Literary Devices in The Giving Tree
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
A Sparsely Wooded Area—or Maybe a Front Lawn?Uh, yeah. That's a little vague. We know. But that was probably Shel Silverstein's intention. The Giving Tree could take place anywhere that a tree co...
Narrator Point of View
Third Person (Omniscient) There's no "I" in "tree" or "boy," and we definitely don't have a first-person narrator here. Instead, we get the story from the perspective of a nameless, faceless onlook...
Genre
Children's Literature, FableChildren's literature? Check. Not only do we have a young boy as one of the central characters, but we also have simple language and—dun-dun-DUN—pictures. Plus, you'...
Tone
Nostalgic, SomberFrom the very first sentence, we know that the narrator is recalling events from long ago. The phrase "[o]nce there was a tree" (6) immediately suggests a time gone by, and the sec...
Writing Style
Poetic and PlainWait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How can something be both poetic and plain? Good question. If you tend to think of poetry as flowery and fanciful, "plain" would seem like a very stran...
What's Up With the Title?
There's no doubt about it: this is one very giving tree. So much so, she deserves to have the book named after her. Indeed, the eponymous main character in The Giving Tree gives up her apples, all...
What's Up With the Ending?
Seriously. What is up with the ending? The tree, who is now a stump, offers herself up as a resting place for the boy, who is now an old man. It isn't exactly a Disney ending. What it is is a Shel...
Trivia
It took Shel Silverstein four years to get The Giving Tree published because editors were concerned it wouldn't appeal to either children or adults. Ouch. (Source)Shel Silverstein wasn't just a chi...