Unit 2: The World Around Us
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
What are our relationships and responsibilities to the communities and environments of which we a part? How are we related to and responsible for natural and constructed environments? For technology?
When it comes to the environment, we must do our best to try to keep it the best place to live in. We now live in a world where we rely on technology to make our every day to day work easier. And as technology is evolving as we speak, it becomes harder to rely on ourselves to get the job done. The Giving Tree is a picture book about a tree who is personified as a parent who provides for their child. The tree gives and gives to the little boy. As the boy tends to grow, he gets mature and asks the tree for basic needs and the tree continues to provide for the boy, until she has nothing left. When the boy comes back, he goes to the “giving stump,” for one last favor and just wants a place to sit. The short story, The Building Boom, is quite similar. The Willow Trees are providing beauty to the apartment wall. However, as time goes by, the trees get surrounded by trash, letting their outer beauty escape them. New houses are being built and the trees aren’t standing out, so they’ll be cut down, as they have no purpose in life whatsoever. Fortunately, the trees’ inner beauty still continues to stand up tall and cannot be “cut” down as it serves a purpose in life, oxygen for us to breathe.
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