The Giving Tree - Love Is a Universal Language
After that I was preoccupied with other things-I could not even read a book.Sad Face
Even if reading, those books are old books that I read again.
So, as a warm up (re), I will review the last book I read: The Giving Tree.
I have saved this book for more than two months (translated version), while the English version I have not read.
Synopsis The Giving Tree
This 54-page book tells the story of a Boy and a Tree that lives in the forest. Judging from their interactions, the two are pretty close. Every day the Boy will come to the forest to visit the Tree. He plays with the Tree; collecting leaves dropped Trees, Tree climbing, and swaying in Tree branches. Not infrequently the Boy ate the fruit of the Tree. Or fall asleep under the shade of the Tree.
Because of his love for the Tree, the Boy wrote "I + P" in the middle of the heart image he carved in the tree trunk.
Time passed and the Boy grew up.
Trees are no longer the only thing the Son loves. There is another name engraved on the trunk.
And, year after year, the time they spend to play even diminishes. The Boy stopped collecting the leaves of the Tree. He also stopped climbing. Boys have other desires.
However, Trees always welcome him every time the Boy comes to him and asks for many things. Starting from the fruits, the branches, until the stem Tree. Still, Trees are always happy because Boys need them.
Until one day the old boy arrives and he no longer needs anything. He came back to the forest again, visited the Tree that only sticks carved the first writings of the Boy: his first love.
Section by Section The Giving Tree
- Stories and Plots of The Giving Tree
Reading the synopsis of The Giving Tree above, perhaps realizing that this book is a fairytale book for a child. But The Giving Tree is different from the picture of a fairytale book in my shadow, or that is widely circulated in bookstores, which is simply a bedtime fairy tale.
Utilizing 54 pages mostly dominated by illustrations, Silverstein is able to present a whole story of character change well, and objectively without putting emphasis on one side of the story or blaming one character.
Slverstein's way of telling makes readers, as well as storytellers, to think and create space for imagination-to re-think about life, people, and philosophy. Especially from the comparison of interactions between Boys and Trees as a child.
When the Boy is still a child he only focuses on his playing with the Tree, so he often takes the leaves and fruits that can always be reproduced by the Tree.
But, as an adult, the Boys take everything that takes the process and a longer time for the Tree to produce it again.
Even when the last time the Boy met the Tree, he picked up the following trunk of Boys and the initials (first love?) Of the man he loved. The abandonment of the Tree stump and the sign that the Boy loves the Tree. However, at the end, the Boys' actions can be seen from different sunglasses. Or am I too romantic.
- The Little Detail of The Giving Tree
When I searched for illustrations, I realized that Silverstein used the pronoun "she" for the Tree. It could be that Silverstein in this case describes a mother's love for her child. No matter how often the child asks from her and leaves her, she will always love her child.
Meanwhile, in the translated version, of course, she is replaced with "him", which frees the Tree from the gender binarism as well as illustrates that the Tree is a parent of the Boy. But, if taken from the standpoint of human relationships with nature, will be different again the results.
Final Word for The Giving Tree
The Giving Tree is one of the most interesting reading experiences. Almost like the original The Grimm Brothers story but not too grim, noir, or dark. The objective way of telling Silverstein helps a lot in this.
Welcoming the lunar month and the existence of Surabaya as the City of Literacy, I recommend The Giving Tree. Please buy or borrow and read. Or can reward The Giving Tree for a niece or a child.
The Giving Tree will be an entertainment for children who fit the television spectacle that is getting unfamiliar.