Destruction

One of the main themes of this novel is the human destruction of the planet. Over and over again, the main characters notice that humans are slowly destroying the planet by stripping it of its trees. Patricia Westerford is the most vocal character on this subject. Her whole life study is of trees and she fights from the time she was a young woman to make their voices heard. She fights against the clearing of the understory and against logging. That fight is integral to her personality, showing readers that humans will not halt what they think is progress even for other human beings. That is also shown in the way law enforcement treat the protesters. They use excessive force in the form of mace on them in order to make them stop. The police use concentrated pepper to burn the eyes and body parts of...