The People in the Trees

In The People in the Trees, the opa’ivu’eke symbolizes the unattainability of immortality not only within the world of the novel but also in the real world. The symbol of these turtles lies at the heart of the novel, and despite their docile nature, their existence drives the plot forward for much of the story. The opa’ivu’eke is a unique species of turtle that is indigenous to Ivu’ivu; when ingested, its tissues grant the villagers an amazing amount of longevity, at the cost of their mental acuity. While the bodies stay the same age, their minds decay and they become mo’o kua’au—exiles. This pattern presents Norton and the many pharmacological companies pursuing immortality with an unsolvable problem, for they hunt the opa’ivu’eke to extinction long before the scientific resources needed to solve the problem can be developed. Therefore, the opa’ivu’eke represent the challenge of preserving both mind and body, and they also symbolize the results of exploitative greed on natural resources and on human life. The opa’ivu’eke possess the closest form of immortality that humans can find, but when the negative effects of mental decay cannot be fixed, the dream of immortality ends. The pursuit of immortality leads to the extinction of the opa’ivu’eke and the destruction of Ivu’ivu.