Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Trees represent her life because they aren’t simple. Trees are large and strong, their roots are in the ground and their leaves sway in the sky. At first, Melinda’s life was as solid as the tallest tree in the world. “This was the girl who suffered through Brownies with me, who taught me how

The setting changes while Francie continues to mature into a woman. She becomes 16, and is beginning to lead a life of her own. The family leaves the grieving they had for Johnny behind. Not only does Francie start out with a clean slate, so does the rest of the Nolan family. After the two and ½ years of mourning for Johnny, Sergeant Mc Shane asks Katie to marry him. War rages through the country. While he and Katie make arrangements for the fall wedding and gifts of money and whatnot, Francie makes headway in her personal life.

So she and her father started pruning the tree which is the process of cutting off all the old rotted branches that the tree does not need. ”He is saving it Those branches were long dead from disease All plants are like that By cutting off the damage you make it possible for the tree to grow again” The process of her and her father's pruning shows how she is trying to cut off all the bad and rotten things about her. She is trying to better herself and be confident in herself. Trees are symbolic and many different ways, this book is one of them.

Surviving trees grow buds that turn into apples, that shows that they are alive. When it shows the tree you can see that is is noticeably different from the ones in the forest, I think that this shows how being adopted changed his life.

With the honest tone that can be considered trustworthy because of how blunt it is and the emotional diction that gives a better understanding of how the characters feel, the reader can see that the boy appreciates the tree while the girl does not pay particular attention to it. Following the tree the siblings pay attention to, it also serves as a romantic symbol in the excerpt and is a specific selection of

The tree symbolizes personal growth and confidence. If you aspire to achieve personal growth you must speak your mind. Throughout the book, Melinda has troubles dealing with a situation that has been constantly bothering her. This incident happened during the summer before her freshman year in highschool at a party.

The literal language used in the beginning of the free verse does not imply the tree having any symbolic meaning to the speaker and her mother. It is casually said- “My mother and I debate, we could sell the black walnut tree…[to] pay off the mortgage” - which defines that in these lines the tree has not yet been introduced with its symbolic purpose. Initially, the tree is viewed as a property they are willing to sell. They rationalize the idea by noting that there are “roots in the

Everything seemed perfect in Gene and Finny’s relationship with each other; however Gene went above and beyond the limit by idolizing Finny. Competition arose between the two boys. A little competition between friends isn’t bad, but the element of competition was much stronger in Gene’s character. Eventually, this lead to Gene performing an act of jealousy to even out the competition. This is where the symbol of the tree comes into place. Gene’s act of jealousy was jouncing a tree limb causing Finny to

The tree would love to play with the boy. From page 5 through 10 it shows how much the boy and the tree would play together. It shows all the things they would do when the boy was younger. "...he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest. He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples. And they would play hide-and-go-seek." It is like how a mother and son play a lot together when he is young. All the things the boy and the tree would do, the mother and son do also. A mother also takes care of her child.

The pear tree is her inspiration and her first true desire. She longs to bud and blossom, like the tree, and cannot wait to discover herself and all the wonders of the world.

“’The next time you work on your trees, don’t think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or pain – whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat, or your toes curl. Focus on that feeling.’”(122) In the book speak there are many examples of symbolism. The one that stands out the most is the tree as it is mentioned very frequently in almost every chapter of the book. It represents that growth that she goes through as a character from the beginning of the book to the end and her mental recovery after the traumatic event of being raped. The different representations we see of the tree correspond with the state she is in and the emotions she is feeling at that part in the book. When she is struggling with her life she

The Giving Tree becomes so absorbed in her concerns for the Boy that she neglects to truly take care of herself. While Silverstein states in the poem that the Giving Tree loved the Boy, all of her subsequent actions benefited the Boy and harmed herself. She was only content when caring for the Boy; she never seemed to be complete by herself. Thus, when the little Boy wanted money, she gave her fruits to him to sell. She gifted her branches to him, so that he could build the house he wanted. Then she gifted her trunk, so that the Boy could sail away in his own boat. By the time the Boy had aged into seniority, he had already reduced the Tree to a stump. In relation to self care, it’s also vitally important to remove toxicity in your life. Somebody who drains you of energy is toxic. The Boy came back time and time again to ask for more, and then would leave her behind

The theme in Shel Silverstein’s book the giving tree is greed. It is this because the boy in the beginning is just playing with leaves but when the boy grows he wants money and tree gives him apples to sell. Here are some things the boy says

Walls suggested that they dig it up and plant it near the house so it would have the same outcome. Rosemary, their mother, was displeased with the idea, she said, “‘You’d be destroying what makes it special’ ... ‘It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it it’s beauty.’” (Walls, 38). Rosemary was essentially saying that the scraggly, permanently twisted, tortured position of symbolized the tree’s perseverance which was the tree’s beauty. One night while driving, Rosemary and their father got in an argument over how long Rosemary had been pregnant. Rosemary, exasperated, gets out of the car and runs off into the dessert, in which their father chases her, with the car. The bystanders, or the children, just readied themselves for the unforeseeable. Walls says, “Lori, Brain, and I braced one another with our arms, like we always did when Dad went on some wild chase that we knew would get bumpy.” (Wall, 42). To Walls her siblings represented a stronghold and force only achieved by being together. Something they did not experience much in their dysfunctional family. So, for persevering together the children were able to gain and benefit from a little bit of stability in their hectic life. This applies to a wide variety of reader that have sibling and can relate to the feeling of needing your siblings to be able to accomplish or get through a situation or

"Blessed is the mother who is able to help her child, at whatever age. This truth about parental happiness is surly known by any loving parents who has been compelled to watch impotently while his child is suffering." The example to prove this statement can be seen all through the story. "The forest is my house, but you may cut of my branches and build a house. Then you will be happy. And so the boy cut of her branches and carried them away to build his house. And the tree was happy." On the other hand, the boy still stays inconsiderate and selfish. He never even once mention to the tree how thankful he is or even a simply "thank you". "The love of the tree for the boy or the man is a selfless love, while the love of the boy for the tree is a selfish love. The boy never tries to help the tree (by pruning, feeding it, et cetera), while the entire being of the tree is devoted to helping the boy meet his most recent need, whether trivial or essential."