El árbol generoso

by Shel Silverstein

published

November 1988 (first published 1964) by Lectorum Publications

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binding

Hardcover

isbn

9806053443 (isbn13: 9789806053441)

description

This story of a boy who grows to manhood, and of a tree that gives him her bounty through the years, is a moving parable about the gift of giving and ...more

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topics	replies	views	last activity
The giving tree	27	123	10/15/2008 01:46PM
Sad, sad, sad	10	115	08/03/2008 07:02PM
How much giving is "too" giving?	10	51	08/01/2008 07:51PM
Who's worse?	32	108	07/13/2008 06:28PM

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Mer rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

04/28/07

bookshelves: alltimefavorites, childhood, nostalgia, seminal

Read in January, 1980

recommends it for: enviornmentalists, nurturers, parents and children who want to discuss empathy and reciprocity

Scrolling down, it seems several reviewers resent this book's apparently heavy-handed message about selfishness/selflessness. I can totally understand why they find it upsetting or sappy. Overbearing, even. But I don't agree.

Some fascinating theories have been put forth about The Giving Tree. It's deceptively simple on its surface, yes. But if this were truly just some hard and fast hippie dippy morality tale, would its two main characters (living natural tree, growing human boy) and ...more Scrolling down, it seems several reviewers resent this book's apparently heavy-handed message about selfishness/selflessness. I can totally understand why they find it upsetting or sappy. Overbearing, even. But I don't agree.

Some fascinating theories have been put forth about The Giving Tree. It's deceptively simple on its surface, yes. But if this were truly just some hard and fast hippie dippy morality tale, would its two main characters (living natural tree, growing human boy) and their relationship have weathered such extensive interpretation over the years?

Professor Timothy Jackson from Stanford University (found on Wiki):

Is this a sad tale? Well, it is sad in the same way that life is sad. We are all needy, and, if we are lucky and any good, we grow old using others and getting used up... Our finitude is not something to be regretted or despised, however; it is what makes giving (and receiving) possible. The more you blame the boy, the more you have to fault human existence. The more you blame the tree, the more you have to fault the very idea of parenting. Should the tree's giving be contingent on the boy's gratitude? If it were, if fathers and mothers waited on reciprocity before caring for their young, then we would all be doomed.

An admirable assessment from a theologian... although as a wee grub, my perception was different. My own folks, secular humanist scientists who taught me a "recycle, reduce, reuse" mantra at around age four, introduced me to The Giving Tree around the same time we started reading The Lorax. (Another seminal doozy!) Perhaps due to their influence on my early development, I came away from both books with a lot of very heavy, persistent questions concerning humanity's careless attitude towards ye olde Mother Earth.

Without question, we're a species that generally takes and takes from the environment, thanklessly and thoughtlessly. Sadly this seems to be a trend that will continue until both we and the earth's resources are completely exhausted. (That is, unless we can all somehow convince ourselves AND our kids to turn it around.)

Ever notice that throughout the course of the tale, the little boy just "wants" things from the tree? Only at the very end of his life does he actually "need" something from her... a place to rest for a moment, to be at peace.

Anyhoo. Aspects of human behavior introduced to me in this book continue to flummox and obsess me in adulthood. Rereading it now only reinforces my lifelong desire to give something back to our weary but still beautiful mother earth, who seems to have no choice but to submit to our endless taking.

Silverstein fable is empathetic and open-ended. At its core, it reflects humanity's short-sighted, often lifelong inability to distinguish want from need, but it does not damn us for it. ...less

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David rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

10/04/08

Okay, this some motherfuckin' fucked-up shit right here. The Giving Tree is the straight-up wack story of how this selfish little ass-faced prick kicks it with this full-on saintly tree. Everythin' fine for a while, y'all, with the lil' prick all gettin' up in there and sayin' to the tree, "Yeah, you know you my bitch," but then all of a sudden, this jumped-up prick go through puberty, get his chia on or some such shit, and so he's off screwin' the skank-ass bitches on the block...more Okay, this some motherfuckin' fucked-up shit right here. The Giving Tree is the straight-up wack story of how this selfish little ass-faced prick kicks it with this full-on saintly tree. Everythin' fine for a while, y'all, with the lil' prick all gettin' up in there and sayin' to the tree, "Yeah, you know you my bitch," but then all of a sudden, this jumped-up prick go through puberty, get his chia on or some such shit, and so he's off screwin' the skank-ass bitches on the block all damn day and can't spare one motherfuckin' minute for this poor old tree who waitin' for him and lookin' all motherfuckin' sad an' droopy an' shit. So this little punk-ass bitch come up on the tree -- this is a motherfuckin' tree, hear? -- and ask her ['cuz she a sexy-ass lady-tree:] fo' some g's. Well, the tree is all, like, "I ain't got no cash, bitch. What part o' me says ATM on it? Mmm-hmmm. I thought so..." And she shoulda held up there, but -- no -- this tree gets all fuckin' benevolent and is, like, "Well, I got mad apples you can go hustle on the streets." So this ass-faced prick just, like, boosts all these goddamn apples an' leaves this tree with, like, its weave all out an' shit. So next, after workin' the streets wit his crew, little bitch boy come back, lookin' all older an' jacked-up, and asks the motherfucking tree for a goddamn crib. So the tree like, "Hol' up. Do you even fuckin' see Coldwell Banker all up an' down in here? I think not." But then, being all kindly an' shit, the tree is, like, "But I got mad branches..." And what? She motherfuckin' takes it up back again fo' this fool. Later, another goddamn time, punk-ass bitch come back, lookin' all old an' saggy and wack now, and he. like, "Bitch, what you got fo' me now?" "Awww, hell naw," tree says, but then she start gettin' all soft an' shit again an' say, "Why don' you cut down my trunk or some such shit and go 'head and whittle a pimped-out yacht, full-on Hamptons-style?" He's, like, "Yeah, I thought so, bitch." And then -- guess the fuck what? -- little shriveled-up, played-out mack come on back wit his ass all hemorrhoided-up an' shit. He look straight-up nasty and old. Tree is, like, "I know you ain't come t'ask me. All's I am is a motherfuckin' stump, you ass-faced motherfucker. How you gon' come back at me like that?" This punk-ass bitch is all drooling and jacked-up and just wanna sit the hell down. What do the motherfuckin' tree do? Says, "Hell no! You motherfuckin' fucked-up fucker, get yo' motherfuckin' ass face out o' here fo' I cut you up good: give you some stank-ass mad tree fungus, motherfucker!" The motherfucking end.

Okay, so that's not really the way The Giving Tree ends, but maybe it's the way it should. Some time ago, my ex-girlfriend and, afterward, long-time co-dependent friend gave me The Giving Tree as part of my birthday gift. I loved it, but I hated it, too, because I felt so bad for the tree who is endlessly shat upon by this worthless "Boy"--as he is always known, regardless of age; I longed to console the tree and, maybe a little, to condemn this book as yet another emotionally-scarring "children's" entertainment in the manner of Old Yeller. Don't give me any shit about learning valuable lessons. The only lesson I learned was that human beings are nothing but steaming piles of corn-freckled feces, and that I wanted to found a not-for-profit shelter for unloved trees and rabid dogs and any other nonhuman thing, living or not, which was either unwanted or despised.

Having said all this -- and although I don't approve of the treatment of the giving tree -- this book is very moving and very delicate. The delicacy is somewhat counteracted when the reader turns over the book and sees the author photograph of a thoroughly evil-looking Shel Silverstein. He looks like the sort of person who would burn down whole forests of rare giving trees just for kicks. Picture Othello just before he strangles Desdemona.

If you -- and, yes, I'm talking to you personally -- are not moved by the plight of the tree after reading this book, then perhaps it's time to go an' check yo'self: are you the givin' tree or are you the motherfuckin' takin' tree? Or are you the sneak-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night-an'-steal-all-my-shit tree?...less

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11 comments

Nathan rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

01/08/08

bookshelves: young-folks

Read in January, 1998

recommends it for: Psychologists?

I know that many people have a sentimental love for this book, and I respect that -- you can't rationalize emotional connection. And generally, I like this author. But with this book, since it inspired no real emotional response in me, I am left with only the rational perspective, which in me was this:

This book troubles me deeply, because it enshrines self-destructive and self-pitying martyrdom as the paragon of love for others. And I think there is already far too much of this in our so...more I know that many people have a sentimental love for this book, and I respect that -- you can't rationalize emotional connection. And generally, I like this author. But with this book, since it inspired no real emotional response in me, I am left with only the rational perspective, which in me was this:

This book troubles me deeply, because it enshrines self-destructive and self-pitying martyrdom as the paragon of love for others. And I think there is already far too much of this in our society. This book seems to say that if you really love someone else, you will damage yourself, cripple yourself, tear down your boundaries, destroy yourself for them. And further, it implies that those who are loved must by nature use and devour those who love them. An incredibly unhealthy model for love and relationships, especially for a child's book.

I am a parent of two, and though many parents have offered up this book as representative of the true nature of parental love, I cannot agree. If I were to raise my children this way, I feel I would only be teaching them to take selfishly from those who love them, to use people up and always expect more -- and on the flip side, I would be teaching them that if they love someone then they have to give of themselves until it hurts, have to live without boundaries of any kind.

Instead of raising my kids this way, I feel it's important to teach them to respect those who love them and care for them, to not take from others so much that it damages; I feel it's important to teach them that even in love we all must maintain our boundaries, our integrity. I feel it's important that my kids, and all kids really, understand that real, healthy love does not demand destruction or diminishment of anyone involved in it, that in fact real and healthy love ultimately heals and builds up those who participate in it.

I suppose that this book may have been intended as an anti-lesson, an example of how NOT to behave -- but if so, then it was not made clear that this was the case, because pretty much every I know who read this book took it as an ideal example of love.

Certainly it's possible to not take it so seriously; but when the underlying message and philosophy is so concentrated and heavy-handed, it's hard to avoid tasting it in every passage.

Overall: sweet, but to the point of being cloying, and a disturbing message. =/...less

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Skylar rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

12/30/07

bookshelves: childrens

I was drawn to this book again and again as a child, and I discovered that my three-year-old daughter also wanted me to read it to her repeatedly. The book has given rise to numerous interpretations, and I myself have viewed it differently over time. Some people have a negative, visceral reaction to the book because they believe they are required to see it as a positive and uplifting tale of giving, something they cannot manage to do.

These days, we are accustomed to sanitized, upbeat childr...more I was drawn to this book again and again as a child, and I discovered that my three-year-old daughter also wanted me to read it to her repeatedly. The book has given rise to numerous interpretations, and I myself have viewed it differently over time. Some people have a negative, visceral reaction to the book because they believe they are required to see it as a positive and uplifting tale of giving, something they cannot manage to do.

These days, we are accustomed to sanitized, upbeat children's tales, but great children's literature has not always spared children the horrors of the world, and it has not always clearly stated its morals; more often, the morals are implied and are absorbed emotionally through the reading. We must not forget that Shel Silverstein was a biting satirist (consider such poems as "Almost Perfect But Not Quite.") It's just like Shel Silverstein to take the guise of a gentle little children's story to skewer the faults of humanity. Yes, "The Giving Tree" is a very disturbing book, but perhaps it's disturbing because it's _meant_ to be.

Many Christians (including myself initially) have thought of this as an allegory for Christ's sacrifice. I can certainly see why people think this is a Christian allegory: the tree, like Christ, gives itself entirely for the boy, even to the point of abject humiliation. If it is a Christian allegory, however, it is the disturbing tale of Christ's terrible, painful, continuous rejection by man, and _not_ the heart-warming tale of unconditional love and forgiveness many Christians take it to be. There is no repentance in "The Giving Tree," and therefore no real forgiveness.

Some take it as a tale of unconditional parental love, but if it is, it is again a painful tale: a tale of the child who never, his entire life, truly learns to appreciate his parents. Environmentalist read it as a tale of man's selfish exploitation of nature. Feminists regard it as a story of man's subjugation and abuse of woman and woman's failure to stand up for herself (the tree is a "she").

The fact that the book can speak to so many people on so many different levels is, I think, evidence of its subtlety and irony. It really can work on more than one level, if you _want_ it to. But we err, I think, if we assume this is a "sweet" and positive tale. It is sad, but this is almost cathartic, because life, too, is sad.

Few readers come to this book expecting the reality and complexity and vaguely drawn morals we get from the harsh Greek myths and the stark Bible stories and the creepy old fairy tales, which were the staples of past generations. Today we expect to encounter cleaned-up, upbeat, didactic stories where everyone learns his lesson: learns how to share or to tolerate or to be nice, a simplicity that is typical of so much children's literature today. But life does not always order itself according to neat storylines in which the bad guys suddenly become good by the third act.

Children's literature such as "The Giving Tree" plays a valuable role by helping children (and even the parents who read it to their children) to wrestle with the ugly, beautiful, and complex truths of the world. It helps children to begin processing, very early on, the powerful and often disturbing visceral emotions these truths awake. ...less

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Aaron rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

03/12/08

bookshelves: kids-books

Read in January, 1993

recommends it for: Nobody

Ok, I have a little bit different take on this book than many people. I'd never read it until I became a preschool teacher. I was going through a Shel Silverstein phase at the time (we used to read a different one of his poems each day in class) and so I got this book to read with the kids. (by the way, this was in probably my first or second year of teaching) It seemed like a really sweet book to me until one of the parents mentioned to me that they didn't like it. I was shocked! How in t...more

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Jeremy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

08/03/07

bookshelves: children, gift

The book is impossible to wrap my mind around. Part of me wishes it ended thusly: the tree suggests the boy chop her down to make a boat, he takes her advice, and the tree falls on him, killing them both. The moral being a quote I've heard attributed to Bill Cosby: If you spend your whole life trying to make other people happy, YOU'LL never be happy. The boy is punished for all but raping the one who cares more for him than anyone in the world, and the tree pays the ultimate price for a lifet...more

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Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

10/07/07

bookshelves: children

recommends it for: not terribly bright hippies

Easily the most vile children's book ever written, for reasons eloquently stated by about a zillion other posters here. I remember my grandmother, whom I disliked (yeah, some kids don't like their grandparents, it's true) used to push this book on me as terribly DEEP and BEAUTIFUL and something I should really THINK ABOUT. And you wonder why I didn't like my grandmother? (My mother thought it was a piece of shit, too.) Anyway, it's a vomitous book, always has been, and I'm glad there are other p...more

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Siobhan rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

04/18/08

I don't think I have ever read a book that has pissed me off more then the giving tree.

I read this book when I was 6 maybe 7 and I have yet to forgive that little punk of a kid on the cover in his oh so innocent red overalls! I can still vividly remember my outrage upon first reading this book over how the kid just kept taking and taking from the poor, kind, senseless tree. That little money grubbing, self involved, brat, took everything until all that was left of his dear friend the tre...more

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Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

01/30/08

Read in January, 1980

recommended to Rebecca by: My mother
recommends it for: NOT children!

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jon rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

12/31/07

My wife and I had a debate about this book:

VONNIE: I’m not sure at what age a person discovers the joy of giving. Maybe, for me, it was that first Christmas when I had saved up enough of my allowance to actually buy something for my parents. I remember the anticipation of watching them unwrap the gift and then the big smiles that spread across their faces as they said “Vonnie, you shouldn’t have.” I think The Giving Tree is really a story about parenthood, and the lengths to which mo...more

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Merrin rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

08/29/07

bookshelves: childrens-books, favorites

recommends it for: anyone

Reading the other reviews on this book, I'm really surprised that there's such a level of hatred for this book. But then I thought everyone else in the world loved my fourth grade teacher too. We have to grow up sometime.

I can't imagine not loving this book. I can imagine berating the attitude of the boy, of the tree, but I can't imagine not coming away from this book with a deeper understanding of human nature, of reciprocity, of a parent's love for a child and the nature of servanthood. ...more

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MsWhatsit rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

09/03/07

bookshelves: childrens

recommends it for: nobody

I can't stand this book. Someone gave it to my children as a gift, and I'm very close to hiding it or giving it away so that I don't have to read it to them at bedtime anymore. The selfish, uncaring boy who takes and takes and takes from the tree until the tree literally has nothing more to give, just makes me want to reach through the pages and throttle him. What's the message here? Is it "When someone loves you, it's okay to just take advantage of them endlessly because they will alwa...more

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Benjermin rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

11/26/07

recommends it for: all human beings

Yes, the boy is a selfish bastard, who doesn't deserve the love and generosity he gets time and again. Anyone who read this book as a child is well aware of this fact.

Nonetheless, I'm shocked to see how many disliked it. My only thought is that many readers allow their hatred for the boy to be confused with hatred for the book. Does the book condone the boy's behavior, or simply seek to tell a narrative? Does the quality of a book suffer when the moral quality of its characters flags?

It ...more

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Sarah Emily rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

07/27/07

bookshelves: books-that-make-me-rage

recommends it for: most certainly not children

this book has made me angry for as long as I can remember, although it took me years to realize what it was that I was angry about. I'm not really sure how this book was ever heralded as a story of love and beauty.

I do, however, find this Amazon review of The Giving Tree to be a thing of love and beauty:

"My name is Noah and I celebrate the Jew holiday called Tubishvat. Tubishvat is all about trees and this book respects tress so I respect it. Trees kick booty. All of the time. I ...more

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Meredith rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

08/19/07

Read in January, 1989

I have always loved this book, so I was surprised at how many reviewers hated it. As a child I wondered how the tree could give so much. Now that I am older, I know that parents/caregivers do give that much to their children/charges (if metaphorically). So are all parents saps? Certainly they do not literally give house and home, but the sacrifices we make for the ones we love have no quantifiable limit. This book isn't supposed to teach children the value of sharing so much as it shows that som...more

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Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

04/09/07

Read in May, 1987

recommends it for: christian martyrs

We read this book in Sunday School. This is the kind of book that everyone thinks is just great to read to children because it teaches unselfish giving. I think this book is dangerous because it teaches people that giving to others should drain them until they have nothing left to offer but a tired stump. Let me just file a formal protest about this type of giving. Whether you are a tree or a person, sacrificing yourself to others that are selfish does not make you good. It makes you misera...more

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Greg rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

12/07/07

Read in November, 1981

recommends it for: trees

There's this kid and he's a total asshole and he keeps taking stuff from this clueless tree. The tree's all, "i giev u applez yes?" and the kid's all, "You betta or I smack u!"

And then like after 100 years when the kid's all old and has Alzheimer's and he's more or less killed the damn tree because he's taken everything from it, he's got the nerve to desecrate the tree's sacred burial ground by sitting his ass down on it.

I don't know. If I had to choose between this...more

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Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

10/01/08

recommended to Amy by: Everyone on earth.
recommends it for: People who want to raise rotten spoiled brats and their children.

This is my worst favorite children's book EVER. I normally love Shel Silverstein.

However, this boy is just a complete and utter brat, and uses up everything the tree has to give, and the tree is completely codependent.

The tree should have rained apples on this boy's head and spanked him with her branches until he learned some respect.

This is a story of a very bad boy.

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Erica rated it:

(review of isbn 0060256656)

09/29/07

it's not so much that i hate this story, i'm not aware of what shel silverstein's intentions were when writing it, but i find it disgusting that people think this is a story of love and relationships and selflessness. the boy takes and takes and takes from the tree until he can take no more, and then when he can literally take no more from the tree, he sits on her like a chair. it's ridiculous that people think this story is beautiful! please! read more books!

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