The story was written in 1953 and first published in Vogue magazine in 1954 as “The Man Who Planted Hope and Grew Happiness”.  This story is one of his most well known, having been translated into several languages and made into an Oscar-winning short animated film

O’Connell, Roxanne

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Jean Giono.  The man who planted trees, 20th anniversary edition.  White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2005.

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Reason and RespectVolume 3Issue 1 Winter 2007 Article 112-8-2008Jean Giono. The man who planted trees, 20thanniversary edition. White River Junction, VT:Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2005.Roxanne O’ConnellRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rrCopyright ©2-8-2008 by the authorsReason and Respect is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress).For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationO’Connell, Roxanne (2007) "Jean Giono. The man who planted trees, 20th anniversary edition. White River Junction, VT: ChelseaGreen Publishing Company, 2005.," Reason and Respect: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 11.Available at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rr/vol3/iss1/11•• RESPECT IJean Giono. The Man Who Planted Trees, 20th AnniversaryEdition. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green PublishingCompany, 2005.Also in DVD:The Man Who Planted Trees(1987) animated short film, directed by Frederic Back, written by Jean Giono. 30minutes.Some years ago I attended a workshop on finding purpose and passion in one's work. I was, at thattime, working in a large high tech company and the entire industry was in a state of turmoil with repeatedlayoffs, "right-sizing," and reorganizations. This made staying focused and enthusiastic about one's work verydifficult. The workshop ran half days over the period of two weeks and I forget much of what we did there-except for one thing. We watched a film. Not some rah-rah corporate training video, not some problem-solv-ing case-study. We sat together in the semi-darkened room, twenty occupational war-weary souls trying tofind our moral compass, our life's meaning, and we found ourselves transported to the hills of Provence andthe story of Elezeard Bouffier.Bouffier, as the anonymous narrator in the film comes to discover, is a shepherd, a solitary man livingin the arid, deserted hills, who goes out each morning and plants one hundred acorns. His method is system-atic, guided by nature, and quietly purposeful. Over the following decades, he changes a few things-he stopsherding sheep because they damage the young trees, and begins to keep bees. He plants different varieties oftrees, beeches and birches, each according to the elevation and resources of the land. Little by little, the hillsand valleys of the area undergo a great transformation. Water and birds come back to the dry dusty land andhappy families begin to move back into the area. The author of this story, Jean Giono, writes as an epigraph:In order for the character of a human being to reveal truly exceptionalqualities, we must have the good fortune to observe its action over a longperiod of years. If this action is devoid of all selfishness, if the idea thatdirects it is one of unqualified generosity, if it is absolutely certain thatit has not sought recompense anywhere, and if moreover it has left visiblemarks on the world, then we are unquestionably dealing with anunforgettable character.Giono is talking to us about the power of generosity and patience as the essence of true service.The story was written in 1953 and was first published in vogue magazine in 1954 as "The Man WhoPlanted Hope and Grew Happiness." Giono had lived through two world wars, the first as a soldier barelyOUtof his teens. By 1930, Giono had become a successful writer and was able to devote himself full-time towriting short stories, novels and poetry, all with great dedication to his personal beliefs. He was passionateabour nature, rebellious against war and destructive capitalism. Once blacklisted, and even imprisoned, forhis pacifist commitment, he is now regarded as one of the great 20th century French writers. This story is oneof his most well known, having been translated into several languages and made into an Oscar-winning shortanimated film. But it was not always so.In the afterword of the 20th anniversary edition, Norma Goodrich, Professor Emeritus of French andComparative Literature at the Claremont Colleges, tells us that:Giono ran into difficulties with the American editors who in 1953 askedhim to write a few pages about an unforgettable character. Apparently thepublishers required a story about an actual unforgettable character, while1O’Connell: Jean Giono.  The man who planted trees, 20th anniversary edition.Published by DOCS@RWU, 2007Giono chose to write some pages about that character which to him wouldbe most unforgettable. When what he wrote met with the objection thatno "Bouffier" had died in the shelter at Banon, a tiny mountain hamlet,Giono donated his pages to all and sundry .... Giono later wrote anAmerican admirer of the tale that his purpose in creating Bouffier"was to make people love the tree, or more precisely, to make themlove planting trees."Giono believed that there was a connection berween his gift of the story to all and the effect that it has had inthe world. He claims, "It is one of my stories of which I am the proudest. It does not bring me in one singlepenny and that is why it has accomplished what it was written for."And what is that effect? Why do readers insist that the story of Bouffier is, in its essence, more factthan fiction? Consider this:• A man named Abdul Karim, from the Kasargod district of Kerala, over the period of 19years, created a forest using the same methods as those described in Giono's story. Whereonce there was sun-scorched arid waste there is now lush green forest and fresh clean water(http://forests.org/archive/asia/indfor.h tm).Since 1988, an organization called "Trees for the Future" has helped thousands of familiesplant over 35 million trees in over 6,000 villages in Asia, Africa and the Americas(http://www. treesftf.org).• 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Wangari Maathai, founded the Greenbelt Movement,which has planted more than 30 million trees, restoring the Kenyan environment infulfillment of its mission to "mobilize communities for self-determination, justice, equity,poverty reduction and environmental conservation, using trees as the entry point"(http://www.greenbeltmovemen t.orgl).I once lent my copy of Giono's book to a colleague to read over the weekend-indeed, it would take far lesstime than that, just a few hours, really. He returned it on Monday and with a wry cynical smile said, "Nicefairy tale." Given the real transformations happening in the world today because one person here, and anotherthere, quietly, persistently, and patiently go about planting tree after tree, day after day, year after year, I wouldhave to say my colleague missed the point. Real, true, lasting service to ourselves, and to the earth that sustainsus, is not a BIG thing. It is a hundred thousand small, generous, patient things that make all the difference. Asthe narrator of this wonderful story concludes:When I reflect that one man, armed only with his own physical andmoral resources, was able to cause this land of Canaan to spring fromthe wasteland, I am convinced that in spite of everything, humanity isadmirable. But when I compute the unfailing greatness of spirit andthe tenacity of benevolence that it must have taken to achieve this result,I am taken with an immense respect for that old and unlearned peasantwho was able to complete a work worthy of God.It doesn't matter if you choose to read the book or see the film. Ideally, you should do both, and more thanonce. As I write this the polar bear is being put on the endangered species list because his habitat is meltingaway; over 130 rainforest-dwelling species go extinct every single day; 24% of the world's coral reefs, essentialhabitats and a source of structural storm protection, are at risk of collapse. The notion that anyone of us hasthe power to help save the world we live on seems laughable, outrageous. And yet there is hope, there is Eleze-ard Bouffier, a man who simply planted trees.Roxanne O'Connell,Assistant Professor, Department of Communication2Reason and Respect, Vol. 3 [2007], Iss. 1, Art. 11http://docs.rwu.edu/rr/vol3/iss1/11

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Jean Giono. The man who planted trees, 20th anniversary edition. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2005.

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