The Oak Tree: A Symbol of Enduring Love and Loss in The Things We Leave Unfinished

What Is the Oak Tree?

In The Things We Leave Unfinished, the oak tree is not a single specimen but a constellation of natural and built elements that share the same symbolic weight. The most concrete version is the aspen tree grove on Scarlett Stanton’s Colorado property, where a circular gazebo was built in the 1940s using aspen trunks. Scarlett wrote many of her unfinished stories there, and both she and later her granddaughter Georgia treat it as a sacred space. A second manifestation is the sculpture “Indomitable Will” – a tree rising out of water that Georgia created during her marriage – which Noah Harrison admires from afar. These layered representations make the oak tree a shifting symbol of possibility, sorrow, and unbroken connection.

Where the Oak Tree Appears

Location	Context	Significance
Aspen grove and gazebo (Colorado)	Scarlett’s writing sanctuary; built with Jameson Stanton’s father and uncle before VE Day	Site of Scarlett’s waiting and longing; later a place of emotional confrontation between Georgia and Noah
“Indomitable Will” sculpture	Sculpture by Georgia, seen by Noah via an image; features a tree emerging from water	Represents Georgia’s creative self and the idea of growth against odds
Noah’s tree-branch metaphor	During a walk, Noah compares life choices to branches of a tree	Frames the oak tree as a symbol of infinite possibilities
Scarlett’s hatbox of stories	Kept in her closet, filled with unfinished manuscripts	Echoes the oak tree theme: leaving stories open to preserve potential

How the Meaning Changes

1. As Scarlett’s Sanctuary of Hope

When Scarlett first built the gazebo with Jameson’s family, it was a place of beginnings – their first kiss, their declarations of love. For decades she wrote there, surrounded by the same aspen trunks, treating the space as though the love they shared was woven into the wood. She had it repaired but never rebuilt, preserving the original supports that held the memory.

2. As a Reliquary of Sorrow

Georgia later tells Noah that she no longer believes the gazebo holds love; instead she says “she built her sorrow, her longing into it.” She calls the sorrow and ache “fine supports” that “last the test of time.” This shift reflects Georgia’s own experience of betrayal and loss: she has come to see durable structures as built from pain rather than joy.

3. As Noah’s Symbol of Enduring Love

Noah pushes back against Georgia’s interpretation. For him, the gazebo is “a promise, a shrine to that love.” He imagines Scarlett and Jameson living out a full life together, rich with children and laughter. He frames the tree branches as pathways in a multiverse of happy possibilities, where one branch leads to a reunion.

4. As a Connective Thread Across Generations

By the novel’s end, the oak tree becomes a symbol of the love that binds the Stanton women to the past and to each other. Scarlett’s letter to Georgia, left in a package with the unfinished manuscript, reveals that she “was afraid you’d see straight through me.” The tree – in its many forms – allows Georgia to finally see the truth: that love, even when it ends in loss, can endure through memory and inheritance.

Connections to Characters and Themes

Characters

Scarlett Stanton: The gazebo is her stage; she writes there for decades, waiting for Jameson. Her unfinished hatbox stories mirror the tree’s implied potential.
Georgia Stanton: She sees the tree as a monument to disappointment, yet she also keeps the gazebo in repair – a sign she cannot let go.
Noah Harrison: He challenges Georgia’s reading, pushing her to see the tree as a symbol of hope and second chances.

Themes

Love and Duty: Scarlett’s choice to marry Brian after Jameson’s disappearance reflects the tension between a duty-bound life and a love that never dies – both visible in the gazebo.
Legacy and Unfinished Stories: The tree, like Scarlett’s manuscripts, stands for the value of leaving things open. As Scarlett says: “leave their stories unfinished… leave them with their possibilities.”
Trust and Betrayal: Georgia’s interpretation of the tree as a structure built from sorrow stems from her own betrayal by Damian. Noah’s insistence on a happy ending for the book tests whether she can trust him – and love – again.

Study Questions

1. Why does Georgia initially refuse to see the oak tree as a symbol of hope?

Georgia’s marriage to Damian ended when he cheated on her and she discovered he had a child with another woman. This betrayal taught her that love is fragile and that promises can be broken. The gazebo’s physical durability – “the supports were the originals” – contrasts with what she sees as emotional fragility. She projects her own pain onto the space, claiming the tree stands for “sorrow, longing, [and] ache” because those feelings feel more reliable than joy.

2. How does Noah’s tree-branch metaphor reinterpret the oak tree’s meaning?

Noah suggests that every choice creates a new branch of possibility, so that “what seems like a tiny choice, left or right, becomes another and another.” He uses this to argue that Scarlett and Jameson could have a happy ending on a different branch – a fictional realm he wants to write. The metaphor reframes the oak tree from a static monument into a living map of what might have been, making hope a legitimate alternative to grief.

3. In what way does Scarlett’s attitude toward unfinished stories connect to the oak tree symbol?

In Chapter 22, Scarlett tells Constance she prefers beginnings over endings because “the possibilities are easy to fall in love with.” She keeps her manuscripts in a hatbox, never finishing them, so that every story retains its potential. The oak tree, with its branches reaching outward, visually echoes this philosophy: it represents a space where nothing is finalized, where love and stories can remain suspended in a state of perpetual hope.

4. What role does the sculpture “Indomitable Will” play in Georgia’s evolving relationship with the oak tree?

Noah mentions seeing a photo of Georgia’s sculpture of a tree emerging from water, which she named “Indomitable Will.” He points out that the tree “isn’t anchored by earth” and “shouldn’t be able to grow, and yet there it is.” This forces Georgia to recognise that she herself once created a symbol of resilience. It becomes a bridge between her past creative self and her present reluctance to trust – hinting that, like the oak tree, she too can endure and eventually bloom again.