The Giving Tree

A small boy and an apple tree establish their relationship. The boy plays in her branches, eats her apples, and sleeps in her shade. He loves the tree. The tree loves him. This is the only stage of their relationship defined by reciprocity.

The boy grows up and stops coming every day. When he returns as a teenager, he wants money. The tree offers her apples to sell. He takes them. The first transaction occurs. The tree is described as happy, but the boy does not stay.

The boy returns as a young man and says he is too busy to play. He wants a house and a wife. The tree offers her branches. He cuts them off and builds a house. The tree, now diminished, says she is happy.

The boy returns as a middle-aged man, wanting to escape. He wants a boat to sail away. The tree offers her trunk. He cuts it down and sails away. The tree is now a stump. The text says she is happy, but adds a qualification: 'not really.'

The boy returns as a very old man. He no longer wants much. He is too tired for apples, too old for swinging, too worn for boats. He wants only a quiet place to sit. The tree says she is a good stump for sitting. He sits. 'And the tree was happy.'

A structural section examining the book's deliberate refusal to deliver a moral verdict — and why that refusal is the book's central achievement and central controversy.