The Giving Tree and Society

The Giving Tree Book Cover
The Giving Tree Book Cover

By Tieg Summers

There is something special to be said about trees. Trees feed us with delicious fruits and nutritious nuts. Trees provide us with wood for building houses and wood for burning fires to keep people warm or to cook our fish as well as providing us with a way to toast marshmallows. Trees also shelter people from the rain and shade us from the sun. Is it crazy to say that we survive from trees? You can even take a quiz to see what type of tree you are. I took this quiz and I am an Evergreen Pine Tree. Trees are important to our society.

For some reason, trees are my go to thing. When I want to paint or draw, I automatically know that I can create a tree and always be proud of my work. Where did/does my love of trees come from? Perhaps from a time when I was much younger and I owned a special book. The Giving Tree was my favorite book growing up. It is a simple book with black and white texts and drawings. The only thing of color is the colorful multi-green cover. The book is an easy read for anyone. The Giving Tree is about a boy who goes to a tree and plays with it. The tree gives it apples so the boy can sell them for money. As the boy gets older it keeps coming back to the tree. The tree gives the man branches so he can build a house and its trunk so the man can carve a boat. When nothing but the stub of the tree is left the boy just wants a nice quiet place to sit. Everyone can interpret the story differently but the main censuses comes down to giving unconditional love to something forever and always. Like how our Labrador Retrievers give us unconditional love and happiness, The Giving Tree provides as much as possible to the boy in the story and the tree expects nothing or asks for nothing in return. The Giving Tree is still one of my favorite books today. A book I plan on giving to my children and I desperately hope they get as much pleasure out of the book that I get. The adaptions, interpretations, and editions have allowed for the beautiful context of the book to spread throughout the world. Continue reading “The Giving Tree and Society!” →