Red is the 216-year-old northern oak tree who is the tale’s protagonist and first-person narrator. Red identifies as “they” and uses this pronoun for all trees who are both male and female. Red’s voice blends gently wry wisdom with genuine generosity, openness, and compassion. Red is also the only character to whom the reader receives full access to. Red also fleshes out the other characters through Red’s own impressions and assertions. Red’s secure place as the story’s sole narrator, and Applegate’s refusal to punctuate the tree’s voice with any human ones, unseats the idea of human supremacy. It is not human wisdom, but Red’s wisdom that is the beating heart of the narrative. By keeping the tree as the tale’s only fully-developed character and narrator, Applegate enjoins the reader to examine preconceptions about both the natural world and the human one.

Red has their own preconceptions as well—one of which is adhering to the natural world rule that trees and animals never speak in front of humans for safety reasons. When Red senses that Samar, an immigrant character who’s bullied, needs help, Red breaks this rule. Red puts their own safety at risk to help someone else, despite Red’s owner intending to chop Red down.