Trees in Beloved

Toni Morrison is an expert at using symbols to enhance the imagery in her novels. In Beloved she introduces several symbols such as the color red, or the rusted tobacco tin, to help readers picture a more intense and meaningful image of what she is depicting. As a class we have already spent a good deal of time discussing the imagery of the color red and the tobacco tin, however, I feel that we haven't really spent as much time as we should on discussing her use of trees as an image enhancing symbol. There are several particular groups of trees that I feel are important in the novel, not only as images themselves but as a source of connection between life and the darker side of humanity.
The first group of trees in are the boxwood bushes that form Denver's "emerald closet". This grouping of trees serves as a place of comfort and repose for her. It serves as a sort of refuge for Denver throughout the novel "first a playroom (where the silence was softer), then a refuge (from her brothers' fright), soon the place became the point." (Morrison 35) In the beginning of the novel her need for the protection the trees provide for her is high, however, as the novel progresses so does Denver's confidence in herself eventually eliminating the need for a silent and safe place.
The "chokecherry tree" on Sethe's back is the second and most prominent tree presented in the novel. Though this tree is not an actual tree, it is still a means of using symbols to present readers with a dramatic image. This image is important because it at first shows the brutality and suffering connected with slavery but it also serves another purpose. when Amy Denver first describes the tree on page 93 she doesn't describe it as a terribly ugly thing but rather as a blooming tree with branches, leaves and blossoms, by doing so it seems like the scars are more beautiful than ugly. Whether Amy does this simply to calm and comfort Sethe or there is another reason I am not sure, however, I do find it strange that in a way this symbolic tree is described as a thing of beauty but presents a sinister effect.
The "beautiful trees of Sweet Home" serve as the Sethe's most pleasant memory about Sweet Home. The trees along with the name itself seems to serve as a sort of disguise for the true identity of the Sweet Home plantation. In a way these trees form a light cover and comfort in Sethe's memory for the unspeakable horrors that took place at Sweet Home. However, these same tree's hold a sinister aspect in their uses as lynching trees and the very trees which Sixo was burned on.
It is also notably that trees are used as a symbol for the road to freedom and a better life. The two slaves that we follow on their escape from slavery are Paul D and Sethe and trees play a role in both escapes. In the case of Sethe she knows that her best chance to freedom is through the forest and she continually reminds herself that she must get through the trees. In the case of Paul D he is told that the way to his freedom in the North is by following the flowering trees. In both cases the trees serve as the way towards freedom and a better life.
It is not clear to me if Morrison's had a larger purpose for her symbolic use of trees than those I already mentioned, but I believe it is clear that she intended for trees to represent both a sense of freedom and life as well as a sinister sense of dread and human cruelty.