What is "The Giving Tree" about?

[Richard Hakluyt]

An interesting range of replies.

In the beginning the boy is in a state of grace akin to Rousseau's "noble savage". Both tree and boy are happy and love each other. The boy matures and "needs" different things, the tree continues to love the boy but there is no mention of the love being reciprocal. The boy takes everything the tree has to give but finds no true happiness. In the end the tree gives the only thing it can, a resting place, the boy takes that just like he took everything else.......with no thanks. The story ends with the boy sitting on the stump, he is not happy but the tree is happy. Because it is a children's story the next bit is not covered; which is when the boy dies and his rotting corpse provides nutrients for the pollarded stump which regrows and regains its former glory.

For me it is very much an allegory of man's relationship with the environment and his dubious notions concerning what is valuable.

[Savonarola]

Because it is a children's story the next bit is not covered; which is when the boy dies and his rotting corpse provides nutrients for the pollarded stump which regrows and regains its former glory.

Which is a shame because children are okay with stuff like that; the grosser the better, in fact.  It's adults that don't like to be reminded that someday soon they'll be food for worms.   

[Savonarola]

It could fit as a parable of Christ's love for mankind.  Trouble is Silverstein was Jewish.

Plus he chose a chose a dust jacket cover that makes him look like an axe murderer.  If I ever found myself in Pierre Gringoire's position and had to convince the king of the Truands that poets were part of the criminal element that's the picture I'd use.



Shel may not have had any specific idea when he wrote the story.  It's ambiguous enough that every person will bring his own experience to the story and, similar to The Lady and the Tiger, what you read into it says something about you.  The parents on this forum have mostly read it as an incomplete metaphor for parenting, for instance.

[Barrister]

So, since this thread came about... guess what book was given to my kids at Christmas, and guess which book has been repeatedly demanded at bedtime?

So, after repeated readings, I'm still not super fond of the book, but I have changed my take on it.

The Tree is not actually a good role model.  The tree is not happy giving so much of itself to the boy - there's one line "And the tree was happy... but not really".  And giving so much of itself to the boy didn't actually make the boy happy either.

What the book is about is anti-materialism - things will not make you happy, and self-sacrifice will not make you happy.  The only things to make you happy are to spend time with loved ones.

[garbon]

I'm not sure I would put 'self-sacrifice' in the same camp as materialism.

[CountDeMoney]

Yi was right earlier in the thread: it's a dead-on allegory of Jewish smotherhood.

[Barrister]

I'm not sure I would put 'self-sacrifice' in the same camp as materialism.

Blame Silverstein, not me.

[garbon]

I really think it would point out your analysis is flawed.

[Martinus]

I'm not sure I would put 'self-sacrifice' in the same camp as materialism.

But it's the flip side of the same coin, especially in the context BB used it (which is the context of the poem we are discussing, my dear grumbler-in-training) - you are using things to make yourself feel better. In "self-sacrifice" it is perhaps more disguised, as you are heaping things on someone else to make yourself feel better about yourself as opposed to just amassing things, but the end result is the same - instead of a real human bond, you build your relationship on codependency and resentment, that is not healthy at all.

[grumbler]

I'm not sure I would put 'self-sacrifice' in the same camp as materialism.

But it's the flip side of the same coin, especially in the context BB used it (which is the context of the poem we are discussing, my dear grumbler-in-training) - you are using things to make yourself feel better. In "self-sacrifice" it is perhaps more disguised, as you are heaping things on someone else to make yourself feel better about yourself as opposed to just amassing things, but the end result is the same - instead of a real human bond, you build your relationship on codependency and resentment, that is not healthy at all.

I think that you are trying to change the meaning of the terms to avoid conceding that you may be wrong, my dear Raz-in-training.  Self-sacrifice isn't about giving material things.  it is about giving up things so that another person can advance themselves.  That's usually done through education, membership in teams and organizations, and the like.  The tree at the end of the story is not unhappy.

it is true that the story is a story of a dysfunctional relationship, but it is also clear that the reason the relationship is dysfunctional is because the boy cannot have functional relationships with anyone.  He's broken, and not even the most generous spirit in the world can fix him.