The Philosophy of The Giving Tree
Sliverstein, Shel. The Giving Tree: Illustrated by Shel Sliverstein. Harper and Row, 1964. 57 pages.
There are two kinds of people in this world, those you give and those who take. The Giving Tree is a children’s picture book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein that examines this belief. The book describes the developing relationship between a tree and a little boy. The tree loved the boy and everyday the little boy went and spent time with the tree. However, as the little boy grew up into a man, he would see less and less of the tree. The man would only visit the tree when he needed something for it. Although, the man took many things from the tree, the tree unconditionally loved the boy and give everything she could give until she was no more than a stump.
This children’s picture book is unique because Shel Sliverstein is both the author and illustrator. This book also has a “marriage between the illustrations and the text.” This means that the combination of the text and the illustrations are essential to the meaning of the story. One interesting drawing and text relationship is from the page where the little boy gathered up the tree’s leaves. The image below shows how the text falling mimics the leaves falling off the tree.
There are many philosophical elements in this book that could be used to teach children philosophy. Prominent philosophical components in this children’s book are the nature between the act of giving and the act of taking, the state of love, and happiness. The act of giving, the nature of love, and happiness are very much intertwined in this story. The tree is so giving and wants the boy to be happy; therefore, no matter what the boy wants or how he treats her, she does everything she can to help him. These selfless actions exemplify what it means to have unconditional love towards another. The tree received happiness through the things she could offer to the boy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time… and the tree was sad.
This quote was the only stated time in the story the tree was sad. This sentence explains what really made the tree happy. The tree was not fulfilled even if she had all the qualities of a tree. At the end of the story, the tree would rather become a stump and be with the boy than have all the physicality of a tree and be alone.