The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

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).

| “This was the tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but that they are…shrunken by age.” Ch. 1, Pg. 14

The mood of the speaker changes to guilt as the speaker and her mother realize they would "crawl" with "shame" and leave an "emptiness" in their father's heart and yard. The author negatively connotes "crawl," "shame," and "emptiness" to invoke a more serious and shameful tone. The beginning of the conveyed a more matter-of-fact and pragmatic tone, but changes into a more sentimental one by the end to convey family is more important than the money. The symbol of the tree represents the family, and connects it to their father's hard work and dedication to the family. If they were to cut it down, it would be symbolic of their betrayal. Imagery of the tree is used to describe the freedom and beauty of the tree as it "swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit." The tree represents their family bond and how strong it is even through the "whip-crack of the mortgage."

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

This supposition can be further supported when the two children spot a young tree, a “scratch of

Second, the sentences, “[The tree] must truly have been amazed that morning; the old pine must have loved his new dependent,” mean that the woods love her; in addition, the author uses contradictory to describe Sylvia. I can conclude that Sylvia’s spirit is stronger than her small body

Little Tree loses his parents when he is only five years old, while at the funeral he refuses to cry and instead holds onto his grandfather's leg. Throughout history Native Americans have had most of everything they cherished stolen by white men, much in the same way Tree has everything he knows taken from him. Tree clings to his grandfather just as Natives had to cling to their culture in order to keep anything familiar. Little Tree is taken to live with his grandparents much to to dismay of his other relatives. During his stay there his naivety shows, along with an unknown natural woodsman side. Tree’s granpa takes him out to catch tukey's, when it comes time to pick which three out of the six to take home Tree chooses the smallest three, he knows no better and his granpa doesn't say a word about it. What he lacks in naturally selecting out turkeys he makes up in his discovery. Tree/s grama tells him that the forest accepts him, and it shows. Little Tree is able to find a secret place that brings out his nature enriched body and

"Each square holding a sweet gum leaf" and "its pattern of leaves" definitely gives the impression that this quilt is a magnificent and encompassing tree. Trees are traditionally thought of as old and full of meaning, having many branches and leaves stemming from the same trunk. This parallels the meaning of the quilt to the individual since it is a tool by which the individual can relate and think of those, in his family, who may have also taken comfort and enjoyed the whimsical essence of this "tree." Additionally, this quilt allows for the individual to fantasize about the days of those who used the blanket before: his [gentle] mother and [proud] father. He is able to imagine their lives with fanciful imagery while also questioning who will take the blanket next, "perhaps a son," the speaker says. This furthers the quilt's comparison to a magnificent tree in that the quilt is passed down generation to generation through a family

Shel Silverstein used personification to make the tree into a person and how the tree can show love to the boy and how it can do all this stuff just for the boy to spend time with have you ever had someone take your kindness for weakness? Have you ever had someone use you for your money and good fortune? The tree waits and waits for the boy and the boy only comes every once and a while and when he comes it’s only using the tree for its resources and money. “i am too big to play, i want to buy things and have fun.”

I think the tree symbolizes Ha’s hope. This means for Ha that her “baby” is gone. Ha thought of the tree as her baby because she cared for it. One reason is that the tree was her get away from the world. Ha never really had as good a friend as TiTi until she left. Furthermore, the papaya tree was technically Ha’s friend. Brother Vu wanted to cut it down “rather than let the Communists get it”.(60) This is also showing the spread of communism. When it was cut down, again she felt the same as when TiTi left. Another reason is that the papaya tree was an accident. Ha grew her tree from “a seed I flicked into the back garden.”(8) Even though the trees growth was an accident she still thought it was her friend. The author’s specific word choice

The boy comes back each time to only ask the tree for more supplies that he thinks he needs and wants. The boy says “I want to buy things and have fun” , so the giving tree gives him her apples to go sell in the city for money. When the boy came back after a long time, the tree felt so happy and filled with joy. But as soon as the little boy returned he told the tree when she asked if he wanted to climb he said “I am to busy to climb trees”. Instead of being rude and disrespectful he could have said “I just wanted to come back and say thank you for being providing and supporting of me as i grew up” but he did not.

The first example of selfishness and selflessness is when the boy kept demanding for items from the tree, and the tree simply giving to the boy. The tree and the boy´s relationship are similar to a child and their parent. A parent is constantly giving and caring for their children. A child also needs and wants from their caretakers. And as the boy grew older he kept asking from the tree, the more

As the story goes the boy continues to ask the tree for things. So the tree says "Cut down my trunk, build a boat and sail far way. "Stating that the tree told the boy to cut down the tree's trunk and therefore the boy can make a boat and sail away. In the story it also shows a bit of selfishness of what the boy does. The boy says to the tree "I want a boat, can you give me a boat to sail far away from here."

To begin with, Min was very scolding and demanding towards Tree-ear. He was scolding him to cut some wood from the kiln and it got so bad that Tree-ear had cuts and bruises all over his hands. Tree-ear’s arms were getting really sore and Min still insisted day after day that he still keep cutting wood until Tree-ear met Min’s expectations. Tree-ear

The look of the tree is compared to the old man by the use of personification. Although the man knew that the tree had to be much stronger because if the man took the trees place he wouldnít be able to stand alone.