The Shadow of a Tree Summary and Analysis

Van serves in the South Pacific near Hawaii. The lovers remain stationed in the peaceful Hawaiian Islands throughout the war, meeting as they can. During a reunion, Van sees the shadow of his ship's mast and signal yardarm on the hull of the vessel. The shadows form a sharply contrasting cross that Van identifies at first as a black, foreboding X. On second thought, however, it looks like a Christian cross. He muses on his youthful dismissal of Christianity as a fairy tale for the weak-minded. He wonders whether he was rash and determines to re-examine the question someday. While he and Davy call themselves agnostics, they are in fact theists, recognizing there must be a creator of the order and beauty throughout the world, but their thinking stops there. To them, the...