into popcorn. Creepy transient old man who acts drunk tells a hapless paperboy his science of loving everyone and everything at a diner. Add in a curmudgeonly, miser chef/owner and you're in for a strange ride.

[Abdullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're able to discover its deeply hidden meaning, you'd find it highly insightful. A great short story, worthy of deep reading and reading several times. The diction is carefully selected, and powerful. Pay attention to each word the author used.

[Levan Shakulashvili · Rating 3 out of 5]

1ლი ვარსკვლავი იმიტო რო, 0ს ვერ დაწერ. მე2 იმიტო რო, მოთხრობა პედოფილურად დაიწყო. მე3 კიდე იმიტო რო, ავტორი კაი ტიპი ჩანს და მომეწონებოდა. არადა 2 უნდა დამეწერა, ლუზერობა იყო. ბაჰ

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

also terrifying, but for much different reasons.

[Huh? · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learn to love a tree before loving a woman.

[Ash]

I read this my junior year of high school for a research paper. This short story has stayed with me stronger than most books, its moral an ever constant guide.

[Axel Lagergren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good short story example for writers to follow. A love story

[Raúl · Rating 4 out of 5]

La trama del hombre borracho que le cuenta todo a un niño random es brutal. Señor, vete al psicólogo y desahógate allí.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and thought provoking short story.

[Steven Rainer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[emily ✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

✩ 5.0 ✩

“They start at the wrong end of love. They begin at the climax. Can you wonder why it is so miserable?”