The Giving Tree details the relationship of a boy and a tree. In the boy's younger ages, the two formed a solid relationship and became great friends. Throughout the boy's life, the tree provides everything the boy asks for: entertainment, games, natural resources, tangible supplies, relaxation, and love. Shel Silverstein has been trying to describe and show many different topics and issues to all different people reading his story. All people many believe in different interpretations of the Giving Tree; other readers of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein may interpret the story as a detrimental book that is not suitable for learning purposes in schools or as a foreshadowing of the human race depleting and wasting the Earth's nature. However …show more content…
As for the person who needs and takes everything, the boy is the person who takes and demands everything from his companion in this story. Over the course of the story, the boy expressed what is called selfish love by needing and taking everything. The boy performed detrimental actions which harmed the tree. For example, the boy demands branches from the tree. "'I want a wife and I want children, and so I need a house. Can you give me a house?' 'I have no house,' said the tree. 'The forest is my house, but you may cut off my branches and build a house. Then you will be happy.'" (Silverstein, The Giving Tree) If one person in a relationship needs and takes everything that the other person has, the person with selfish love will eventually be affected negatively. This is shown in the Giving Tree as the boy continues to deprive his only friend of everything that she has to offer. This had a detrimental effect on the boy because he used his only companion and left nothing behind of the tree. This made the boy sad and unhappy because he grew greedy and kept taking things from the tree. In the end, he felt sorry and guilty for what he had done. Overall, the boy faced negative outcomes from this relationship. As for the person in a relationship who gives and sacrifices everything, he or she will …show more content…
For example, IMGreen interpreted The Giving Tree as a foreshadowing of the human race's likelihood of depleting the world of its nature and natural resources. IMGreen interpreted the relationship between the boy and the tree as a parallel to the relationship between man and nature. However, this is where this interpretation falls short and has errors. The relationship between the tree and the boy can not be expressed as a relationship between man and nature because Shel Silverstein had given the tree human-like characteristics such as intelligence, speaking ability, and most importantly, emotions. Throughout the story, the "tree was happy" and the tree says, "I'm sorry." Therefore, Shel Silverstein had not meant to represent nature in general by giving the tree human like characteristics. Other interpretations of the Giving Tree include one by Ms. Laver. She has stated that the Giving Tree should never be used for education purposes in schools. One of her points state that "the book promotes greed" because the book "supports the idea that it is valid for a person to take everything from someone else and leave almost nothing behind." However, Shel Silverstein included this aspect of selfishness in the boy, not to promote greed, but to make readers aware of