Preview

The Giving Tree Symbolism

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
501 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Giving Tree Symbolism
Have you ever read a book that you remember from your childhood, and discovered hidden meanings or symbolism, when you thought the meaning was exactly stated? In the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, a favorite book of quite a few children, Silverstein tells a story of a “tree” giving everything she can to a young boy throughout his life. He comes back when he has taken from her not physically, but mentally and emotionally, and asks for bigger favors as he gets older. He starts to take greater things from the tree until there is nothing left. Which leaves us to think, what if the tree is not a tree after all, and is being used as a symbol for something greater? The Giving Tree is about a mother and son.

The Giving Tree is about the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, one of the major symbols was the American style garden that Reverend Nathan tries to plant in the Congo. Nathan price is a Southern Baptist missionary whose goal is to bring salvation to the Congolese people through the christian faith. The symbol of the garden is a metaphor for the irony where Nathan believes he is enlightening the Congo when he is actually learning from the Congo, while also containing biblical significance, which together, ultimately shows Nathan’s ignorance and one of the aspects of his daughter Leah.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    | The tree is symbolized to represent something grown up from. The tree is the past, and it was so much more meaningful before rather than now. The change in importance is due to Gene thinking and reliving it constantly over time.…

    • 6349 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In The Bible

    • 1718 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Symbolism is used all throughout the Bible. Everything in the Bible has a significant meaning and a purpose. Symbolism helps create understanding and depth. It can help make the theme of a story become clearer. Themes alone can sound preachy, and stories alone can sound shallow. Symbolism weaves the two together to create a perfect balance. Symbols are usually used to describe something complex, Jesus used symbols so we could understand his preaching’s. God’s journey with the Israelites is one of the greatest epics ever written. In all good tales symbolism is often used. Both in the old and new testaments three things are often used as symbols; the vine, the olive tree, and the fig tree. These three things come together…

    • 1718 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Morrison uses the elements of symbolism and metaphor to create a powerful depiction of emotions. The imagery of beautiful trees in Beloved attempts to mask the horrors that took place among them. Ironically ,beautiful Trees are perverted into a symbol of horrible acts. The characters of Beloved were faced in a time period where they have been oppressed to the point of dehumanization and subjected to the idea of companionism of inanimate objects (trees, in this case). Morrison crafts the novel around the idea of trees, how we see them today, and what they meant to people who witnessed the evil in other aspects of their life. It seems as if the characters' interpretation of what trees are gives the reader insight to fully analyzing a character. The characters' responses to trees give the reader insight to how, through horrific experiences , one can still find serenity within nature and trees, usually the only beautiful things when living life as a slave. Toni Morrison does an excellent job of piecing slavery hardened characters together that are ultimately formed by one element. The trees are there as a symbol of not only life, but death, and all the bad in between. The perception of this novel is totally up to the reader and interpretation is key to analyzing the element of trees…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before his incident at the tree, Finny was a sports all star. He was gifted with superior sports skills; this was shown when he beat the school swimming record without ever having practiced at all. Once the fall occurred, Finny’s life was changed forever. “Sports are finished for him [Finny], after an accident like that. Of course. . . . If I [Stanpole] had the slightest hope that he could do more than walk I’d be all for trying for everything. There is no such hope” (55). Finny’s life revolved around sports, and once the accident occurred, his life was over. To Finny, the tree represented loss, sadness, and eventually death. As shown in the book, A Separate Peace, the tree plays a very important role in the lives of both Gene and Finny, the two main characters. The tree symbolizes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from the Bible, it represents fear, hatred, and jealousy to Gene, and it also represents loss and sadness to…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shel Silverstein wrote a children’s book that can be perceived through multiple critical lenses, from historical to feminist to psychological. In the Giving Tree he uses personification, metaphor, and allusions to depict the psychological impact of growing up with someone who was different than him but whom he shared a special bond with.

 Silverstein begins by using personification to describe the tree's constant giving and dedication. Throughout the life of the tree, she ultimately sacrifices and gives everything she has to the boy symbolizing both compassion and love. She continues this pattern throughout her entire life and his entire life which is why Silverstein may have portrayed her as a woman. Throughout history women have been…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Symbolism In Cloudstreet

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “From separate catastrophes, two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.” (Winton, 1991) Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novel, Cloudstreet is a masterful tale of love, meaning and heartbreaking tragedy that speaks strongly of a post war Australian society that was essentially rebuilding itself after years of political upheaval and financial struggle. Good Morning/Afternoon Ladies and Gentleman. I am a representative of…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, the way Oliver uses, “The Black Walnut Tree,” to convey the relationship between a tree and a family is impelling. The figurative language used to describe the journey a mother and daughter go through to make ends meet relates to society now. Many families travel through months at a time, not knowing if they would have to sell something valuable, when they would run out of money, or when money would become hard to get, however they still remain strong and make wise…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As someone reads, it is likely that they witness symbolism. Whether they notice or not is to be determined. Symbolism may serve a greater propose then it seem and it might even foreshadow a certain feeling or event. In the play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, there are many examples of symbolism. In this play, sunshine, Mama’s “raggedy-looking” plant, and the new house represent the characters’ happiness, relationship, and hope.…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In The Giver

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The practice of cloud-seeding garnered considerable attention in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.” Jonas had asked the giver why are there no colors. The Giver said, “Our people made that choice, the choice to go to sameness,” (Lowry 95). This describes how in Jonas’s community there is no climate as the community made the choice to have this type of climate control; and this exists in our society today. In The Giver, Jonas finds out that his community doesn’t know what the meaning of color and the feeling of it. Climate control still exists in our world today.…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (AGG) The author of “Under The Persimmon Tree” often uses symbolism throughout the book. (BS-1) The author of UTPT uses the stars to give Najmah a superstitious belief, and give her hope and guidance to drive her towards her goals. (BS-2) The stars are used to help Nusrat accept loss, she looks to them for hope and guidance, and they have a religious meaning to her. (BS-3) The author uses changes in the stars to convey events and changes in Najmah’s life. (TS) The stars are used to portray changes in the characters lives, and the author uses them to give the characters hope, guidance, and an important meaning, as well as the ability to deal with loss.…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author also uses allot of symbolism from the beginning of the book like the spirit tree that the mom of handful tells her to put her spirits in the tree so they could be safe. Its also important to handful as it is for the mom…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Giving Tree Reflection

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One of my earliest memories is that of my twin sister, Lexie, and me sitting on my parents' bed with my father as he read books to us. I can't quite recall the names of most of the stories he read to us because I was so young, but there was one particular book that clearly stands out in my memory. This book was Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, a classic children's book about a boy that grows up alongside a tree and continues to take advantage of the tree's love for him by taking its resources throughout his life. I reread this book many times throughout my childhood, and despite me not quite grasping the story's message when I was younger, I eventually realized what the actual moral of the story was as I thought about it more and more as I grew up. Due to this, The Giving Tree was one of the first stories that showed me how meaningful literature can be, which ultimately led to me becoming an avid reader in grade school.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When people come to the river side it will sing the songs provided from the creator which will create a sense of unity and peace. The tree will then speak to humankind telling them to come here and plant themselves beside it. When humans plant themselves, the Tree lets each person know that they are a “descendant of some passed on traveler that has been paid for.” This explains how humans are paid in the blood of our ancestors, animals, plants, and humans including the passage paid by immigrants to come to the Americas being redeemed by the blood of Christ. The Tree also makes the announcement that humanity can look forward towards the future of peace and all connections from the past including brutality and hatred will be disconnected. In the end, Maya Angelou speaks on grace saying that everyone has the ability to share this grace with the people around them, and people should either share with a friend or foe. This demonstrates how grace becomes a bearing fruit somehow having connection to the Tree and was planted there by the streams of water from earlier…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When I was six years old, I planted a tree in my front yard. I watched the immature plant grow into a small but recognizable tree for the next two years. I remember distinctly asking my parents to buy me seeds from the garden store so that I could plant my own tree. They insisted on buying a baby tree that had already begun to grow, so I settled with that. As a child, I would become very fascinated with certain things for an amount of time, the tree being among these things. I would look out my window everyday, eager to see if my tree had grown.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays