Gray Robert Brown

A little bit of digging.

The U tree, it really does symbolically stand for longevity, but also the inevitability of death.

But then also, I guess, within that, the capacity for resurrection.

And all of this stuff, you'll be able to draw your own parallels between the U and various characters in the story when we get into it.

It's also, interestingly, you is an ingredient in the Eye of Newton, the witch's potion in Macbeth, which is something that Christie goes back to a lot and quotes a lot.

And of course, the rose historically always symbolizes romance and love.

I thought it was interesting that, look, Mark, I'm sorry, but I can't stop talking about the 60s.

And part of that project's over on the Swinging Christies.

Sorry, sorry.

Well, we keep chopping between the two of them.

It's very hard to keep track.

I've been doing deep dives on Sylvia Plath as part of that project.

And she wrote a poem in 1961, October 1961, I think we can even date it to the day, called The Moon and the Yew Tree, which has to be inspired by the same quote, like the composition of that, the same Eliot quote.

And she uses the moon and the yew tree, it's usually assumed.

by scholars to be her parents, to represent her mother and her father and how they're kind of strong and powerful, maybe intimidating forces.

Christie brings this symbolism in relevant points of the story, some really beautiful points of the story, right?

So in particular, so a lot of the

I think I joked in one of our notes or text exchanges that it could have been renamed Waiting for Rupert because that does essentially feel like, as it was for many people, you feel like the war's coming to an end and it's like they should be heading home, they should be home any minute but letters were inconsistent and what if the fighting starts up again and there was a lot of uncertainty and eventually Rupert

Heads home to marry Isabella.

Yeah, there we go.