AP Literature and Composition

“It’s a ‘Make Your Presentation’ Monday!”

September 19, 2011Mr. Houghteling

Agenda• Post five observations about The

Giving Tree on chart paper. • Report out on your group’s

interpretation.• Discussion of the text—Is there a best

interpretation of The Giving Tree?• College plans: Are you going? Where

are going? How are you going to get there?

The Giving Tree – Gender Criticism•The female tree can be interpreted as Mother Earth, or simply a mother, sustaining the dominant male first with enjoyment and food and later with the means to provide shelter and transportation.

The Giving Tree – Marxist CriticismWhen the boy is young, he is

content simply to play with the tree: climbing up her trunk, gathering her apples, and sleeping in her shade. However, as he grows older, he becomes increasingly demanding of the tree’s resources. He is no longer content to enjoy the tree’s company, but rather he seeks the tree for financial and materialistic gain.

The Giving Tree – Eco-Criticism

• Man is dependent on nature for survival: the man systematically destroys the tree in order to get what he wants in order to be happy.

The Giving Tree – Archetypal Criticism

•The tree—with her branches, her trunk, and her apples—is the giver of life, reiterating the archetype of nature as provider for man.

Classwork / Homework

• Which school of criticism interests

you the most? • Write a short personal reflection

about how the criticism affected your interpretation of the story. • Which school of criticism did you find

most applicable to The Giving Tree?