Themes Of The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

301 Words1 Page

The book I am choosing for this assignment is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. This is one of my favorite books, a book I read to all my children through the years. The question I am answering is number 12; Was the theme worthwhile? There are several themes to this story, some of which I did not contemplate or realize for years. This book can be seen as unselfish and selfish love between a child and his parent. It is a book about self sacrifice that is taken for granted by a child to his parent. The book is happy, sad, and ultimately about love. The most important lesson of the book I feel is that always taking and not giving is not the best route in life. Those who take always are not as happy as those that give to others. The old adage

Show More
Related

  • Motifs of the princess bride

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    This movie is one that I have always enjoyed and watching it in class gave me a new appreciation for it. The storybook, introduced into the movie by the grandfather, was the first motif that caught my eye. At first you don’t think much about it but it’s a great representation of so many different things. First off, the boy’s reaction to unwrapping the book is one shared by so many kids in today’s society. A book is seen as somewhat of a chore rather than an indulgence or hobby. The grandfather sets the scene to transition into the actual story with the book. Starting the first scene in the boy’s bedroom gives the movie a sense of realism and one that is relatable. The book gave the movie a whole new dimension that I appreciate and commend the directors and authors for creating. The book also represents tradition in their family. It was read to several generations and symbolizes the love that the fathers and grandfathers have for their children. It shows great patience and the desire to spend time with a loved one to read them a book. That is a gift that is slowly being lost as time g...

    Read More

  • Themes In The Simple Gift

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Steven Herrick’s verse novel ‘The Simple Gift’ and Tame Impala’s ‘Yes I’m changing’ incorporate a variety of effective language techniques and textual forms to centralise the notion of transitions. In these texts transitions are portrayed through the transformation of the characters. This transformation is displayed through themes of acceptance, realisation and embracing change.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Glass Castle Walls By Jeannette Walls

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the occurring themes is of bravery. The Walls children face adversity when moving from place to place, dealing with bullies and their father goes into an alcohol induced rage. “Brian, Maureen, Lori and I got into more fights than most kids.” Walls tells the readers on page 164. The kids had to learn to stand up for themselves in a harsh community; they had to be brave. Walls also used the theme of forgiveness to teach about the importance of forgiving those who wronged you. Her parents constantly ignored their children’s needs and mistreated them, but in the end they were forgiven for all of that and they were a regular family. “We raised our glasses. I could almost hear Dad chuckling at Mom’s comment in the way he did when he was truly enjoying something.” (Walls 288). The purpose of this comment is to wrap up the story, but it also shows forgiveness and growth. By the end of the book all was forgiven, the neglect, the stealing, the cheating and the lying, and they were family. These themes in the book are an overarching device that is a great tool to show the moral or lesson of the certain story.

    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

  • Analysis Of A Child Called It By David Pelzer

    1826 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine being a child stuck in a dark hole alone, and having to face terror for many years. Well A Child Called It shares the everyday battles of a child, David Pelzer, and it reflects the inhumanity of someone who’s supposed to be loving and caring. The story of the abused child, Pelzer, not only tells the insanity of humankind, but show how easy it is for child abuse to be hidden behind walls. At a very young age Pelzer started to suffer and live such a miserable life. Pelzer faced battles where he not only learned to stay strong, but survive the games from the abuser, his mother, the abuser. Throughout the book, Pelzer shares his experience as an abused child, and reveals such extreme mistreatment from his abuser. In this case, as a reader,

    Read More

  • Scrooge's Transformation in Dickens' A Christmas Carol

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."

    Read More

  • The Outsiders

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    I learned a lot from this book I learned not to get in gangs and stay true to your family. I liked a quote in this story it said “things are rough all over” to me that meant no matter where you are where you go things are going to be rough so just stop running away from problems because it’s just going to create more. Dally and Sodapop both kind of remind me of myself because I don’t care about nothing but I can understand people and the different things they like and nothing don’t scare me. I think the theme of this story is to be your brothers keeper.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Spectacular Now By Tim Sharp

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    What really spoke to me about this story, is the abstract views on certain topics such as the way the main character takes to society. Another thing that spoke to me in this story is his misunderstanding of the way the world works, and what people are trying to do to help him. Instead, of accepting their help, he feels they are trying to punish him or trying to ruin his fun. What he doesn’t understand, is that his friends and family are simply trying to show him that he has so

    Read More

  • Individualism in "Anthem" by Ayn Rand

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.

    Read More

  • Henry and the Great Society HL Roush

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parable—the style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.

    Read More

  • Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a person gets older and more mature their idea on what's “fun” changes. What other ways do people demonstrate change throughout a lifetime? In The Giving tree, the boys idea on what he enjoys doing changes. When he was younger he would go visit the tree everyday and play on it. As he got older and older he grew more and more away from the tree and became more independent. Shel Silverstein uses the character of the boy to illustrate the theme of change.

    Read More

  • Baseball Saved Us Rhetorical Analysis

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    It deals with obstacles in life and the ways they are over come. Even if you are different, there are ways for everyone to fit in. The injustices in this book are well written to inform a large audience at many age levels. The book is also a great choice for those people who cheers for the underdogs. It served to illustrate how the simple things in life can mean everything.

    Read More

  • Parent and Son Relationship in one of Nye, Naomi Shihab´s Poems

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.

    Read More

  • The Giver Theme Analysis

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first theme connection I made was the importance of memory. In The Giver, Jonas learns a lot from the past through memories transported to him from the Giver. As the Receiver of Memory, Jonas needs to learn these to feel how life used to be. “... my job is to transmit memories to you, all the memories of the past” (p.79). The Giver feels pain from the memories and Jonas willingly takes them from him. The Giver makes it seem like he is carrying a huge burden when he tells Jonas the pain he is feeling. “I am going to transmit the memory of snow” (p.79). The current Giver is the only person who can share memories with other people. He is the only person that we know of that knows what snow is. This really important because somewhere in the

    Read More

  • Shel Silverstein The Giving Tree Essay

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    You are blessed with someone who cares about you when you’re going through a tough path. In the poem “The Giving Tree”, by Shel Silverstein, he explains about a tree which would want to make the boy happy by giving him what it has for him. This compares to a caring mother and a son. In the poem, the tree would always make the boy happy when the tree says, “Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city”. The boy does not have anything, so the tree told the boy to pick apples to sell them to get money. Since the mother cares about her child, she would do anything for him, even giving up her own well-being. A loving mother would always offer their love conditionally to their child no matter if they get into an argument. When the tree stated, “But you may cut off my branches and build a house.” it is saying how the tree wants what’s best for the boy by having a roof over its head. A mother can be poor and not have money, but she would

    Read More

More about Themes Of The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

Open Document