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On the surface, the yew tree is a symbol of healing for both Conor and his mother, but on a deeper level, the yew tree also symbolizes Conor’s denial and his false hope regarding his mother’s condition. The yew tree is introduced very early in the book. When Conor looks out his window in the first chapter, he sees the one that stands in the church graveyard behind their house. This tree takes on more and more importance as the book goes on. First, and perhaps most importantly, the monster itself takes the form of this yew tree each time it visits Conor. Additionally, throughout the book, Conor’s mother frequently looks out at the yew tree behind their house, and she reveals that it feels like she has a “friend out there who’d help [her] if things got to their worst.” This is only made more poignant when Conor’s mother tells him that the final treatment the doctors are going to try on her is made from yew trees, which causes Conor to conclude that this is why the monster has come walking—to cure his mother. But this is false hope, one that is only stoked by Conor’s mother’s statement that she believes the treatment will work. When it doesn’t, Conor is only more upset with her (and with the monster) because the yew tree had been feeding this false hope. It is then that the monster reveals its true purpose: it did not come to heal his mother of her sickness, it came to heal Conor of his grief and pain. Therefore, the yew tree does, by the end, return to being a symbol of healing—only for Conor instead of for his mother, as the monster allows Conor to heal from the loss and emotional pain of his mother’s death.
The Yew Tree Quotes in A Monster Calls
The A Monster Calls quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Yew Tree. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Second Tale
Quotes
The yew tree is the most important of all the healing trees, it said. It lives for thousands of years. Its berries, its bark, its leaves, its sap, its pulp, its wood, they all thrum and burn and twist with life. It can cure almost any ailment man suffers from, mixed and treated by the right apothecary.
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Could It Be?
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“Son,” his father said, leaning forward. “Stories don’t always have happy endings.”
This stopped him. Because they didn’t, did they? That’s one thing the monster had definitely taught him. Stories were wild, wild animals and went off in directions you couldn’t expect.
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The Truth
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“You’ll stay?” Conor whispered to the monster, barely able to speak. “You’ll stay until. . .”
I will stay, the monster said, its hands still on Conor’s shoulders. Now all you have to do is speak the truth.
And so Conor did.
He took in a breath.
And, at last, he spoke the final and total truth.
“I don’t want you to go,” he said, the tears dropping from his eyes, slowly at first, then spilling like a river.
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Get the entire A Monster Calls LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Yew Tree Symbol Timeline in A Monster Calls
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Yew Tree appears in A Monster Calls. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Monster Calls
Conor notes the yew tree rising from the center of the graveyard, next to the church near his house. He...
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...passes over the moon, covering the view in darkness. When the moon shines again, the yew tree is standing in the middle of Conor’s backyard. This is the monster: the branches of...
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Breakfast
...which he assumed had been a dream—until he saw his entire bedroom floor covered in yew tree leaves. He convinced himself that they’d blown in through the open window and cleaned them...
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Life Writing
...to have a father in the house. Conor looks past the house and spots the yew tree in the church graveyard. He assures himself that it’s only a tree.
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Three Stories
...water when he feels something squish under his foot: his floor is covered in poisonous yew tree berries.
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The First Tale
...together. As they rode off, they stopped to sleep together in the shade of a yew tree —the monster. When the prince woke up, he saw that he and the farmer’s daughter...
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The Rest of the First Tale
...was, Conor sees a field with the prince and the farmer’s daughter sleeping under the yew tree . He sees the prince wake up, take a knife out of his bag, and...
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Little Talk
...up to his room, where she is lying on his bed, staring out at the yew tree . Conor asks why she’s going back to the hospital, even though he can see...
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...instead pulling him into a hug. She tells him to keep an eye on the yew tree while she’s away, and make sure it’s there when she gets back. Conor understands that...
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The Second Tale
The monster then shows Conor a hill with a church and a great yew tree next to it, which Conor recognizes as the hill behind his house. The monster introduces...
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...The Apothecary refused, citing the fact that the parson hadn’t allowed him to harvest the yew tree and that the preacher had turned the village against him. The parson assured the Apothecary...
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The Rest of the Second Tale
...him, noting that the Apothecary was a healer and the parson should have given the yew tree to the Apothecary when first asked. The monster goes on, saying that the parson refused...
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Yew Trees
Conor’s mother mentions that the new drug is made from yew trees , like the tree behind their house. She says she read about this treatment when...
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No Tale
...can heal his mother. The monster says that if his mother can be healed, “the yew tree will do it.” Conor asks, “is that a yes?”
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What’s the Use of You?
...backyard and climbs up the hill to the graveyard behind the church. He kicks the yew tree several times, yelling at the monster to “WAKE UP.”
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...wakes, stepping out of the way of Conor’s kicks. Conor asks the monster why the yew tree didn’t heal his mother. He asks what the use of the monster is if it...
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The Fourth Tale
...not to let her go, but she starts to slip. He turns back to the yew tree monster, which stands there not moving. Her hands continue to slip, and she gets heavier...
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Something in Common
Conor’s grandmother wakes Conor up at the foot of the yew tree , thanking God that she found him. She pulls him into an embrace, and then...
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