The Giving Tree

Cover to The Giving Tree, depicting the tree giving away an apple.

The Giving Tree, first published in 1964, is a children's book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. This book has become one of Silverstein's best known titles and has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Storyline

The story is a short moral tale about a relationship between a young boy and a tree in a forest. The tree and the boy become best friends. The tree always provides the boy with what he wants: branches to swing from, shade to sit under, apples to snack on, branches to build a house with. As the boy grows older and older he requires more and more of the tree. The tree loves the boy very much and gives him anything he asks for. In the ultimate act of self-sacrifice, the tree lets the boy cut her down so the boy can build a boat in which he can sail. The boy leaves the tree, now a stump. Many years later, the boy, now an old man, returns and the tree says, "I have nothing left to give you." The boy replies that all he needs is a quiet place to sit and rest. The tree happily obliges.

Analysis

Ever since the book was published, it has generated controversy and opposing opinions for its interpreted messages, on whether the tree is selfless or merely self-sacrificing, and whether the boy is selfish or reasonable in his demands of the tree. The story clearly shows childhood as being a time of relative happiness in comparison to the sacrifice and responsibility of adulthood. The story only uses the word "need" at the end to describe the "boy's"/old man's need of a place to rest- all of his other desires are "wants."

A review of The Giving Tree: A Symposium shows some academic readers describing the book as portraying a vicious, one-sided relationship between the tree and the boy: with the tree as the selfless giver and the boy as a greedy and never-satisfied being who constantly receives, yet never gives anything back to the tree; a selfish love that could be misrepresented and imitated by its young readers. Indeed, some of these speakers single the tree out as either an irresponsible parent whose self-sacrifice has left the boy ill-equis him, and its feelings are reciprocated by the boy when he returns to the tree for a rest. In this way, the relationship between the tree and the boy as he grows up could be viewed as similar to that between a mother and her child; despite getting nothing in return for a long time, the tree puts the boy's needs foremost, because it wants him to be happy. Indeed, the only time the tree ever seems to be sad is when it feels that it has nothing left to give the boy and that the boy might never return.

As Ben Jackson, a professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University put it:

Is this a sad tale? Well, it is sad in the same way that life is sad. We are all needy, and, if we are lucky and any good, we grow old using others and getting used up. Tears fall in our lives like leaves from a tree. Our finitude is not something to be regretted or despised, however; it is what makes giving (and receiving) possible. The more you blame the boy, the more you have to fault human existence. The more you blame the tree, the more you have to fault the very idea of parenting. Should the tree's giving be contingent on the boy's gratitude? If it were, if fathers and mothers waited on reciprocity before caring for their young, then we would all be doomed.

Jackson, linking the story to the human condition, asserts that readers ought to identify with both the boy and the tree.

References in Popular Culture

• "The Giving Tree" was parodied by the webcomic The Perry Bible Fellowship in a strip titled "The Unforgiving Tree", where a caption reads "apologies, Silverstein".

• It is also parodied in the Cartoon Network series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy in the episode "The Taking Tree".

• A reading of "The Giving Tree" is featured in the song Glenbrook from the EP Bike by electronic composer Christ.

• "The Giving Tree" is referenced in (and lends its name to) Episode 10 of Season 3 of "Friday Night Lights."

• Minnesota-based jam band group Wookiefoot references "The Giving Tree" in "Giving Tree (Taking Boy)," a pro-environment acoustic ska-punk number found on their 2006 album ACTIVATE.

• In an interview on KDWB Radio in Minnesota on Friday, December 12th, 2008 Will Smith mentioned this book and its author as a prime example of how he tries to teach his children gratitude.

• In the episode Petergeist of Family Guym Herbert asks a walking tree "Are you Giving Tree or a Receiving Tree".

• In the episode Arrivederci, Fiero of How I Met Your Mother Marshall describes his recently scrapped Fiero as "the freaking giving tree of cars."

• College Humor has made a parody of the "The giving tree" called "The very, very giving tree."

• It is widely believed that the lyrics of MGMT's hit song kids were inspired by the story, with the lines:

         "You were a child, 
   crawlin' on your knees toward it. 
        Makin' mama so proud, 
     but your voice is too loud. 

         Control yourself. 
   Take only what you need from it. 
      A family of trees wanting, 
          To be haunted." 

• The Giving Tree appears in the Robot Chicken episode "But Not In That Way" voiced by Hulk Hogan. As Gary's life goes on, he reaches adulthood where he wants the Giving Tree as an addition to his house. The Giving Tree tells him to go to the other Giving Tree across the field. That tree turned out to be the Raping Tree as the Giving Tree makes fun of Gary as he is being raped by the Raping Tree.

References

• http://family.go.com/entertainment/article-65594-Book-Review--The-Giving-Tree-t/
• http://www.epinions.com/content_264936984196
• http://www.shvoong.com/books/397416-giving-tree/
• http://www.bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.ASP?bookid=3047

External links

• The Giving Tree: A Symposium Religious perspectives on the book's morals