Nature’s beauty and bountifulness has been exploited by humans since the beginning of time. The simple story of Shel Silvertein’s, “The Giving Tree”, seems like a leisurely tale of a relationship between a boy and a tree. However, this book can be analyzed in several different ways, resulting in multiple interpretations. My own view of the story is quite cynical. I believe this story is an allegory of the destructive relationship between mankind and nature.
The tree represents nature’s beauty and abundance, and the boy represents humankind. The boy is symbolic of human’s perpetual degradation of nature, tearing down the tree to suit his own needs and destroying something beautiful for the sake of selfishness. The benevolent and generous tree,
The symbol of the anacahuita tree is essential throughout the book because it binds the Mirabal family in numerous ways, such as Dede’s self awareness, courage and memories are all represented by the tree. This is why when Dede sees the anacahuita tree she connects it with something sentimental, just like this good memory that she is remembering. The anacahuita tree
The tree is the symbol for the cultures of Vietnam who were mistreated in the war and that’s what this tree represents in the book. When it says that the tree trunks “resemble those men, the giants of your childhood... (that you) encounter (all those) old years later… smaller, shrunken by age, giants have become pygmies while you were looking away.” This shows that the tree was once a proud symbol of strength and now
The tree can be seen as a motif to the theme of the book. A tree symbolizes the importance of relationships, but a withered tree foreshadows death and loss. It can also be described a person being broken down, like how Mrs. Schachter must have predicted that she will lose her family when she saw smoke in the air. This implies that Elie and the others will soon have to face life and death situations or possibly lose his family too.
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 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.
The oak tree is used to symbolize Ethan in the novel. The connection can be seen by comparing the characteristics of each. The Oak tree is seen by the characters in the novel as a solid, unchanging, and immovable object. The same can be said about Ethan. He has always has and probably always will live in Starkfield.
The diction in the excerpt is an essential component to the dramatization of the plot’s central incident. Jewett uses rich language to intensify the simple nature of the main character Sylvia’s journey up a “great pine-tree.” For example, in describing the tree, the narrator uses personification as he mentions the “huge tree asleep yet in the paling moonlight.” The use of personification harkens back to those universal moments in childhood in which everything alive had human feelings, and creates an emotional attachment between the reader and the tree. Jewett also uses other figurative language, like similes, to relate the grandeur of the tree to the audience. She writes, “It [the tree] was like a great main-mast to the voyaging earth…” In comparing the tree to the great mast of a ship, the author invokes feelings of awe at its size.
Nathan is warned about the tree at the beginning of the book but he ignores the warning and ends up getting major swelling and rashes on his arms and hands. Depending on how the Congolese word for tree is spoken, whether slowly or quickly, can cause the meaning to change. Nathan is ignorant and because of this, week after week he accidently compares Jesus to the local tree which can cause pain in your life rather than referring to him as the tree of life as was his intention. This symbol relates to the theme because although the “Jesus is like your local tree which can cause pain in your life” comparison wasn’t the intended message, it ends up being true for Nathan. His actions lead to the loss of his daughter because of his arrogance and determination to stay and continue his mission despite his family distancing themselves from
Secondly the Pomegranate tree can be seen as a symbol of Amir and Hassan friendship, childhood innocence and shelter. The tree is presented to the reader in two different states. When the tree appears in the first part of the story, in chapter 4, the tree is shown as being fruitful and blooming with ‘blood red’
The Giving Tree The Giving Tree is a book by Shel Silverstein.. The tree is strong in the story. She is strong for three reasons. One reason is She gave up everything for a boy she loved; every time the boy came and asked for something, the tree would give it to him so the boy would be happy.
It took that long for this tree to grow to that size and we as humans can use it once it hits the ground. When the man was cutting the tree up with his saw and thinking of all the events that this tree lived through reminded me of when someone passes away and has a funeral. At the funeral, family members, friends, etc., think about all the things that the deceased person has done in life and been through. I was able to see a connection between both humans and this tree. In today's society with all the cutting down trees and deforestation in the world, the people that cut down these tree's don’t think about the tree as a living thing or think about the history of a tree. This makes me think of other resources that take centuries to create like sand, oil, and metal, which can take thousands of years to
The Giving Tree is a modern children literature written by Shel Silverstein, which is also one of his first successful piece of work. It is about an apple tree who always gives and gives and a boy who always takes and takes. This might be another story to read before bed times for the kids but however, it portrays so many things, from deforestation to modern society. Personally, I believe that The Giving Tree portrays the theme of selflessness versus selfishness, like the unconditional love a parent has for his or her child.
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."
There was only water and bare, empty land. In the center of this nothingness was a great mountain. This mountain stood tall and proud and it reached all the way into the heavens. At the very top of this mountain lived a pair of every kind of animal. In the center of this heaven grew a tree. This tree was not just any tree, it was the sacred tree of life, and it was not to be harmed in any way.
The Giving Tree was about the relationship between a boy and a tree that was personified as a woman. In the beginning the tree and the boy were happy playing together, spending time together, and just genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Then the boy started growing up consequently spending less time with the tree. The times