James answers “What is the overall message for this story??”

Albert Benjamin asked this question about The Giving Tree:

What is the overall message for this story??

James It is a story about love of a parent to a child. As the child ages and the child's needs increase they take more away from the parent, not just the ph…moreIt is a story about love of a parent to a child. As the child ages and the child's needs increase they take more away from the parent, not just the physical resources but also morality. The boy literally goes away in life carried by, and carrying the tree, with him. At the end of the boy's life the tree is long physically dead, but the memory and ethics of the tree become the comfort that the old man relies on.

The tree is not codependent, and the boy is not abusive. One generation gives all it has to the next, and is remembered for it when the first generation is gone.(less)

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