Before the Ever After

Trees appear as a symbol throughout the novel, taking on different meanings in different contexts. For ZJ’s father, trees are a symbol of his success. In “Maplewood Blues Song,” ZJ composes a song based on his father saying, “Look at all those trees, little man. / That’s why I moved yall here” (149). Maplewood, the wealthy suburban neighborhood that they live in, is full of trees; trees also line their large backyard. In “Playing Something Pretty,” Daddy again points out the trees as a measure of success and a symbol of the gifts he wanted to give his son, in the form of something he never had himself. In this context, the trees also symbolize the legacy passed from father to son.

In “The Trees,” ZJ recalls how he and his father named the trees together, symbolizing the gift of knowledge passed between father and son. Woodson completes the symbol in “Apple from the Tree” when ZJ’s mother uses the common idiom to explain how much alike the father and son are in their musical tastes. The book’s cover image features a young boy on his father’s shoulders; both are covered in red maple leaves. This image also depicts trees as a symbol of the father-son relationship. It represents the stability and comfort that ZJ feels while on his father’s shoulders, both figuratively and literally. 

Many moments of comfort, friendship, and information sharing occur in the Johnson family kitchen. ZJ’s mom is almost always there, putting on a kettle for coffee or tea, both in moments she shares with ZJ and with Ollie’s mom, Bernadette. In those scenes, the women speak in whispered tones about Zachariah Sr’s condition making the kitchen a safe place to share important information.

The kitchen presents a source of comfort for ZJ. Some of his best memories take place in the kitchen, including a meal of “fish fried / with cornmeal, / mashed potatoes and kale cooked with so much garlic / and olive oil, I go back for seconds and almost forget / it’s a vegetable” (47). When his friends come over to comfort him, they hang out in the family kitchen. When his father has his first major episode involving the police, ZJ spends the night sleeping under the kitchen table. ZJ’s mother updates him about his father’s condition over meals that they have in the kitchen and comforts him there when he says he’s afraid. Throughout the novel, the kitchen serves as the setting for moments that help ZJ and his mother make peace and stay strong in the face of their fear and uncertainty.

The novel’s two parts function as time capsules, capturing the times before and after Zachariah Sr. stopped playing football due to his illness. The first part focuses on ZJ’s memories of what his father was like in the past before he got sick. The second half of the novel is more plot-centric, moving forward in time, focusing on the present, and restoring hope for the future. Woodson also employs the before and after structure in individual poems. She often starts a poem with a memory of the glory days and ends with ZJ lamenting how different that time was from the present. “On Daddy’s Shoulders,” “Tears,” “Ollie,” and “Used to Be” are examples of this motif in action.