ipl-logo

The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

668 Words3 Pages

"The Giving Tree" is a popular children's book by Shel Silverstein that was released in 1964. Silverstein tells a story about a tree that gives everything it has to a little boy, who constantly asks and asks for stuff from the tree. While the story goes on, it reads how the little boy grows older and keeps asking the tree for things and the tree gives whatever it can to the boy, hence the title “Giving Tree.” The book has been praised for its simple yet profound message, but also criticized for its portrayal of a one-sided relationship between the boy and the tree. On the surface, the story seems to convey a message of selflessness and generosity. The tree is portrayed as a symbol of unconditional love and giving, while the boy is shown as someone who takes without giving back. The book can be seen as a cautionary tale against greed and selfishness and a reminder to appreciate the gifts we receive from others. However, upon closer examination, the message of the book can also be interpreted as a critique of unhealthy relationships as the boy takes and takes from the tree, but never shows any gratitude or appreciation towards the tree. He …show more content…

The illustrations are all black and white line drawings, with no shading or color. The trees are drawn as tall, slender figures with sparse leaves, while the boy is depicted as a small, round figure. The simplicity of the artwork serves to highlight the emotional depth of the story, allowing readers to focus on the characters and their relationships rather than the visual details. The illustrations also emphasize the contrast between the tree's selflessness and the boy's selfishness, with the tree always shown as a giving, open figure and the boy shown as a closed, grasping figure. Overall, the artwork in "The Giving Tree" is a perfect complement to the story, highlighting its emotional resonance while maintaining a sense of simplicity and

Show More
Related
721 Words | 3 Pages

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle (Napoleon Hill). In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the tree is an important symbol of growth and courage through difficult times. The main character, Melinda, went through a series of unfathomable events over the summer that put her into a troublesome position. She was raped by a boy named Andy at a party while she was drunk. Scared and confused, she called the cops to come help her, resulting in her losing all her friends.

Read More
1079 Words | 5 Pages

Aside from the people suffering within the camp, the trees are the only sign of life in the otherwise barren desert. The tree is a representation of a better life that has been taken away from his family and other Japanese-Americans. His plucked leaf from the tree must represent his wish for a better life. Over the winter the trees that are planted for them die and they no longer have the trees to enjoy. The boy shamefully thinks back to picking the leaf.

Read More
202 Words | 1 Pages

In Shel Silverstein’s book, The Giving Tree, Silverstein represents selfishness through the character of the boy, while in Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Celia Bowen is the provider for Hector, at many points, literally bringing in money in to survive. In The Giving Tree, The boy is provided for in full by the tree and it’s giving quality, from when he was a little boy to an old man, representing the stereotypical relationship between a parent and their child. “And the boy loved the tree….” (13, Silverstein).

Read More
628 Words | 3 Pages

Silverstein was constantly moving around during his “Playboy” years, but that did not stop him from creating even more songs, poems, plays, and cartoons. In fact, he met a book editor in 1963, Ursula Nordstrom, who influenced Silverstein to begin his work with children’s poems. Shortly after, he wrote “The Giving Tree”; one of his most famous

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

Laurie Halse Anderson uses the tree as a motif to trace Melinda’s growth from someone who is afraid and depressed to someone who is strong and more stable. In the beginning of the story, we can tell that Melinda is very depressed despite her internal sense of humor. Since the party that she called

Read More
240 Words | 1 Pages

The tone of this excerpt is overly yielding. The narrator has a superficial lifestyle where she is happy with the home she lives in and all of the amenities she has while her parents live a content lifestyle, where they have done right by their daughter and allowed her to grow up to where she is today. The narrator cannot bare to see her parents in the state that they are in and feels that although her parents are happy living on the streets that they shouldn’t because they don’t live in an actual home. This tree symbolizes the narrator’s life. As a child, she had gone in every direction that her parents had taken her.

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

The novel tells a story of conformity, growth, and it truly is a coming of age story. Gene was reliving his experiences through the eyes of a younger boy. The tree as well as Finny contributed to Gene’s growth and had a great significance. I think the writing is very effective and the author did a great job with getting his point across. Telling his own story through a fiction was much better than if he were to tell the story himself in the form of an autobiography.

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

“Mom and Dad smiled at each other and laughed. It was a sound that Tree hadn’t heard from them in the longest time” (132). This shows how Tree wasn’t sure his parents were ever going to get along again, but they end up having a good time. This is an example of how family matters most and hope is always around. This situation gave Tree strength to preserve.

Read More
1155 Words | 5 Pages

While returning to Devon as an adult he examined the tree wondering why was he so scared of it. Wondering how could something so simple bring fear upon him. The symbolization of the tree varied on specific activities. The symbolism of discipline and authority exemplify the tree. Along with the many other fears of Gene, the tree symbolized his insecurities and lack of self-confidence.

Read More
244 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel, trees are a prevailing symbol, as it represents the life and growth of the protagonist mental recovery after being raped. The reoccurring use of trees allows readers to understand Melinda feelings beyond the words, as readers are able to visualize her feelings literally. Readers of YA readers use symbolism as a way to understand the mood of a novel; at the beginning of the novel, Melina selects a tree as her yearlong art project, where she is asked make her “object say something, express and emotion, speak to every person who looks at it” (Anderson 11). As struggles to express emotion through her tree, she is equally incompetent with sharing what occurred the night the police was called.

Read More
526 Words | 3 Pages

In “The Black Walnut Tree,” Mary Oliver’s use of metaphor, hyperbole, and personification conveys the walnut tree to be an integral symbol of the family's history that's worth is being challenged in a time of financial struggle to underscore the importance of preserving family values. Caught in a moral dilemma, a woman and her mother must raise enough money to pay their mortgage and turn to their sacred family landmark, a black walnut tree, that threatens their property while also holding sentimental significance. A metaphor in the form of a simile provides insight into how the tree signifies the family’s work ethic and trade. When considering selling the tree, the daughter reminds herself that “something brighter than money / moves in [her] blood- an edge / sharp and quick as a trowel / that wants [her] to dig and sow'' (lines 17-19).

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

Despite some opposition to the novel, The Giving Tree should be a book on every teacher and parent’s reading list. However, it should be taught age appropriately. First, Colorado thought the book was sexist because it portrayed the boy as being selfish and wanting all of the tree’s belongings and the tree as a female giving in

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

(Lee 90) this basically means that there are good people in this world who want only the best for others. Such people are selfless like Boo who saves the children in the end. Another symbol is the knot hole which represents the communication between the kids and Boo. The tree and its gift show Boo’s humane-nature and amidst adversary he shows how he is good at heart. These symbols give a meticulous contrast to the otherwise grim

Read More
664 Words | 3 Pages

The Giving Tree is about a young boy who develops a relationship with a female tree who cares for him. The boy plays on the tree’s branches and trunk, and eats the apples it provides. While he ages the tree continues giving and the boy consistently takes, spending less and less time with the tree the older he gets- only returning when in need of materialistic items. He sells her apples for money, uses her branches to build a house and cuts her trunk down to build a boat and while providing for the boy, the tree

Read More
1999 Words | 8 Pages

After publishing Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, he wrote a book called The Giving Tree, which now can be known as “the most discussed children’s book in history”(“Shel Silverstein”). The story depicts a boy and a tree who are both growing up throughout the story. The story starts out with the boy being around the tree for fun, but as the boy gets older and has less and less time, he uses the tree for more of what he needs. After continuously taking things from the tree, the boy doesn’t come back for a long time.

Read More

More about The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

Open Document