The trees/ crosses

The seven plane trees symbolize the doom awaiting the escaped prisoners. Since Overkamp has forbidden the usual methods of torture, Fahrenberg sets up the trees as reminders of the punishment that will come when he has lined up all seven men. The “seventh one,” which gives the novel its title, thus becomes a particularly powerful symbol as the week goes by; a visible reminder of Fahrenberg’s failure (1, 2). These “things that aren’t trees any more” symbolize the distortion of nature, mirroring the ways in which Westhofen mutilates and diminishes men (165). For these reasons, their destruction is a great symbolic event for the other prisoners, suggesting an end to tyranny and the kindling of new hope, and it is the seventh one in particular which they imagine to be fueling the flames. The fire brings little in the way of literal warmth, and the...