The Fever Tree

“Tricia, in a pale yellow sundress with frills, had hung her arm outside the open window and the fair downy skin was glowing red.” (pg 124)

Throughout the story, Tricia is portrayed as a character who has a child-like personality. For example, she disregards the rules and regulations saying “Silly old rules!” (pg 124) and also left the mosquito stuff because it was too bulky.The colors yellow, red and green are used often to set the mood or depict a character’s trait.She “shattered” Ford’s illusion of Marguerite and belabored him with schoolgirl questions which she uttered in a bright and desperate voice.The author used the imagery of the yellow sundress with frills to represent her innocence and immaturity yet created her with glowing red arms to depict her aggressiveness. The author also used the color red to show the mood of intensity and suspense. I believe that Tricia can be perceived as innocent and soft yet she is also defiant and reckless.

“By the roadside grew a species of wild zinnia with tiny flowers, coral-red, and these made red drifts among the coarse, pale grass. (pg125)
As I mentioned in the first the quote, the author uses the color red, green, and yellow throughout the story. In this quote, he uses the imagery of the tiny coral-red flowers of the zinnia and the coarse, pale grass. The contrast between these two things in nature is similar to the personalities of Ford and Tricia. While Ford is portrayed as the coarse pale grass, Tricia is the tiny coral red flowers.Although this quote can be used to depict the relationship of Ford and Tricia, it can also be used to set the mood. The author also uses contrast on (pg125)“In the few moments of dusk, pale things glimmer brightly and birds make a soft murmuring.”(pg.125) Peacefulness can be perceived as the tiny flowers drifted among the grass and pale things glimmered brightly during dusk.

“Men had always made her feel frightened, starting with her father when she was a child. It was then, when a child, that she had purposely begun playing the child with its winning ways”. (pg126)

In this quote, Tricia’s past is brought up with her feeling frightened of her father. This can be of many reasons. One reason may be that her father was abusive towards her causing her to purposely “play” as a child to gain attention. Another reason might be that her father was often angry and stressed causing Tricia to feel threatened by him. Throughout the story, she designates the personality traits of immaturity and innocence, and this quote allows us to understand why she acts like a child. “She had noticed that her father was kinder and more forebearing toward little girls than toward her mother”. (pg126) With this being said, Tricia assumed that having a child-like personality will cause her father to act kinder and more forebearing towards her. Ford also states that he had “married a little girl”. The unraveling of Tricia’s past helped me to understand her character more in depth.

“I suppose it didn’t occur to you to bring the anti-mosquito spray and leave the ‘pearlized foundation’ behind.” (pg. 127)

According to the last quote, Tricia had always been frightened of men and this quote portrayed exactly why she is. Ford yelled at her for forgetting to bring the anti-mosquito spray, causing Tricia to be frightened at once. Her pearlized foundation and “useless rubbish” depicts her insecurity of her face. Ford compares Tricia to Marguerite and says “Marguerite wouldn’t have forgotten to bring that aerosol.” Ford’s desire of the anti-mosquito shows cautiousness towards catching malaria. (pg127) I believe that Tricia feels insecure because she knows that Ford would always seem to compare her and Marguerite.

“There were no lights on in the camp but those which shone from windows of the main building and from the chalets.”(pg.128)

Throughout the story, the author illustrated the imagery of darkness and light. The imagery created a suspenseful and sensational mood. Dusk is an important time in the story. It’s when nocturnal creatures were awake and people were deep in sleep, while the blinding light during the day threatens the nocturnal creatures but wakens the people. While the sun radiated the sky with a pinkish-orange glow ,“None of the lights in the camp were because the electricity came from a generator.”(pg126) The author contrasts imagery between dark and light. In this quote, the author used this setting to provide fear and unknown to the reader.