Memories in the tree

One symbol that is used in A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a tree. I think that the tree symbolizes fear. "Looking back now across fifteen years, I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that in the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it" (Knowles 10.) Here, Gene is descibing his visit back to Devon after fifteen years. He realizes a certain fear. Then Gene begins mentioning this tree. "The tree was not only stripped by the cold season, it seemed weary from age, enfeebled, dry. I was thankful, very thankful that I had seen it. So the more things remain the same, the more they change after all-plus c'est la meme chose, plus ca change. Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence" (Knowles 14.) Here, Gene is expressing the tree as something that never endures, or never continues to exist. Even after fifteen years, the tree still exists. Everything that happened on that tree...all of the "accidents", the laughs and most of all the memories are still there. Whether they be joyful memories...or fearful memories.