The Giving Tree Giving Us An Existential Crisis

Growing up reading the story The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Emma, Rebecca,  and Cayley take a deep dive and relook at the morals of the book. Considered the "most divisive piece of children's literature", the relationship between the Tree and the Boy is heavily debated, with multiple interpretations and understandings of the story. The three of them chat about this story in the context of a parent-child relationship, bring up the point that the emotions of the boy are not written about, and how we may be more similar to the boy than we'd like to think. What is your interpretation of this story? How has it changed over time?