The Education of Little Tree

The growth of Little Tree from child to adult is central to the plot of this novel. At the beginning of the novel, Asa Earl Carter introduces Little Tree at the funeral of his mother. In these first moments, he is young and inexperienced in the ways of the world around him. Even so, he demonstrates an early aptitude for personal agency, for when the adults cannot decide who will raise him, he makes the decision himself by clinging to Granpa’s leg. Even his own narration establishes his purposeful demeanor from a very young age, for he states, “Granma had kept her eyes on the ground, but Granpa had looked at me, over the crowd, and so I edged to him across the yard and held onto his leg and wouldn’t turn loose even when they tried to take me away” (1). In addition to showing his resolve, Little Tree’s desperation to hold onto his grandfather also represents his desperation to hold onto his youth and his innocence. He does not want to be separated from his family, and he is not yet ready to venture beyond his family structure to face the bigger world.