The Giving Tree Essay

Some of these may be very scary and some may only be mildly scary. It

“’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

For instance, she is referred as the tree in the story stating, “and she loved a little boy” (Silverstein, pp.2), the unconditional love is described in early stages of the story aligning in correlation of a mother unconditional love for her newborn child. The relationship between the two continues to grow, play on the tree branches, and constantly playing all the time however as the child grows it seems that he would only visit if he had an interest or need. Indeed, the tree personality display “Introverted Feeling” from Jung theory; which can be identified as "superficially reserved, but sympathetic and understanding of close friends or of others in need; loving, but not demonstrative" (Cloninger, 2013, 3.6). The boy would only visit when he needed of something and the tree would find ways to help and make his life happy. In fact, this can relate to Jung theory which “described this relationship as one of compensation” (Cloninger, 2013, 3.2, para

The tree would take care of the boy. When the boy would come each time to ask for something the tree was willing to give anything

The Pear tree symbolizes her initiation into womanhood whilst sitting under the tree. This was the feeling of initial inclination towards love and the sentiments of sexual yearning and affection.

In the beginning, the pear tree symbolizes Janie’s yearning to find within herself the sort of harmony and simplicity that nature embodies. However, that

A search for love is the major theme throughout the novel. The tree represents the stages of love and growth throughout Janie’s life. “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches” (Hurston 13). During the quest for love, Janie finds that love comes in different forms with different people. In the end, she ends up finding the love for

In this section (quote) of the book, Melinda receives her year long art project and that project is to draw, sculpt, paper mache, and carve out a Tree. " I plunge my hand into the bottom of the globe and fish out my paper. "Tree." Tree?' (12). This quote relates to Melinda's character traits because the "tree" is a symbol that shows her emotions that go on from this point and throughout the rest of the book.

any individuality or appreciation for beauty to show, nor is any notice of the tree mentioned.

The tree in Speak symbolizes Melinda’s emotional state when at first she finds no meaning in drawing the tree then she finds the courage to speak up about her rape experience. As Melinda is starting her artistic path, Mr. Freeman says his opinion on her artwork and she develops an understanding that her art work could compare to her life.

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

In this book the tree would be an example of the one who just wants love and acceptance. She loved the boy very much and would do anything to make him happy because that is all that she wanted, the boys happiness. On the other hand the boy was very greedy and knew that the tree loved him and would do anything for him. So he took advantage of that fact and took every last thing from her. The tree didn’t understand how much she was giving up until she had nothing left because she was blinded by her love for the

"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 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