no one else believes me, but i SWEAR The Giving Tree is misogynistic propaganda. you're telling me a female described tree loves a boy so much she gives him everything. and the little boy asks for everything she has, and she gives it all until she has nothing left. and the boy is never grateful until the very end when the tree is just a stump, and even then the boy sees nothing wrong with what he's done. and this is a message we're supposed to read to children????? that men can take and take and take from women until we have nothing left and it's somehow wholesome?
i remember being read The Giving Tree as a little girl. i remember the little boys thinking it was a great story, while me and my friends, all girls, were left shocked. we had expected some message at the end about how taking and taking from someone while giving nothing in return is wrong. it was like pages had been ripped from the book. the little boys saw nothing wrong, but we understood that the book was saying we were supposed to give and give and give until we had nothing left, and it was a happy ending. because the boy got everything he could ever want, and the tree got the boys attention for an hour or two.
The Giving Tree should really have been called The Taking Boy. i still can't believe we read this to children.
