The Tree in the House: a novella by Alberto Moravia (Racconti Surrealisti e Satirici)
L'Albero in casa
Odenato and his wife
Carina continually debated whether to live in the country or in the
city. Odenato, a disciplined and studious man, had a preference for a
cultured, domestic and
urban life, far from the natural forces and mysteries; Carina, on the
other hand, loved the sun, outdoor activities, swimming, the woods,
walking naked on the beach and other such pursuits. To better
describe this conflict, which they always managed to keep within the
confines of their married life, one could say that the husband
represented a rational, human, urban society and the wife the exact
opposite. In middle class families, there are sometimes such minor
conflicts, which conceal enormous
ones.
However, as we said,
their conflict had always been kept within the confines of their
married life. It is true, they did not agree on that little detail,
but otherwise they could not have been more compatible. And
everything would have continued to go smoothly had it not been been
for the unsettling question of the tree.
The couple, well-off
if not rich, lived in an old palace in the city centre. In their
apartment, among the other rooms, was a large living room. One day
Carina, coming back home in the early afternoon, found her husband
who, armed with a poker, was about to tear apart a shrub, in reality
a small tender tree that had suddenly sprouted in a corner of the
living room, between their Empire style fireplace and the Louis XV
credenza, full of rococo
statuettes and Sevres porcelain. The tree, or sapling, was already a
metre tall. Odenato's wife had never seen such a tree before. Tall
and upright, with large green leaves shiny on one side and slightly
hairy and whitish on the other; leaves, in other words, very similar
to those of a plane tree, except that
these leaves, instead of being shaped like the typical plane tree
leaves with the tips taking a shape reminiscent of a hand with open
fingers, these leaves were shaped like a heart. A heart with two
tips, or rather two hearts combined as one and pierced by a single
arrow, very similar to the ones lovers carve on trees. This shrub
sprouted up from the hardwood floor and its roots visibly grew
between the tiles.
The wife let out a
scream when she saw Odenato menacingly brandishing the brutal poker
on the tender plant; and that
scream came just in time to divert
the strike which fell on the Louis XV credenza instead and broke its
glass. There followed a rather heated discussion. As always happens
in these cases, the tree, insignificant in itself, offered
them
an occasion to give vent to their many old rancours. Odenato
maintained that the plant, which in his opinion did not match the
style of their furniture, had to be uprooted. Carina reproached him
for his constant hatred of nature. “That is just like you! - she
screamed. “The moment you see a tree, your first thought is to cut
it down. Don't you know that trees are sacred?” To this,
Odenato answered that he did not have anything against trees, but
that honestly a tree in the house was a great hindrance. Without even
taking into consideration that there are trees and trees. At least if
it had been an oak, a noble tree whose branches were used to crown
ancient warriors, or a tree sacred to the muses, or a pious and
peaceful olive tree, or a mournful but pensive cypress, or even a
pine tree to decorate at the end of the year with candles and
garlands; but this tree was repulsive and nobody knew where it came
from. And to this his wife went on: “Why does it bother you so
much? It doesn't bark like a dog, it doesn't soil like a bird.. it is
quiet, discreet.. no, no, your objection is purely deliberate.”
Odenato put away the poker under
the fireplace while protesting against the presence of the
tree and under his wife's
invectives, slowly withdrew from the situation and headed
toward his office. He usually ceded to Carina, who was much more
impetuous and authoritative than him. As long as, as he was in the
habit of saying, she did not interfere with his own affairs, she
could do whatever she wanted. And so that day, after having stated
decisively that he did not approve of this tree at all, Odenato
opened his office door and disappeared.
Carina spent the
rest of that afternoon and evening reading botanical treatises hoping
to find out which species the mysterious tree could belong to. No
doubt it was a tree, the trunk already having a wooden
colour and consistency. Furthermore, due to the shape of the leaves
it could undoubtedly be ascribed to broadleaf trees with deciduous
foliage. So far Carina was on safe ground. However, it was impossible
to establish its name. It must have been a fast growing tree; Carina
did not recall seeing it the night before during a small reception
that had taken place in the living room. It had grown almost one
metre tall overnight. Carina estimated that,
at this rate, the tree
would reach three or four metres within one week. While researching
the tree, she got up from time to time and went to caress its leaves.
That night Odenato, feeling irritable,
deliberately did not talk to his wife at the table. But Carina felt
happy just thinking about her tree.
During the next few
days Carina's predictions proved right. The tree was growing visibly.
Barely a plant the night before, it was already a small tree in the
morning. The trunk, already wooden at the foot, became darker also
towards the top and the brown of the adult bark replaced the green of
the leaves. The branches too acquired
form, the bigger ones getting larger and the smaller changing
from the tender pulp to
flexible fibre covered with
bark. One particular branch
stretched as far as the credenza which it
had not even brushed the day before. Carina was full of joy.
Odenato himself, while insisting on the inconveniences of this
situation, the primary one being that this tree did not match the
living room furniture, had to reluctantly admit that it was a nice
little tree. That day Carina, full of enthusiasm, did nothing but
take care of the tree.
She folded the Bokhara carpet whose tip reached the corner of the
room and removed a couple of withered leaves. She took a watering can
and poured a puddle of water on the floor. The puddle became smaller
and smaller and soon disappeared; a clear sign that the tree had
absorbed all the water.
Then, after such
fortunate beginnings, the tree did nothing but grow. The trunk, as
big as a human leg, rose almost halfway through the wall bending
slightly toward the centre of the room. The bark had already reached
its mature look; it was smooth, soft, light, white here, yellowish
there, light blue towards the top, very similar to that of a
eucalyptus. The tree had four main branches: one protruded in
the direction of the credenza, providentially hiding the glass
Odenato had broken; the second one extented towards the fireplace,
where the Psyche that adorned the Empire pendulum clock disappeared
behind its leaves; the third branch, larger probably because it could
stretch more freely, reached the centre of the living room with its
foliage; and finally the fourth rose vertically and pressed against
the corner of the ceiling.
Full of joy, Carina
invited her friends to let them admire the tree. These women came
full of curiosity. They had already heard about the tree, but only
vaguely and they expected the usual fuchsia or azalea, or other
similar plants that women keep in vases in the corners of their
living rooms. But they were left dumbfounded when realizing that it
was an actual tree with roots, trunk, branches and everything; such
unique boldness, even in a time like this of extravagant trends. For
a moment, envy and amazement left them speechless, not only verbally
but mentally too. In other words, these gossips didn't know what to
say or think. But soon after having left Carina's house they cheered
up and started to say that after all it wasn't as special as Carina
believed. Sure it was a tree. And
with this? It would certainly be more original to keep, one
might say, an aviary or a domesticated lion cub. Besides, added one
of them, a tree was no use. Static like a rock, mute like a fish, and
Carina wouldn't even need it to give shade, as the house walls
already fulfilled this
function. And so the malicious women concluded that it was a
complete eccentricity and therefore of questionable taste.
After a week, the
adult tree had already reached a diametre of one and a half metres at
the base. With the trunk more and more tilted towards the centre of
the room, the tree seemed to be stretching not branches but arms in
the act of seizing the room. And the light fleshy colour of its bark
confirmed this impression of tentacular animality. The sinewy and
twisted roots sank like claws between the tiles
lifting and
dislodging them. Carina, obsessively in love with her tree, had the
living room cleared out completely. And it was definitely curious to
enter that spacious room and find, within the four unadorned walls
covered in damask red wallpaper, nothing but the tree, enormous,
solitary, confined in a corner, similar to a plant octopus with leafy
arms extending to seize the space or stretching upward as if
examining the ceiling. It was almost surprising that such a mighty
and imposing creature was silent and did not advance its demands
shouting in a dark and irritated tone.
Odenato, who just
wanted to be left alone, no longer fought with his wife. But secretly
in his office he vented his frustrations to his friends. “Not that
I have something against the tree itself”, he said, “but
everything in its place ... trees in the woods and people in the
houses ... what is a tree in the living room supposed to mean? This
habit of bringing nature into the houses is a Nordic trend... Nordic
people, probably reminiscing the still recent past when they curled
up inside the cavities of the oaks, fill their houses with plants ...
but we belong to a more ancient civilization ... we do not tolerate
confusion or contamination ... our cities are made of stone and the
countryside starts outside, not inside the walls...” So Odenato
spoke, gravely. But amongst themselves, his friends said that he was
weak and that in his house, as the masses say, his wife was the one
wearing the pants.
It turned out that
one pleasant summer night a very loud creak followed by the fracas
of a deluge of pieces of plaster, woke Odenato and Carina. They
rushed to the living room and the first things they saw through the
large hole in the ceiling were the stars and the crescent moon. “My
dear tree wants to enjoy the fresh air!”, exclaimed Carina running
towards her beloved tree to kiss its trunk. “That's how women are!”
thought Odenato irritated. But this time again, he did not dare to
protest.
A month later the
tree filled the entire living room with its thick, tangled foliage.
Opening the door, you would find yourself face to face with a forest,
so to speak. Leaves, leaves and more leaves. That said, it is not
surprising that one of those nights Odenato found the tree even in
bed. That's right. A branch knocked down the door and stretched all
the way to the bed. Husband and wife found themselves irremediably
separated by a barrier of leaves and branches. Odenato also
complained that the tree grew around him, making him uncomfortable
with certain prongs pressing against his back and legs. But Carina
just told him that he was intolerant and did not understand anything.
For her, on the other hand, feeling those leaves all over her body
had a completely different effect. A nature bath, she said.
As fall arrived the
leaves fell and filled the living room with rustling yellow piles.
Carina called a woodcutter to prune the tree. For a few days
Odenato's studies were disturbed by the woodcutter's axe. Finally,
proud like a mother who shows off her child's first haircut, Carina
showed her husband the pruned tree, left with only the bigger
branches, without leaves or offshoots, as strong and vigorous as
ever, and ready to endure the harshness of winter. Odenato, resigned,
pretended to admire it. Deep inside, however, he thought that nature
was serious trouble and that in a respectable society it should be
kept as distant as possible.
The end
