The Overstory

by

Richard Powers

Dennis is Patricia’s husband, and the station manager at Dreier Research Station. When Patricia first joins the station, Dennis, who is around 10 years older than she is, starts bringing her little gifts whenever he visits. When he asks her to marry him, he suggests that they keep up the arrangement that they already have: live apart, but visit each other when they want to. Over the years, they develop a routine in which Dennis brings Patricia lunch every day and they walk and talk. Patricia feels lucky to have found such a kind and patient man who also respects her need for solitude and independence. Dennis dies in his sleep one night at Patricia’s side.

Dennis Ward Quotes in The Overstory

The The Overstory quotes below are all either spoken by Dennis Ward or refer to Dennis Ward. 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:
Humans and Trees Theme Icon
).
Part 2: Trunk Quotes

"People are so beautiful."

He turns to her, horrified. But he's a man of faith, and waits to hear whatever explanation she cares to deliver. And, Yes, she thinks. The thought makes her stubborn. Yes: beautiful. And doomed. Which is why she has never been able to live among them.

"Hopelessness makes them determined. Nothing's more beautiful than that."

"You think we're hopeless?"

"Den. How is extraction ever going to stop? It can't even slow down. The only thing we know how to do is grow. Grow harder; grow faster. More than last year. Growth, all the way up to the cliff and over. No other possibility."

“I see.”

Clearly he doesn't. But his willingness to lie for her also breaks her heart. She would tell him—how the towering, teetering pyramid of large living things is toppling down already, in slow motion, under the huge, swift kick that has dislodged the planetary system. The great cycles of air and water are breaking. The Tree of Life will fall again, collapse into a stump of invertebrates, tough ground cover, and bacteria, unless man…Unless man.

Related Characters: Dr. Patricia “Patty” Westerford (speaker), Dennis Ward (speaker), Mimi Ma/Mulberry
Page Number: 304-305
Explanation and Analysis:

"I want to start a seed bank. There are half as many trees in the world as there were before we came down out of them. […] Tens of thousands of trees we know nothing about. Species we've barely classified. Like burning down the library, art museum, pharmacy, and hall of records, all at once."

"You want to start an ark."

She smiles at the word, but shrugs. It's as good as any. "I want to start an ark."

"Where you can keep . . ." The strangeness of the idea gets him. A vault to store a few hundred million years of tinkering. Hand on the car door, he fixes on something high up in a cedar. "What . . . would you do with them? When would they ever…?"

"Den, I don't know. But a seed can lie dormant for thousands of years."

Related Characters: Dr. Patricia “Patty” Westerford (speaker), Dennis Ward (speaker)
Related Symbols: Seeds
Page Number: 305-306
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: Crown Quotes

The single best thing you can do for the world. It occurs to her: The problem begins with that word world. It means two such opposite things. The real one we cannot see. The invented one we can't escape. She lifts the glass and hears her father read out loud: Let me sing to you now, about how people turn into other things.

Neelay’s shouts come too late to break the room's spell. The speaker raises her glass, and the world splits. Down one branch, she lifts the glass to her lips, toasts the room—To Tachigali versicolor—and drinks. Down another branch, this one, she shouts, "Here's to unsuicide," and flings the cup of swirling green over the gasping audience. She bumps the podium, backs away, and stumbles into the wings, leaving the room to stare at an empty stage.

Related Characters: Dr. Patricia “Patty” Westerford (speaker), Olivia Vandergriff/Maidenhair, Neelay Mehta, Dennis Ward
Page Number: 466
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Overstory LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Overstory PDF

Dennis Ward Quotes in The Overstory

The The Overstory quotes below are all either spoken by Dennis Ward or refer to Dennis Ward. 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:
Humans and Trees Theme Icon
).
Part 2: Trunk Quotes

"People are so beautiful."

He turns to her, horrified. But he's a man of faith, and waits to hear whatever explanation she cares to deliver. And, Yes, she thinks. The thought makes her stubborn. Yes: beautiful. And doomed. Which is why she has never been able to live among them.

"Hopelessness makes them determined. Nothing's more beautiful than that."

"You think we're hopeless?"

"Den. How is extraction ever going to stop? It can't even slow down. The only thing we know how to do is grow. Grow harder; grow faster. More than last year. Growth, all the way up to the cliff and over. No other possibility."

“I see.”

Clearly he doesn't. But his willingness to lie for her also breaks her heart. She would tell him—how the towering, teetering pyramid of large living things is toppling down already, in slow motion, under the huge, swift kick that has dislodged the planetary system. The great cycles of air and water are breaking. The Tree of Life will fall again, collapse into a stump of invertebrates, tough ground cover, and bacteria, unless man…Unless man.

Related Characters: Dr. Patricia “Patty” Westerford (speaker), Dennis Ward (speaker), Mimi Ma/Mulberry
Page Number: 304-305
Explanation and Analysis:

"I want to start a seed bank. There are half as many trees in the world as there were before we came down out of them. […] Tens of thousands of trees we know nothing about. Species we've barely classified. Like burning down the library, art museum, pharmacy, and hall of records, all at once."

"You want to start an ark."

She smiles at the word, but shrugs. It's as good as any. "I want to start an ark."

"Where you can keep . . ." The strangeness of the idea gets him. A vault to store a few hundred million years of tinkering. Hand on the car door, he fixes on something high up in a cedar. "What . . . would you do with them? When would they ever…?"

"Den, I don't know. But a seed can lie dormant for thousands of years."

Related Characters: Dr. Patricia “Patty” Westerford (speaker), Dennis Ward (speaker)
Related Symbols: Seeds
Page Number: 305-306
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: Crown Quotes

The single best thing you can do for the world. It occurs to her: The problem begins with that word world. It means two such opposite things. The real one we cannot see. The invented one we can't escape. She lifts the glass and hears her father read out loud: Let me sing to you now, about how people turn into other things.

Neelay’s shouts come too late to break the room's spell. The speaker raises her glass, and the world splits. Down one branch, she lifts the glass to her lips, toasts the room—To Tachigali versicolor—and drinks. Down another branch, this one, she shouts, "Here's to unsuicide," and flings the cup of swirling green over the gasping audience. She bumps the podium, backs away, and stumbles into the wings, leaving the room to stare at an empty stage.

Related Characters: Dr. Patricia “Patty” Westerford (speaker), Olivia Vandergriff/Maidenhair, Neelay Mehta, Dennis Ward
Page Number: 466
Explanation and Analysis: