In 1962 Steinbeck receives the Nobel prize in Literature. After this prize, according to many critics his writing is not as it was before: the "Fuck Steinbeck" series is born to support this theory.
Also this work takes its title from a Steinbeck's book, whose most memorable part is the killing of the tree. Joseph Wayne gets a feeling that his dead father is in a great oak tree and sometimes speaks to it. Joseph's brother, a churchy man, disapproves and it kills the tree by cutting its roots. This work wants to remedy this silly act.