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The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
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2015-09-22 at 9:47 AM UTCMy first read of "The Giving Tree" was at 30, and my first reaction wasn't any particular interpretation but a feeling of sadness. I've felt like both the boy and the tree in a relationship, but if I had to pin down what I found sad about the story, it is not so much the tree's self-sacrifice in the name of love as the fact that the sacrifices do not even result in the human becoming happy - the futility of offering love to someone who is not satisfied in themselves. In fact the only times when the boy is not hurting the tree and the tree seems to be doing the boy some good are when the boy is very young and when he has grown very old. Both these times he only asks simple things of the tree that will not hurt it. For me it's a story of a guy who starts life satisfied with the simple, graduates to wanting more than his fair share and being willing to hurt someone he loves to try to get it, and needs to spend his whole life to relearn to be satisfied with the simple, but by this time the damage to himself and the one who loves him is somewhat done.
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2015-09-22 at 5:11 PM UTCSounds depressing as fuck.
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2015-09-22 at 5:17 PM UTCI see the tree I be the tree but easily the tree is me
I cry I laugh I swim I play I certainly do look so gay
I am the man I am the you we are the them they are us too
I find the one the one finds me we all are one you all are me
I think you're correct OP. The story is about their co-dependent relationship.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2018-07-05 at 4:13 PM UTCI found your interpretation very thought provoking OP.
Why is this in the trash?
