Silverstein's The Giving Tree

To This Day is a non-fiction poem by Shane Koyczan. I think that the depiction of the tree contains symbolism. When it shows the tree with the flower on it when it says “grafted onto a different family tree” the flower symbolizes how he survived(Koyczan).

Like Francie, the tree remains constant, yet still changes every so slightly with Francie as she navigates childhood to young adulthood to adulthood. The tree proves to be as stubborn as Francie is, fighting through every season and gaining more strength on its journey. In harsh contrast, Johnny Nolan is an incredibly soft character, who Smith depicts almost in a weak way. Johnny does not have his limits when it comes to two of the great loves of his life: alcohol and daydreaming. Yes, it is Johnny who instills the naivety of daydreaming into Francie, helping her to be the innocent child the audience meets at the beginning of the story, but ultimately, his addictions lead to his demise. Thorough a vast array of characters, Smith creates a tale with a variety of morals, fears, and everything in

“’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

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

In the book Speak the Trees describe life and growth for Melinda. In the beginning of the novel, Melinda is assigned to draw trees for a year long art project. She struggles to draw realistic trees, frustrated that she “can’t bring it to life”. This represents her depression and struggle. The tree symbolizes the danger Melinda’s faces in letting her pain overtake every aspect of her life. As Melinda begins to heal, her tree drawings become richer and more detailed, symbolizing her own growth.

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.

“Mom frowned at me… that gives it its beauty.” (p. 38) When Jeannette devises a plan to uproot the Joshua tree, which has grown sideways in the direction of the constant wind that passes over it, her mother quickly dismisses the idea. Rose Mary claims that the tree is beautiful not because it grows straight like the other trees, but rather because its struggle defines it and makes it unique. Rose Mary is typically unwilling to tamper with nature and she is particularly drawn to the unique form of the Joshua Tree. Through the figure of the tree a young Jeannette learns an important lesson about non-conformity.

Trees and plants represent life in the novel which ties into the overarching theme of the dehumanization that comes from slavery. Many of the characters in Beloved have been subjected to awful events causing them to feel as if they were worse than animals. Because of this, many characters look to the beauty of nature and trees in particular, to help them heal from their time in slavery. For example, Baby Suggs decided to preach in a place called The Clearing, which is surrounded by tall trees. "In the Clearing, Sethe found Baby's old preaching rock and remembered the smell of leaves simmering in the sun, thunderous feet and the shouts that ripped pods off the limbs of chestnuts. With Baby Suggs' heart in charge, the people let go." (Morrison 94) Another example of trees bringing healing to the characters in the novel is the arrival of Beloved. “A fully dressed woman walked out of the water. She barely gained the dry bank of the stream before she sat down and leaned against a mulberry tree.”(Morrison 60) This tree represents a chance at a new life for Beloved and also offers Sethe a chance to heal. Ever since killing her child, Sethe has been haunted over her decision and she is finally able to confront her past with the appearance 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 tree represents everything Melinda has worked for that year. It represents the rape, the hate, the obstacles, the dilemmas. It represents the perseverance, the imperfectness, the strength, and the growth. The tree represents Melinda's transformations by showing what she has

The novel Speak by Laurie Hales Anderson shows Melinda Sordino struggling through the year, and her recovery from the painful memory of getting raped at the party in summer break. In the beginning of the story, the story shows how bad Melinda feels and then she changes and starts growing and at the final stage of the story Melinda becomes a strong hard oaktree-like person. In the book Speak, the author symbolizes the tree to show Melinda’s change from being an outcast to being an accepted person; this also supports the theme: time can help heal one’s painful memories.In the beginning of the year, her trees looked like trees that existed nowhere on earth, but by the end of the year, her trees were breathing and looked as if they had shot up

Tree appears dysfunctional like the Walls’ Family, but under the dysfunction is the love that succeeds on hardships, like the tree. The tree that the mother spots in the desert is metaphor of the effect the struggles of life have on each of the characters in the story. Constantly blown by wind, the Joshua tree grows sideways, “Mom, however, thought it was one of the most beautiful trees she had ever seen”(walls,35). The Walls children can be seen as one of these trees, their lives shaped by the consistency of their parents' frequent moves and questionable habits. Jeannette tries to resist at first when living in New York. Not wanting anyone to know about her past or judge her for allowing her parents to remain homeless. However her attempts

"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."

The boy uses the tree for various of things as they both age. Each thing that the boy takes from the tree makes the tree weak. Silverstein took on a Selfless love type of feeling happy in the beginning, sad in the middle and happy at the end. The theme shows about giving out to those you love

In the story Adam and Eve were let to be living in the Garden of Eden, where God had created one of everything. He created many fruits and vegetables, animals, plants, and trees. It was first Adam’s job to take care and live in the Garden of Eden, till one day God saw that Adam was lonely so he took matters into his own hands. God created Eve out of Adam’s rib, that’s how Eve began to live in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was Adam and Eve’s home and it was beautiful. Till one day God and Jesus had come over to the garden to talk to Adam and Eve and what he was expecting for them to do while they lived there. There were many trees in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve could eat from and take care of. God had told Adam and Eve that they could eat fruit from all the trees but one. It was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was the center tree of the garden. God had said if they ate fruit from that tree that they would die and have to leave the Garden of Eden. If they didn’t eat fruit from that tree they would be able to live in the Garden of Eden forever.