The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein Essay

Betty Smith’s classic tale A Tree Grows in Brooklyn utilizes an assortment of intriguing, relatable characters to tell the emotional tale of a young girl, born into the depths of poverty, and to detail the traumatic life events that occur that shape her into her future self. Set in impoverished Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1912, this story centers around the Nolan family: hardworking, tough mother Katie, impractical and romantic father Johnny, momma’s boy Cornelius “Neeley”, and the protagonist, eleven-year old Mary Frances “Francie”, a sharp-witted, loyal daydreamer through whom the reader sees life occur throughout the book. Francie’s ability to daydream about a greater life for her and her family help her to escape

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."

Parenting played a big role in shaping the two boys lives. Having a parental mentor is important because they assist and guide children to take the right decisions about their lives. The author had his two parents at the beginning of his life. Also, the author’s parents, especially his mother, tried to raise him in an effective way wanting him to know the right from wrong at an early age. “No mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing” (Moore 11). This quote was a live example of the author’s life with his parents. It reflected the different ways his parents used to teach him “the right thing.” Though his mother was upset from his action toward his sister, his father

Early on in the novel, the reader begins to learn that the The Man and The Boy have a very close and intimate bond. Rather than causing a strain on the their relationship, the isolation that constantly follows the pair on The Road actually made their bond as father and son stronger . Traveling along The Road by themselves causes The Man and The Boy’s relationship to become extremely codependent. The Boy relies on The Man like any child would rely on their father. The Boy completely counts on The Man for everything, including food, shelter, clothes, and everything else that is needed to survive on The Road. The Man keeps them safe from the “bad guys” and keeps them alive and as healthy as he can. The Boy’s needs are always put before The Man’s needs. However, The Man depends upon The Boy just as much as The Boy depends on him. If it weren’t for The Boy, The Man would have been dead a long time ago. The only reason that he has survived this long is because of The Boy. Making sure The Boy survives is the only meaning that The Man has to his life. The Boy’s continued existence is the most influential motivation

The boy is very warm-hearted and appears to struggle to understand that danger could occur at any moment, whilst his father knows a lot more about what some people, “the bad guys”, do in order to survive. It could be seen that the child is very naive and therefore trusts others more than his father. However his trust in others teaches his father a valuable lesson; that not everyone is a “bad guy”. For instance when the pair come across Ely, the father is wary about him but his son is adamant that they give him a tin of food. This shows to readers that the boy has faith unlike his father. Another example is when the son sees the little boy; he begs his father to go back and help him and asks if he can go with them. I believe that he wants to help others as

They’re always about something bad happening” (McCarthy 269). So by this statement, we know that the boy while empathetic, still feels negative emotions for himself. We feel as if the boy is what keeps the book going, the fire; he is the only one who can and will keep the story going because he is seen as something greater than all. After the father dies, we see that the boy finds a group of wanderers and joins them.

Parenthood was a factor in the boy’s life, this ideas gives you an insight on what he wanted the reader to convey. here are two different emotions running through this story from both the boys. In the author Wes Moore the emotion you feel while reading it is hurt and compassion.

He is always aware of his father’s commands and follows them at all costs, because he knows that his father knows what is best for him. Three adjectives that would describe the boy are innocent, obedient, and compassionate. The purpose of the boy is to remind the man of what they are trying to do. He keeps his father from becoming too aggressive or too desperate by asking him if they are still the good guys.

The boy and the father have strong morals demonstrating a high level of authenticity, especially in a world where morality is extremely uncommon. To be ‘authentic’ means to genuinely be yourself. Although, as presented by Existentialism, one cannot be their true self until one has defined themselves. First, one must create their authentic selves, then they must live according to that (Varga). The father and the boy have strong principles to do what is right, even when their fellow survivors have completely abandoned morality altogether. At times, the father struggles with following said principles, however, he then justifies his actions which are purely for the safety of his son. This depicts that the father will do anything and everything to assure that the boy lives. The father expresses that “He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke” (5). When a man holds a knife to the son's neck, the father does not hesitate to kill him. Although this is

There were no longer those two boys who used to visit the tree. The tree died with their friendship.

Throughout the story, the man often repeats that his son is why he is living. He says that his son is the reason why he makes an effort to find food, shelter, and protection every night. Because of their powerful bond, the man's main goal is to keep his son safe. The father puts this attitude to the extreme when he carries a gun with one bullet around so that if him and his son are captured, he can save his son from torture and pain by shooting him. The man loves his son so much that he is willing to kill the boy to save him from a bad life. The action and this love proves that the man's motivation in life to keep his son safe derives from their special connection. The boy also does everything for his father because they have such a powerful bond. After his father dies, the boy stays with him: "he sat beside him and he was crying and he couldn't stop. He cried for a long time. I'll talk to you every day, he whispered. And I wont forget. No matter what" (240-241). The boy is devastated. He had lost all he lived for. Although the boy was in an awful circumstance, he still says that he won't forget his father which illustrates how strong their relationship is. The boy continues to say that gets up and starts walking down the road. This is important because now he takes with him a memory of his father that he

One boy out of a school of more than three hundred boys. Wilfred, the lad’s name, was an orphan and as is often said, ‘birds of a feather flock together.’ It could not be accurately said that Wilfred shared much in common with John, but they both lacked parents. John’s lack of a nurturing father existed because Formonsus senior withheld all fatherly contact and benevolence, and was as deleterious to John’s health and development by making him through strictures a motherless child. He lacked a mother because his father forbad her to have anything to do with the boy other than she was permitted to see to his .necessities’ when he was sick. A state with which he was rarely affected. Therefore, John was without normal parental interactions and benefits, and Wilfred was a orphan whose parents had died when he was young, leaving him dependent on the charity of the town. In these circumstances, each of their situations held points of similarity that were greater than any differences between

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

Let’s move on to the incident of the story, the boy was very childish after the incident happened and his act and thought was really a kid. As the story says, “He felt the shadow and weight of his father behind him, placid and unashamed. Oh how he hated him and his smug, foreign stupidity! Why did he have to be his father (p.220)?” We can know the boy was really childish after the incident happened. Although his father’s behavior was rude or not good, he is so emotional and doesn’t give his father respect. His father grab the orange form a young man who seemed wants to give help. The boy couldn’t judge his father like that way because he doesn’t know these oranges are for their family and

Little Tree is an elementary-aged male living in 1920’s America. While this was obviously nearly a hundred years ago, many of the factors discussed still play a role in today’s society. Since his mother died (his father is unknown and out of the picture), he has been raised by his grandparents in the Appalachian Mountains. His grandmother is full-Cherokee and his grandfather is half-Cherokee, half-Scottish, but both grandparents are proud of their Native American heritage and work to pass on their Cherokee traditions and beliefs to Little Tree. In addition to teaching him about his culture and heritage, both grandparents also instilled in him the values of hard work and perseverance. Little Tree was raised in a very supportive environment that encouraged independent learning