History Fridge / TheGivingTree

* The tree calling the boy "Boy" is also a way of pointing out the metaphor for parenthood. We call our offspring our "children" even when they are fully grown. The boy is the Tree's "boy" in the same way a grown man would be his mother's "boy."
* Given how long trees can live, it also does make sense to a tree, humans would all be very young compared to them.

* Given how long trees can live, it also does make sense to a tree, we'd be very young compared to them.

* The tree calling the boy "Boy" is also a way of pointing out the metaphor for parenthood. We call our offspring our "children" even when they are fully grown. The boy is the Tree's "boy" in the same way a grown man would be his mother's "boy."

** Alternatively it could be because she is, well, [[TimeAbyss a tree]].
* The tree calling the boy "Boy" is also a way of pointing out the metaphor for parenthood. We call our offspring our "children" even when they are fully grown. The boy is the Tree's "boy" in the same way a man would be his mother's "boy."
[[AC:FridgeLogic]]
* The boy and the tree apparently played hide-and-seek with each other when he was younger, but the tree, who can't move, wouldn't be able to hide ''or'' seek properly.
* When the boy is a teenager, he picks all the tree's apples to sell, and in the following parts the tree is shown not to have apples anymore. There's no reason that the tree wouldn't have regrown her apples if the boy has been gone for years, unless someone else was also picking them.
** [[WildMassGuessing Maybe it was still spring when the boy came back as a young adult and the apples were still flowers?]]
* When the boy visits the tree as an adult, he asks her to give him a house, and she replies that she has no house to give, because her "house" is the forest she lives in. In other words, she's ''surrounded by other trees''.[[note]](Presumably; we never see them in the book's illustrations.)[[/note]] Out of all these trees, why would the boy choose the tree that was his friend throughout his childhood as the one to cut all the branches off of?
** At her insistence, mostly. Note only that he asks for her help; it's her idea to remove the branches for him to build a house.
** Presumably for the same reason someone in need of cash asks a friend or family member instead of some random stranger.

* The boy and the tree apparently played hide-and-seek with each other when he was younger, but the tree, [[CaptainObvious who can't move]], wouldn't be able to hide ''or'' seek properly.

* When the boy visits the tree as an adult, he asks her to give him a house, and she replies that she has no house to give, because her "house" is the forest she lives in. In other words, she's ''surrounded by other trees''.[[note]](Presumably; we never see them in the book's illustrations.)[[/note]] Out of all these trees, why would the boy choose the tree that was his friend throughout his childhood as the one to cut all the branches off of?

* The tree calling the boy "Boy" is also a way of pointing out the metaphor for parenthood. We call our offspring our "children" even when they are fully grown. The boy is the Tree's "boy" in the same way a man would be his mother's "boy."

** The tree calling the boy "Boy" is also a way of pointing out the metaphor for parenthood. We call our offspring our "children" even when they are fully grown. The boy is the Tree's "boy" in the same way a man would be his mother's "boy."

* The tree calls the boy "Boy" even after he grows up and becomes a teenager, a man, a middle-aged man, and an elderly man. This is the tree's way of indirectly saying, "Even if you're too old to spend time with me anymore, I'll always see you as but the little boy that used to swing from my branches and eat my apples and nap in my shade."
* The tree calling the boy "Boy" is also a way of pointing out the metaphor for parenthood. We call our offspring our "children" even when they are fully grown. The boy is the Tree's "boy" in the same way a man would be his mother's "boy."

* When I was younger, I loved ''Literature/TheGivingTree'' because the entire book was and still is one big {{Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming}}. Throughout the book, the tree calls the boy "Boy" even after he grows up and becomes a teenager, a man, a middle-aged man, and an elderly man. I didn't understand that until I realized that it was the tree's way of indirectly saying, "Even if you're too old to spend time with me anymore, I'll always see you as but the little boy that used to swing from my branches and eat my apples and nap in my shade." Awwwww.
[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
* I also loved ''Literature/TheGivingTree'' when I was younger, since I loved the fantasy theme of a senteniant tree communicating with a boy. I realized that the book is a metaphor, as well as satire of the progression of a sex-oriented heterosexual relationship. The boy represents a man who never tires of his sexual endeavors, while the tree represents a woman who starts to lose her interest over the course of their relationship. The tree becoming a stump is a metaphor for a woman who has nothing left to give to her hedonistic partner. The old man represents the man who still gets a thrill out of his sexual adventures.