Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

707 Words2 Pages

The Price for Everything
Shel Silverstein, author of The Giving Tree, one day got asked by an unknown person about what he wanted most out of life. He replied with a simple word with a powerful meaning, “everything.” Regarding his answer, Silverstein understood that in order for people to get everything they would have to give all. The previous statement is the premise of his famous book, The Giving Tree. Silverstein's story appears to be made for kids but has a meaning intended for both children and adults. Shel Silverstein uses personification, symbolism, and refrain in his book, The Giving Tree, to get the meaning across to people that giving everything for someone will result in joy and in a gain of everything.
To start things off, Silverstein uses a form of figurative language called personification (giving non-human objects human-like characteristics). He gives the tree in, The Giving Tree, a few features that make the tree seem human. For starters, the tree can talk. The tree talks back and forth with the boy telling the boy to take things from her to make him joyful, “. . .Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you …show more content…

Refrain is a recurring phrase or verse that occurs at the end of each stanza or division of a poem. Silverstein uses this example of refrain at the beginning than later on in his story, “Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches. . .” (pages 16, 20). The previous quote portrays the first example of refrain used in the poem. Another example of refrain happens to be, “And the tree was happy” (pages 12, 19, 24, 27, and 30). Silverstein uses these sentences to emphasize a point. Even though the boy came to the tree frequently to ask and take things from her, it did not matter to the tree because seeing the boy pleased made the tree better-off and

Show More
Related

  • CWT: The Giver By Lois Lowry

    289 Words  | 1 Pages

    What are memories to you? In the book The Giver, by Lois Lowry. There is a boy his name is Jonas. He is the Receiver of Memories. Jonas experiences the memories over the course of the book. Memories help us understand there are consequences to your actions. Although some readers may believe that memories are not important. The memories Jonas had helped him with the journey at the end of the book.

    Read More

  • The Legacy of Shel Silverstein

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poignant book known as The Giving Tree, is loved by many people of all ages. “Silverstein was born on September 25, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois and began writing and drawing a...

    Read More

  • Allusions In The Giving Tree

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Giving Tree was first published in 1964 by Harper & Row and was written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. Silverstein was a controversial children’s book author due to his long connotation with Playboy and his lack of patience around families. Despite this, Silverstein sold more than ten million copies of The Giving Tree. It remains a classic picture book. It has a prominent green cover but the words and pictures are black and white and displayed in a minimalistic way. There are many interpretations of what the actual relationship of the boy and tree is based on. A mother and son’s bond is one that always circulates through discussions, but a religious view is an interesting way to interpret this book. God is portrayed as the tree giving the young child who grows into adulthood, his unconditional love with little to no return. There are also many biblical allusions from the

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Overcoming Adversity In The Giver, By Lois Lowry

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essential thing to overcoming adversity is the ability to cause change in yourself and others. In the book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, Jonas is singled out after he isn’t chosen during the Ceremony of Twelve. He has to learn to overcome the pain of being The Receiver of Memory. He also has to face the truth and discover who his real allies are. This helps him to become a changemaker because he grows. He grows by using the pain to become stronger mentally and physically. Ultimately, Lowry teaches us that to make a change, you must display curiosity and determination.

    Read More

  • literature

    472 Words  | 1 Pages

    Dylan Thomas wrote the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” It is about a son’s plea to his father who is approaching death. Two lines are repeated in the poem and addressed directly to the father. These lines structure the first stanza and collaborate as a couplet in the last. They are repeated a lot but each time, they have different meanings: statements, pleas, commands, or petitions. Repetition and rhyme scheme are parts of prosody in poetry. The rhyme scheme is built on two rhymes and forms of a pattern. The two rhymes are night and day and the pattern is aba, and in the last stanza, abaa. Even though the poem seems to have too much repetition, the fascinating imagery is more important and readers pay more attention to that instead.

    Read More

  • Shel Silverstein: The Light In The Attic

    3919 Words  | 8 Pages

    Silly poems and deep, dark truths are the world of Shel Silverstein. The lights in the attic always seem to be on; however, if one takes a hard look at Silverstein’s work, one must look beyond the lights in the attic to delve through the rest of the house to come up with a whole picture of who Shel Silverstein was. As with most authors, the face put forward in public for consumption rarely matches the behind-the-scenes person who keeps personal secrets away from society. All understand this concept because everyone holds “secrets” close, never to be revealed to the world at large. As one reads Silverstein’s books, his Chicago upbringing becomes apparent. Not only are his poems timeless; his poetry delves into the world of what was important

    Read More

  • A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    unhappy man whose only wish is to make the rest of the world as sad as

    Read More

  • The Giver, by Lois Lowry

    2270 Words  | 5 Pages

    Dystopian literature brings warning to the modern world and allows the audience to experience a new perception of life. The 1993 novel, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, fits into the dystopian genre because it makes judgment about modern society. She inscribed her novel “For all the children to whom we entrust the future”, which serves as a hope for a better future (Franklin). She targets the younger generation because they are the future. In Lowry’s novel, The Giver, Lowry’s perspective on modern society is that it tends to stay within its comfort zone, which creates limitations in life. The dystopian characteristics of the novel, importance of memory, the history surrounding the novel, and Lowry’s personal background all convey the notion that modern society should freedom bestowed it and to fully appreciate life in itself; society tends to take life’s freedoms for granted.

    Read More

  • The Giver by Lois Lowry

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, the author makes it clear through the main character Jonas that freedom and safety need to find an equal balance. Lowry shows the importance of deep emotions and family through Jonas. Jonas becomes the new receiver of memory and learns about the past. He also learned about the way it was when people knew what love was. Jonas’ father releases newborn children because they don’t weight the correct amount of weight or they don’t sleep well through the night. Release is a nice way of saying kill; the people of the community don’t know what kill means. They don’t have the freedom to expand their vocabulary. Lois Lowry makes it clear that safety has a negative side and you need that you need freedom to have a high functioning community.

    Read More

  • A Christmas Carol by Chales Dickens

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charles dickens classic novella “A Christmas Carol” endorses the notion that “Generosity involves more than the giving of money, it’s also about the giving of one's goodwill, compassion, sympathy, empathy and kindness. By taking his seemingly irredeemable protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey, Dickens’ intends to convey to all of society the importance of generosity. He proclaims that generosity of the spirit defines Christmas, and goes a large way towards defining true humanity for him as well.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Kate Seredy's 'The Singing Tree'

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charity is a trait that is always a blessing to someone else, and The Singing Tree displays just how wonderful it can

    Read More

  • Impossible To Overcome In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn By Betty Smith

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Believe nothing is Impossible to Overcome Has there ever been a time in your life where the challenges you were facing seemed too impossible to conquer? Many have felt that way, but have pushed through and overcame. In the book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a little girl named Francie grows up during a difficult time in New York. The young girl lives in a poor neighborhood with her family. She learns that anything can happen if you put your mind to it.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although The Giving Tree was published after women were ruled to be people and given the right to vote, females continue to be disadvantaged by society in modern day. Silverstein's writing was and remains to be relevant. The entire chronicle is about the man finding a void in his life and then proceeding to harm the tree in order to fill it. Originally, he harmlessly plays on her brances. While this leaves no lasting harm, when he comes next the boy takes her apples to sell for money. It is clear that he prioritizes himself over the tree as some men felt towards women throughout history. By the end of the story the man has taken everything from the tree and simply uses the tree as “an old stump... good for sitting [on]” (2). The man shows no remorse in destorying the tree for his own

    Read More

  • The Film Analysis Of The Grand Budapest Hotel

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    What does it mean to give yourself completely to your vocation or life? We find in a fictional story from Wes Anderson, his eighth feature presentation, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” What it means to be completely giving of oneself. Even though Wes’s movie is fictional, we find many deep and underlying themes, tones, and values. these are values are applications that anyone male or female that one can implicate in ones life to any situation. The main values we can find in the movie are simple, but can improve life ten-fold. Three easy steps to improving ones life are as stated: gratitude, positivity, and you must contribute yourself 100% of the time no matter how hard the road in front of you is going to

    Read More

  • Unconditional Love In Shel Silverstein's 'The Giving Tree'

    1565 Words  | 4 Pages

    Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” written in the 1960’s, is a short illustrated story that is cherished dearly by children and admired by adults (Kimmel 1). The Giving Tree is about the relationship between a loving apple tree and a playful little boy, which represents the relationship between a parent and child; however, the reader is able to decipher a much deeper meaning by looking at the story closely. Moreover, Silverstein uses the characters in “The Giving Tree” to demonstrate the parents’ unconditional love for their children; the lively apple tree portrays how giving a person too much support can hinder them from attaining full independence, and also shows how unconditional love can be damaging both psychologically and physical.

    Read More

More about Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Open Document