In no less than one-page (250 words), write about the similarities and differences in the worlds of The Giving Tree and “The Poor Sailor”.
31 comments:
Anonymous
said...
John Carreon Epsilon Block
In “The Giving Tree” when the boy was little he liked the tree a lot. He played with it and he soon grew a little older. The older he was the more he didn’t go visit the tree. The tree also liked him and wanted to take care of him like the tree took care of him while he was a child. So the tree wanted to take care of him while he grew older. But at the boy grew up he didn’t want to play much and he just asked the tree if the tree can give him something so that he can get what he wanted and the boy never thanked the tree. In “The Poor Sailor” Thomas had you can say a simple life. He had a wife, he was building a house, and he had food that he could get so they wouldn’t starve. He didn’t have a rich life but he was happy. Then his old friend came and wanted him to come catch fish and make more money. His wife didn’t want him to go and he did anyway. While he was at sea he had problems like getting his arm cut off and the boat being attacked by pirates. By the time he came home he lost his wife and he was all alone. Both stories show that the characters wanted more in life and they did or tried to be more successful. The boy from “The Giving Tree” just kept asking for more and more till there was nothing left. You can say that this type of cooperative is kinship because of the tree willing to give more and more to the boy so that he would benefit until the tree had nothing left to give. Then the sailor left and he gave up on everything then when he got back everything he thought would still be there was gone. This type of cooperative is like reciprocity the man gave up on his old life to try to make it better but he failed. In both stories a character gave up something to benefit them or someone else. The differences is that in “The Giving Tree” the tree just wanted the boy to be happy and so the tree gave the boy things he needed to be happy so that the tree can be happy. But the sailor just wanted to benefit his own life so that he could have more money and what the sailor didn’t realize is that his wife didn’t mind living like the way they are as long as they are together.
I think the world in The Giving Tree was a place where people were generous, caring, and patient. But there were also people who didn't realize their actions and kept on taking from others around them. In this world, people need to learn that they need others to show appreciation and that it is necessary to be acknowledged for what you do because otherwise it makes life miserable and just keep giving away does not make you happy anymore. Like the Tree in the story, it kept giving away because it believed that as long as the other was happy, it does not need anything else to live on, but it was wrong. Near the end everything was gone for the Tree and it started becoming lonely. The greedy people and those who keep taking and asking from others are like the Boy in the story. In the world of The Poor Sailor, there are many new things that people want to explore and they take chances even if it's risking never seeing the people they love or care for. There are people who are, like the Wife in the story, given up for others' hopes and dreams. People in this world are different, like in The Giving Tree, there are those who seem to be doing the good things, and those who seem to be doing the wrong things. It is never pointed out in the story which is which, but it is pretty obvious. Though, the Wife and the Tree are very different characters from both stories, they share the common theme of being there for the other person, but they are not appreciated or cherished the way they should be or deserve to be. The Sailor and the Boy are also very different characters from both stories, but they are both unconscious of what or who they treasure most until they realize they've lost them.
The Giving Tree and the Poor Sailor appear to be stories that simply tell simple stories. The Giving Tree is a simple depiction of the love a tree had for a boy, and as a result the tree kept giving and giving to the boy so he could be happy. Although, as the boy entered his adult years, the boy wanted more than what the tree could offer. He deserted the tree time and time again. As the years passed, the tree gave the boy it’s branches and trunk and all it had to offer until the end of the boy’s life. In the end, the boy (now an old man) only needed a place to sit, which was the mere stump left of the tree. The Poor Sailor depicts the life of a man who wanted more than what he had. He lived a simple life with his wife in the countryside. Although, he wanted a sailor’s life and he to work at sea. His wife felt as though he’d be deserting her, and didn’t want him to go. He did go, when she was asleep in the nighttime. The man would seem to pay the price, as he lost his arm and his crew throughout the course of his adventure. He missed his wife, but by the time he found his way back home, he found his wife and died. These two stories can illustrate the issue of ‘wanting’ in the modern day and it’s affect on relationships. If one person keeps wanting more and more of what life has to offer, it could easily hinder the other person within the relationship. The boy in the Giving Tree wanted more from life, and the tree gave him all she could until she was nothing. In the Poor Sailor, the man deserted his wife for something new, leaving her alone and ultimately him as well. Another connection shown between the two stories is their depictions of childhood, adulthood, and reaching your older years. The stories both seem to give an impulsive, selfish view on adults. The adults in both stories want more for themselves, whatever modern day society has to offer. Younger and older years are shown to be somewhat different, especially in the Giving Tree. The boy was so loving and appreciative of the tree when he was young, and not only until he became old and feeble did he re-realize that the tree had what he needed. In the Poor Sailor, the man discovers this in his later years, too. After missing his wife he finally goes back for her, only to find that she died. This is somewhat of an embodiment of the saying ‘you don’t know what you have until you lost it.’ In a perfect world, all you’d really need is that person(s) that love you and that you love equally. Harsh realities prove otherwise in the two stories. No one will ever be pleased with life, that is, until the end of it.
In the story The Giving Tree and The Poor Sailor the similarity between the two worlds are that both the main characters are pretty happy with their life and it seems simple to live in. They have all they can get. In The Giving Tree, the tree gave the boy what he wanted and he was happy. He got to play and climb on the tree, he gave it a tattoo, and the tree gave a few things to him, such as a boat and a chair. In The Poor Sailor, he had a simple life, and he seemed to have what he really wanted, the simple life. He has a wife, a house, and that was really what he needed. The difference in The Giving Tree is that the boy took what was given to him for granted even until he was very old. As he got older, his wants were more expensive, like he really couldn’t get what he really wanted directly from the tree. Just like when he wanted money, he couldn’t get it directly from the tree and had to get apples from the tree to sell to actually get the money. In The Poor Sailor, even though he had a simple life and all that he can ask for, I think he wanted more than what he had. So he sacrificed his wife and his house to go out and explore the world. He went all over the place in a ship and worked as a crewman and even had to sacrifice his arm for fishes. When he lost his arm, he went home and saw that his wife died and his house was not like before. It’s like a regret that he had because he didn’t know what’s lost until he lost it. I think this is the feeling of the main character that was in the comic.
The first tale is “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. This is a classic tale set in a land of fantasy. Though it is a children’s story book this story have a deeper meaning behind it. It is a tale of a boy who in his youth would run deep into the forest and play on a tree. Gathering its leaves to make a crown or swinging from the branches and from time to time napping in the shade of the large tree. But this tree was not ordinary tree, this tree could speak and this tree loved the little boy. As the boy grew older he would come to the tree less often and eventfully he only came to the tree to as for things. The first thing he asked for was money. The tree had not money to offer to the boy it loved so it offered up its apples so he may sell them for money, and he would not return for many years. The next time the boy returned the boy asked for a house, a wife, and children. The tree could not provide the later two but offered up its branches to make a house. After that the boy would not return for a long time. And when he did he asked the tree for a boat. The tree offered up its trunk so the boy could use it as a boat it would be many years before the boy would return. But he did and the tree had noting left to offer. But the man wanted nothing more than a place to sit and rest. So the tree stump became a chair for the boy to rest upon. The second tale is the “The Poor Sailor”” by Sammy Harkham is a comic that illustrated the life of a man named Joshua. In the beginning of the comic Joshua is living happily with his wife. And he is working on the roof of his house. When one day his brother comes to visit him. Joshua’s brother is a captain of a fishing vessel and asked that Joshua join him and his crew on an exciting voyage and Joshua agrees. The night before he leaves his wife tries to get him to stay bringing up the fact that the roof to their house has yet to be completed. He promised her that he should return shortly and that they will lead a happy life together. So the next day he sets off before his wife even wakes up. And he sets sail on this voyage with his brother. Along the way his arm is trapped by one of the fishing nets and the crew of the ship wants to cut the line to free him. But his brother’s greed consumes him and ordered that they leave it until they could reel it in. By that time his brothers arm is infected with gang green and had to amputate the arm. A short wile after that the ship is attacked and their crew murdered by plundering pirates. Joshua escapes on a floating piece of wreckage and is found by some men. Shortly he is returned to lad where he returns home to discover that his wife had died while he was away. He did nothing for a while but he soon realizes that he must continue living and he finished the roof of his house. Those these two tales are very depressing they both have a message of hope. In “The Giving Tree” the tree continues to provide thing to make the boy happy. Even as a stump the tree made use of it to satisfy the needs of the boy by making use of every possible component. It’s apples, its branches it’s trunk and it’s stump. All given to the boy to satisfy him. All because the tree loved the boy. Even as a lowly stump. The tree provided its service giving them both great joys. And in the tale “The Poor Sailor” the Sailor having a wife to love him and a house to live in wanted. More to satisfy him. And his brother had given him the chance to satisfy his needs. Though his choice cost him every thing in the end. Joshua continues to live. Knowing that he must continue to live despite the fact that he lost his arm, his wife and his brother. Joshua keeps going to complete the house and continue living. Yet at the same time both of these tales show us how greed cost us every thing. In “the Giving Tree” The boys greed cost the tree everything that made it a tree. And the tree got neither reward nor any thanks for its generosity. And in the tale of “The Poor Sailor” Joshua’s greed caused him to leave his wife and go on an adventure. Expecting her to be there once he returned. But his greed had it’s cost and it was a cost that he would not have been so willing to pay.
The story of The Giving Tree and the story of The Poor Sailor have a big commonness. In both stories the main person wants more then he has. In the story of The Giving Tree the man wanted money and a house for example. In the story of The Poor Sailor the man wasn’t happy with his live because he wanted to sail. An other commonness is that there is the same change in each story. First in both stories the boy and the man were content with their live. But then the boy grew up and an old friend visited the man and then both weren’t happy any longer with their live. But the difference is the reaction from the waif and the tree. The tree only wants that the boy is happy. He did everything he could to fulfill the desire of the boy. He gave him all his apples so that the boy could sell them and he gave him his branches so that the boy could built his house. And the tree was happy because the boy was happy. But in the story The Poor Sailor the wife didn’t want to sail with his man. She only wanted that everything levels off. An other difference between this stories is that in the end when the boy is an old man the tree still exists even though he is only a stump. In the story of The Poor Sailor the waif is already death when the man comes home.
A similarity I see between the stories of The Giving Tree and Poor Sailor is the expectations of how things will be, and also how these expectations ultimately are wrong. In The Giving Tree the tree has some sort of subconscious, fixed expectation of the boy. Throughout the story it expects the boy to always come back to swing in its branches, climb its trunk, collect its leaves, and eat its apples. However the boy matures and he fails to be happy with those simple pleasures the tree provides. Instead he becomes dependent on material objects, and because the tree wants nothing more than for the boy to be happy it gives him everything. Similarly in the Poor Sailor, Thomas gives in to the temptation to see the world (or more specifically the tropics), probably expecting a great deal. Things he was more than likely to expect were earning money, but most importantly to come back to his wife and house soon. He told his wife he would be back soon. And just as the trees expectations failed Thomas’ expectation to see his wife again failed as well. When he came home she was dead, and his trip had been nothing like he had hoped.
No difference between the stories immediately occurred to me, so to think of something I went through the stories in my head and when I arrived at the end I noticed a difference. The two stories endings are different. Even though the Giving Tree’s ending, to me, has a melancholy tone to it (because the tree is basically stripped from everything it once had since the boy, as it turns out, is quite the jerk) the story ends happily. Quite oppositely, the Poor Sailor obviously has a rather sad ending, but ends with a positive tone.
In “The Giving Tree” when the boy was little he really liked the tree. He swung and everything with it, and he soon grew older as time went by. The older he was the more time there was the boy didn’t visit the tree. The tree liked the boy and wanted to take care of him like if the tree were the only family he had. The tree wanted to take care of him while he was getting older. As the boy grew older he didn’t want to play much and only asked for things and never said thanks but the tree was happy.
In “The Poor Sailor” Thomas had a simple life. He had a wife, he was building their house on his own, and he had food that he could get. He lived a happy life even if he didn’t have money. His old friend came by and wanted him to come catch fish and make money and thought it would be better for. His wife didn’t want him to go because she didn’t want him getting hurt and he did it anyway. While he was at sea he had problems like getting his arm cut off and the boat being attacked by certain trips people. When he finished and came back home he lost his wife and he was alone.
Both stories show that the characters wanted more in life and they did or tried to be successful. The boy from “The Giving Tree” just kept asking for more until all was left was the boy all-old, poor and the tree becoming only a stump. You can say that this type of friendship because of the tree willing to give more and more to the boy so that he would be benefited until finally the tree had nothing left to give. Thomas from “Poor Sailor” left and gave up on everything. When he got back everything he thought would still be there was all gone and he was alone. This type of wanting something and end with nothing was having the man gave up on his old life to try to make it better but he failed.
In both stories a character gave up something to benefit them or someone else. The difference is that in “The Giving Tree” the tree wants the boy to be happy and so it gives the both everything it has because once the boy is happy the tree is happy. But the sailor just wanted to benefit his own life so that he could have more money and help out with his relationship. What Thomas didn’t realize is that his wife didn’t mind living the life because she would be there, as long as they are together.
Both "The Poor Sailor" and "The Giving Tree" share a theme of not being satisfied with what you have. The boy in "The Giving Tree" took and took from the tree and wasn't satisfied until there was nothing left. The Sailor in "The Poor Sailor" had a house and a wife who loved him, and he was happy. But when a promise of adventure was dangled in front of him he became unsatisfied with the life he had. So he left on a whim and when he returned there was nothing left for him but the unfinished house.
If the boy in "The Giving Tree" had known what would happen to the tree after her used up all her resources, he may not have been so quick to take from her. The Sailor is similar because if he had known that he would lose an arm and that his wife wouldn't be at home when he returned, he probably wouldn't have left in the first place.
Another similarity that the stories have is that in "The Giving Tree" the boy took things that he wanted or thought he needed. The Sailor took an opportunity that he wanted and thought he needed. But like I mentioned before neither of them looked ahead at what might be the consequences of their actions.
The main difference that I noticed was that the boy always had the tree that he could come back to and she was always ready to make him happy. The boy didn't really suffer from his actions although he may have felt bad for the tree when she had nothing left at the end. He could finally relate to her because he didn't really have anything left either. The poor sailor however lost the one thing he really cared about which was his wife. He also lost his arm and the ship he went off to work on. The sailor was not happy in the end. He was lonely and broken and sad. He did pay for his mistakes and nothing good came out of what he did.
In the story The giving Tree, I feet like it was a very gental and caring place to live in. I feel this way because even though the boy kept disappearing from the tree and everytime the boy would come back he would always want something. All those times the tree never failed to give or show love to the boy. To me it really seemed like the boy was just using the tree for his needs and wants and even though the tree might have felt like that, the tree still gave everything to the boy just to see him happy. To me that is very gental and caring. To put your own wants and needs to side, just as long as you make sure the one you love will be happy. In the Poor Sailor, Thomas seem to live a simple life. He had a house to live in, he had a wife, and he worked enough to keep him and his wife alive. Then he had to leave his wife so he can go with his friend to the ocean and fish. I feel like it wasn't worth it because he lost his a good wife and plus he lost his arm because his friend was being ignorant and only thought about his self in the moment. Because his friend was selfish, Thomas lost his arm. I feel like this world or atleast the world that Thomas's friend lives in is a place where he doesn't really care if his friend gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants.
In the story of the “Giving Tree” the little boy doesn’t ask anything from the tree at first. All he wanted is to play with the tree. He didn’t care much about anything else. Once he started to get older he stop coming to the tree. The tree became very sad and when he did came by all he wanted was things from the tree, which the tree was happily to give up whatever she could. As for the “Poor Sailor”, the guy is happy with his life until he wants more. Once he starts asking for more he was willing to give up without thinking whatever he already had that already made him happy. Both of the short stories have someone wanting everything without thinking what it may cause to the other person. In the “Giving Tree” the boy keeps on asking and at the end the apple tree isn’t a tree anymore. As for the “Poor Sailor” the guy keeps on asking for more things and at the end he loses everything. The differences between them are in the “Giving Tree” the boy doesn’t lose the tree. As for the “Poor Sailor” the guy loses everything. Both of them ask for things but they don’t think of what it will cause to the other person. The tree doesn’t become a tree anymore in the “Giving Tree”. In the “Poor Sailor” the guy loses his wife and his home. Overall both of the story has the same meaning to it just different ending. Beside the “Giving Tree” is meant for kids and in every kid book there is always a happy ending.
Well in "The Giving Tree" it shows a lot of how people take and take from others just to make them happy and satisfy themselves. Also the tree wanted to make the boy happy. So it was hard to give what the boy wanted each year he came back when he took everything away from the tree. The tree gave everything it had to give to the boy. The boy was so selfish. He only thought about himself. He never thought about how the tree felt. Even though the tree liked him a lot and would do anything to make him happy til he got old. He never appreciated what the tree did for him when he needed a boat, and sold the tree's apple, and cut the branches to make the his home. The type of world that "The Giving Tree" occurs in a way that the world is in life, politically, public, government, society. In "The Poor Sailor" it was hard to catch what the message was because the guy left his wife behind and didn't appreciate what he had and lost everything he had. He lost his arm from the boat. He lost his friend. He lost his wife. I think she died. He lost everything he didn't appreciate until there was nothing left for him to cherish anything. He lost everything in the story but in the end he started a new life. Like when something doesn't work out refresh it. The type of world "The Poor Sailor" is living in is a cruel and unfair and takes things that he owns. Just like how the government is in society they take money away from people and be unfair about whats going on and only care about themselves.
It seems that the worlds of the Poor Sailor and The Giving Tree have little separating them other than the fact that in The Giving Tree, trees have emotion and can communicate. Otherwise these two stories could take place in the same world. In The Giving Tree, the characters consist of a young boy and a tree that he loves to spend his time swinging from and playing games around. As time goes by the boy gets older and starts to demand more and more of the tree. The tree is happy to provide whatever it can give for it only wants the boy to continue to spend time around it. In its actions the tree was selfless and in response the boy offered almost no thanks. In the Poor Sailor, the main character starts out living peacefully with his wife in the wilderness. When his brother visits he starts to feel anxious and decides to leave his wife behind in order to have some adventure and make his life more interesting. He spent time on the sea, suffering misfortunes like the loss of his arm and a pirate attack that left him shipwrecked before finally coming home and finding his wife dead and buried in his absence. The Giving Tree talks about how sometimes even when you give up all you can possibly give to someone they won’t stay with you. How people don’t always show gratitude for your help but they’re willing to take everything you can give. The Poor Sailor makes a point about how taking things for granted means that you don’t appreciate them while you’ve got them. When they’re gone it hurts that much more. Both of these stories talk about loss by failing to appreciate the things that end up lost. When the characters finally realized what they’d lost it was too late for them to do anything about it. The morals are sort of “Be sure to appreciate what you’ve got cause it won’t be around forever.”
The similarities between "The Giving Tree" and “The Poor Sailor" is that in both stories, the main characters started out with a simple life; the boy had the tree to play and spend time with while Thomas has his wife and got everything he needed in nature. Both the tree and Thomas' wife wanted them to stay with them and be happy but they both had to give up something for the other to be happy; the tree had to give up its apples, branches, trunk and Thomas' wife had to give up being by his side so Thomas would be happy. Also, the main characters of both stories realized how important their companions were when it was too late to thank them. In both stories, the main characters wanted more in life; the boy just kept asking and asking for more until the tree was a stump, and Thomas wanted a more adventurous life but ended up losing an arm and everyone he cared for.
After thinking about the similarities, I don't think that there are major differences.
The worlds of the two stories are complete opposites in my eyes. The world of the book "The Giving Tree" was mostly happy and getting things. the story "The Poor Sailor" it is completely different. Like the title of the story says the sailor is very misfortunes and all the things that happen to him from a few pages in the story are just bad. First of all the world of "the Giving Tree" is happy because the tree is providing its best friend with everything he needs to live in life to be happy. the only bad side of this is that the boy didn't seem to do anything for the tree after he grew up. all he was doing was taking and taking and not giving anything in return. until he ruined the life of the tree. yet the story was still much more happier then the story "The Poor Sailor". first off in this story the world is blank or at least it seemed to me blank and bland. everything seemed negative for the sailor. and when something comes up when is brother shows up and takes him fishing that was the only positive thing. yet this turned into disaster. the sailor loses his arm and the entire crew from his ship is murdered. when he finally gets home he finds his wife dead. so that is why i think this story was much sadder and makes the worlds complete opposites.
The message in both stories, I believe, is taking things for granted. Unfortunately for both the tree and the man's wife, the men in both of these stories took what they had for granted. The boy in “the giving tree,” did not fully appreciate the effort the tree put forth. The man in the story did not cherish the happiness he had. In the end both of the men were left with nothing. If the boy had truly cherished the tree, instead of using it and using it, he might have been left with more than a stump. Although in the end of that book, that was all he asked for, the tree might have been happier. Although trees do not usually have emotions, the life of the tree was spent giving all and everything to a boy who obviously took the tree for granted, someone who was hardly considerate, and only took, who never returned the favor.
In the case of the poor sailor, the husband took his wife for granted. He did not come to a happy ending, or at least a content ending, like you might see in “the giving tree.” In his case, he not only lost his arm, and his brother, but also the wife he hoped to come back to. If he had not left in the first place for whatever motives he had, perhaps because he didn't see how good things were in the home and the life he had created with Rachel, he might not have lost so much of himself. They are alike in their taking.. and their loss. They are alike in their regret.
The giving tree is the story of a child who his whole life was taken care of by a mother like tree. As the boy got older he begins to forget about his tree of a mother. The boy later comes back to visit his old friend only in his times of need. For example when he needs money, a home, and a wood to build a boat. The tree becomes happy and doesn’t mind giving away its pieces of her self. In the end the tree is just a stump and the boy is now an old man who just wants to sit. In the end of the story they are reunited.
The poor sailor on the other hand is about a man who leaves his happy but simple home to try a gain more money for his own selfish purposes. But as he hits the see his life just gets worse and worse. First he loses his arm. Then his boat is invaded by pirates and sees his brother get killed. As he floats home he finds that his wife has died and now he is alone and with one arm and now brother.
These two stories are different but also share similar parts of their world. They show the greed that a purpose can experience and how in the end it can change who they are. But the Giving Tree was nothing but nurturing to the little boy, but the sea was vicious and cruel to the sailor.
Solemn, serious, saddened, and woeful. These were the feelings I experienced when reading both “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein, and “The Poor Sailor” by Sammy Harkham. Although both stories left me in a low state, with the need to say “Aww” every other minute, I realize that even though each of these stories makes me feel similar things, they each have their unique differences as well. Let me begin by pointing out what I feel to be greatest similarity between these two stories. The boy in “The Giving Tree” and Thomas in “The Poor Sailor” essentially travel down the same course as they go through life. This course however, seems to lead them each further and further away from their loved ones. The boy rarely revisits the tree, his childhood friend; and when this does happen, it is usually when he is in need. Thomas doesn’t have the option of returning to his wife at all, because his path has taken him out to sea, where he can not return from easily. The world where “The Giving Tree” is set in seems to be a very materialistic one, with a pressure on its people to meet certain expectations. The boy deals with these expectations poorly, by taking advantage of the loyalty of his Giving Tree. However, the kindness and willingness to be selfless of the Giving Tree balance out this world, giving the impression that this world has its equal share of good and bad. In “The Poor Sailor”, I feel like the world is much more tragic, with less to rely on. It seems like Thomas felt that his life was not very solid, or stable, and would rather go away on an adventure than stay home with his wife. But the fates dealt Thomas very different cards, and instead of adventure, he seemed to run into every problem that he could. The discovery of Thomas’ wife’s death only adds to the idea that accounts of happiness are hard to come by in this world where misery runs wild. I think both stories exemplify the themes of the cycle of life and losses very well. In “The Giving Tree”, the boy grows older and leads his life away from the tree, returning only when in need of resources. When he finally reaches old age and no longer has a need for anything that society has convinced him he should have, he returns to the tree once again. The tree is now nothing more than a stump, showing how the boy has lost much of his friend during his time away, and constant use of her resources. Yet this time, all the boy needs of the tree is a place to sit, which she offers up without a second thought. The boy begins his life spending all his days with this tree, and ultimately ends it sitting with this old friend. For Thomas in “The Poor Sailor”, we find him at the beginning of the story building his house, and essentially his life from the ground up. He is a woodcutter, and is working to provide for his wife. When the opportunity to go off to sea comes up, he struggles with his decision to leave her behind. While away, death takes his wife, so that when he returns from his hardships at sea, he is greeted only by her grave. The cycle of Thomas’ life brought him right back to where he began his story, but this time without his loved one. And though Thomas gained an adventure on the ship, he lost a loved one in return. I feel the main difference between the two stories is the underlying message that each one represents. I feel that “The Giving Tree” has a more positive message, as it pushes the reader to be happy for what they are fortunate enough to have. It also encourages the reader to try and disengage from the expectations that society has planned out for you. For the boy, these expectations were to have a wife and family, to be successful in the terms of money, and to have a nice roof over his head. The message of “The Poor Sailor” is a tad more negative. I believe the ultimate underlying message is that sometimes you may be right where you need to be in life, and following impulse wants for adventure and excitement may cost you. It teaches you to weigh out your choices and evaluate your life a little more closely before you jump off into an opportunity, not taking full advantage of the good life you already have. In the end, I hope that I will be able to put the messages of these stories into my mind. I hope I will learn from the boy to try and make my own success first, before taking the offerings of those around me to help. And from Thomas, I hope that whenever I complain about my life, I will be able to recognize that it may be just how it needs to be for the moment, and how much worse it could be if I were to lose it all.
I think that although the concept of The Giving Tree and The Poor Sailor are the same, the way the authors wanted to express their feelings is very different. What I mean by this is that in The Giving Tree the author showed us how the giving tree continuously and selflessly supplied the boy with whatever he needed in exchange for absolutely nothing but company. The tree loved him so much that all it wanted was for the boy to climb it and keep it company. I think if the author was writing this story based on a personal experience, he would be feeling very discouraged because the situation with the person he loves isn’t anywhere the same as it used to be. In The Poor Sailor, I could tell from the very beginning that this story wasn’t going to be a very happy one. I noticed that the way the author portrayed the setting was very bleak and focused. Every one of the images he drew had a very sharp focus, which helped me to imagine what thoughts were going through the sailor’s head in that frame, and how the situation might have felt to him in that bleak colorless world. It’s very sad how he left something he loved to pursue another love (being out on the ocean), and in the end he loses everything he has, and yet he still manages to live another day without his wife or his brother or the sea.
Taylor Kemp, Eta, 257 words The main similarity between the worlds of the poor sailor and the giving tree is that both worlds are run by desire and the need for more stuff. In the world of the giving tree, the boy always needed something else and was never satisfied. In the world of the sailor, he had a perfectly good life and then he gambled it all for an adventure, and he lost everything. The world of the giving tree is obviously not the real world because there is no such (known) thing as a talking tree. The world of the sailor might be the real world, because there is no real mention of anything that makes it not the real world. Either of the worlds could be real in the sense that they both involve greed and the want of the world, as opposed to a world where there are fairies, leprechauns, and magical things and stuff like that. Other than those thoughts, there is not much more you can deduce about the worlds of the two stories. At the end of both stories each of the characters realized they had lost or sacrificed something to the world in which they live. The poor sailor sacrificed his wife and his arm for his adventure, the boy sacrificed his tree for the things he needed in his world, but at least it was a happy ending and he still had his friend in the end. Their worlds also revolved around what they needed not what they already had.
The similarities in “The Giving Tree” and “Poor Sailor” are that they both gave up things so that they can have a chance for something better. In the “Poor Sailor” he gives up his life and an arm just so that he could have a chance at a better life. In “The Giving Tree” the tree sacrificed everything it has so that the man could have what ever they wanted because of their friendship. They both sacrificed something that was very big to them to do what they thought would be the best. Even if at the end it wasn’t the right thing to do. The differences are that in “The Giving Tree” the tree gave up everything that it had so that somebody else could have a good life. In the end he ends up with the boy not all alone like in the “Poor Sailor” because he did think about the consequences that would happen but did them anyways because he knew it was best for the boy. In the “Poor Sailor” the sailor left his family to try and get better things for himself without thinking of what the consequences would be. He didn’t think about how his wife would react to him leaving her to go do what he wanted that’s why at the end he ends up all alone in the house. Also they had to convince the sailor to go unlike the tree were it did it out of love for the boy.
Aside from the act of reciprocity, and it’s only slightly in “The Poor Sailor” I don’t really see very many similarities between that and “The Giving Tree”. In the latter the act of reciprocity is so much more obvious. The tree is selflessly giving everything she has, which isn’t much, just her apples, branches and eventually her whole trunk, and hoping that the boy will keep coming back and they can eventually be together again. The boy eventually does come back and I think that is a closing to her giving everything up because although they can’t play together, all she wanted the whole time was her boy back. In “The Poor Sailor” I saw Thomas going with Jacob, his brother, has a slight form of reciprocity. Jacob promised him adventures and great travel and while he did do that, Jacob ended up causing the amputation of his arm and in an indirect way, the death of Rachel, Thomas’ wife. So while Thomas gave up his quiet simple life for his brother and never really got anything back. He came home with one less arm, aged, and to a dead wife. And now that I think about it, the two stories are still very different but have a lot of the same aspects. I think the biggest difference is the way each man in the story left, and their reasons for it. In “The Giving Tree” the boy left simply because he grew older and didn’t realize how much he was hurting the tree. Thomas knew exactly what he was doing but thought that leaving wouldn’t turn out the way he did, obviously, even though I still think he would have left. What struck me the most about “The Poor Sailor” was how the roof was still damaged, it gave me the impression that Rachel didn’t do anything except wait for Thomas, painstakingly, until he returned and when he did, he went back to fixing his roof and his life, though without Rachel I think he wasn’t the same. That was another main difference between “The Giving Tree” and “The Poor Sailor” the boy left without a second though and Thomas seemed to face a troubling decision, yet it turns into a similarity when they both come back they seem to realize their mistakes; Thomas with the death of his wife and the boy with the fact that he had nothing left except the tree, which he had all along and he didn’t notice it. So, now that I think about it, the two stories aren’t very different, they take different paths, but end up at the same ending.
In The Giving Tree, the tree is much like a merciful mother who wishes to provide for her child and give up the things and possesions she has. She does this, hopefully, to give the boy a chance at happiness much like what mothers do for their children. As the boy grew older he modled, what human children go through. Young children always want to play with their mothers but as they grew older, they become more distant and only come back to their mother if they want something. In the end, the boy has grown old and come back to the tree and tree offers her stump for him to sit on and rest. This is much like a mother doing what she could to accomadate her child even in her later years.
In The Poor Sailor, Thomas is a man who, seemingly, lives in the middle of nowhere with his wife. One day Thomas' brother shows up and makes him an offer to go fishing with him throughout the ocean. Thomas thinks it over but his wife does not want him to go. Eventually, he leaves without her but says that he will be back. This is similar to the story The Giving Tree because eventually he returns to the house and to his wife after losing his brother to pirates. Unfortunatly, this differs greatly because he returns home only to find his wife buried and the house empty whereas the boy returns to the tree to find that the tree is still willing to accomadate him. Thomas accepts this and goes on with his life repairing his house and still lives at that house.
In that book, "The Giving Tree" there was a little boy, and that little boy was friends with a tree. This little boy always played with this tree, climbed it, and swung from it and ate its apples, but he eventually grew out of that, but the tree didn't because its a tree. The tree always wanted the boy around, but as he got older, he came through less and less, and the tree was sad, but it never held a grudge, and was always there. The boy always came back, and got somthing that the tree would give up wiht no question, and he never thanked the tree. In that strip called "The Poor Sailor" there was a guy name Thom, and he had a wife, and a brother, and he lived a simple life. makin it, but not rich, then his brother came through and told him that he had a good way to come up on some extra money. So he went, even though his wifey didnt want him to, he told her that he would be back. After a while his lady got sad and lonely, and died. While Thom was out @ sea, he got his arm chopped, and his ship attacked by pirates and he had to find his way home. When he ogt there, he saw that his house was not as it had been elft, and that his old lady was underground, and he came back even a lesser man than he had left. In both of these stories there is a main character, who wants more than waht theyve got, even though they could live a fine life just the way they are and be happy and keep the ones they love happy. So they go for it, and dont quite get the desired results. There is a kind of kinship likeish relationship in "The giving Tree" because there is someone asking so much of someone else,even till there is nothing left to ask for, and that someone else asks nothing in return. With the "Poor Sailor" Hes got what he needs, but he leave anyway, and unknowingly leaves his life behind, in a receptical sort of way. He was just trying to make things better, just trying to get ahead in life, but all he did was make evrything just about as bad as he could have. And he lost his arm. The differences between the 2 of these stories are that 1 story was about being selfless, and in the other it was about being selfish.
I think the author wrote The Given Tree at time where people were kind to each other, and give away things without thinking about what are they going to get out of it, or in another word, thinking about the returns. The book shows how people could take advantage of a person’s generosity. When I was reading the story, I felt that the boy is just a typical human that has his own needs. When we were reading the book in class, I noticed the all of the students felt bad for the tree, and some people were about to cry, where in real life most people do the same thing the boy did. Human when they are little kids they always be attached to their parents, but as they grow up, the distance between the parents and the kid grow up as well, even though the parents took care of them, gave them everything they needed but still human forget all of that and move on. And that just the way it is, and nobody stays the same. I think Poor Sailor is somehow related to The Given Tree or they sort of have the same idea. In the Poor Sailor the guy was living with someone who cared about him and loved him, but he moved on to try something different because (as I mentioned earlier) he just a typical human that has his own needs. But the two stories are different because the boy from The Given Tree was actually going back to the tree and asked her for her support, and he was taking advantage of her kindness and didn’t even realize that what he was doing was wrong, but the guy form Poor Sailor didn’t want to go back because he felt guilty and felt that he made the wrong decision.
In The Giving Tree, a tree always provided happiness for a boy through his childhood and until he grew old. The tree made sacrifices for the boy every time he visited it and the boy didn’t necessary cherish the tree as an important thing to him. The boy got use to going to the tree that he began to take things for granted or for his own needs. The tree sacrificed parts of itself to make the boy happy and the boy just took it, not realizing that the tree was giving up everything it had. In “The Poor Sailor”, an ordinary guy named Thomas sacrifices everything he had (his wife, time and lifestyle) to go on a journey with his brother to find riches. He made this sacrifice for his own greed of riches and happiness and didn’t listen to his wife. He went on a sailing journey expecting that he will benefit greatly and make it home to his wife. After he returned from his journey he realized that he didn’t gain anything at all. He ended in a worse condition than he had before he left for the journey. A similarity between The Giving Tree and “The Poor Sailor” is that in both stories a character had to sacrifice something for the benefit of themselves or others. Also in both stories, the greedy seems to return back to where they once were and ask for nothing more. A difference between The Giving Tree and “The Poor Sailor” is that the characters made sacrifices, but they were two different kinds of sacrifice for a different cause. The Giving Tree seemed more about somebody that cared a lot for a friend and wanted the friend to be always happy. “The Poor Sailor” is more about a guy finding happiness and riches for himself. I think in the story “The Poor Sailor”, there is reciprocity involved because Thomas made sacrifices and he expected to gain more than he had, but it didn’t come true. In The Giving Tree, there is kinship because the tree made sacrifices to make the boy happy and the tree always cared about the boy.
In both stories there was a common theme. It seemed like one person was always let down in the story. For example in the "Poor Sailor" he goes off on an adventure, and forgets what he has sitting at home he leaves his wife for new adventures and comes back to sadness. In "The giving Tree" the little boy forgets what he has because he is seeing bigger, and better things so he moves on from his tree, but when he comes back he is sad, and realizes he has nothing less. It shows how people take things and other people for granted. People think they things in life just come and go, but in reality you either have to hold on or let go. Only you can make that decision. When we read "The Giving Tree" it started off happy, and slowly went to the sad, and depressing things that the little boy was going through to stay happy. And in the "Poor Sailor" he went off on the boat kind of doubting his decision, and came back with even more regret and sorrow. They were like opposites , but so much alike. In both stories you can see the cause and affect of their actions. Both good and bad.
The story “Poor Sailor” was about a man who wanted to support his family and he took a job with his brother. He worked at home and had a wife. One day his brother had came in town. His brother told him he wanted him to be a sailor with him and have a job. So the Husband took the job in consideration even though his wife wanted him to stay. He was working on the job and messed up his arm. At times you can tell he wished he hadn’t gone through that route because he would day dream, missing his wife. After the injury he was told he had to cut his arm or he would die. He went through with the procedure, and after the whole thing he ended up being back home with his wife. In the Story “Giving Tree” a boy used to climb the tree from when he was young and then got older and asked the tree for many things. The tree knew the boy since he was little so was very happy to see him when he would come around. The boy asked the tree for many things even though he didn’t have many things he gave him what he could. When he gave the boy everything he could, when this time came around the boy was an old man. At the end of the story the man came back and wasn’t as active as he was when he was little. He told the tree he needed a place to rest and the tree was a little stump and still gave him a place to rest. The message of these stories has a lot to do with “Giving” people. If you read the stories you will realize both of the main characters had people that gave them the little things they had. If you realize, after both characters had their experiences in life, they both went back to where they started. The Poor Sailor man went back to his wife who cared for him as well as the old man going back to the tree, which was a place he started at as a little boy. This had to with reciprocity. Both characters were given things and all the tree and the wife wanted was for them to go back where they started. This sends a message saying you never forget where you come from and who helped you the most in life, and those who care will always have an open hand for you. This is a life moral of certain human beings.
Ayinde Bell Stampp The story “Poor Sailor” was about a man who wanted to support his family and he took a job with his brother. He worked at home and had a wife. One day his brother had came in town. His brother told him he wanted him to be a sailor with him and have a job. So the Husband took the job in consideration even though his wife wanted him to stay. He was working on the job and messed up his arm. At times you can tell he wished he hadn’t gone through that route because he would day dream, missing his wife. After the injury he was told he had to cut his arm or he would die. He went through with the procedure, and after the whole thing he ended up being back home with his wife. In the Story “Giving Tree” a boy used to climb the tree from when he was young and then got older and asked the tree for many things. The tree knew the boy since he was little so was very happy to see him when he would come around. The boy asked the tree for many things even though he didn’t have many things he gave him what he could. When he gave the boy everything he could, when this time came around the boy was an old man. At the end of the story the man came back and wasn’t as active as he was when he was little. He told the tree he needed a place to rest and the tree was a little stump and still gave him a place to rest. The message of these stories has a lot to do with “Giving” people. If you read the stories you will realize both of the main characters had people that gave them the little things they had. If you realize, after both characters had their experiences in life, they both went back to where they started. The Poor Sailor man went back to his wife who cared for him as well as the old man going back to the tree, which was a place he started at as a little boy. This had to with reciprocity. Both characters were given things and all the tree and the wife wanted was for them to go back where they started. This sends a message saying you never forget where you come from and who helped you the most in life, and those who care will always have an open hand for you. This is a life moral of certain human beings.
In “The Giving Tree” and “The Poor Sailor” the two worlds in which the stories take place are very similar. They both contain caring people who’ll do anything to make the ones the care about happy. They do this knowing that they will get nothing in return, but they conform to just seeing them happy. This was the case in The Giving Tree. They tree gave and gave until she had nothing else to give, and even then she was happy because she figure out that she had a little more left and gave it to the boy. In the Poor Sailor Thomas gives up being with this wife Rachel in order to make his brother Jacob happy. Meanwhile Rachel gave up too because she thought that Thomas would never return. After a while when Thomas had nothing left he returned to Rachel, but it was too late. In both stories there are people who are trying to make others happy and the others who only care about themselves. In both of the stories there is a third person who comes into play and causes a shift in the way that the boy and Thomas behave. Which leaves the tree and Rachel behind and alone. The differences between the two are that in the end the boy from The Giving Tree isn’t alone, but Thomas is left all alone without an arm and without his wife. Also the tree never wanted anything except to see the boy happy, while the sailor tried to do things to make his wife happen but what he didn’t realize was that she was happy living the way that they were before. That is why in the end he is left all alone and unhappy.
31 comments:
John Carreon
Epsilon Block
In “The Giving Tree” when the boy was little he liked the tree a lot. He played with it and he soon grew a little older. The older he was the more he didn’t go visit the tree. The tree also liked him and wanted to take care of him like the tree took care of him while he was a child. So the tree wanted to take care of him while he grew older. But at the boy grew up he didn’t want to play much and he just asked the tree if the tree can give him something so that he can get what he wanted and the boy never thanked the tree. In “The Poor Sailor” Thomas had you can say a simple life. He had a wife, he was building a house, and he had food that he could get so they wouldn’t starve. He didn’t have a rich life but he was happy. Then his old friend came and wanted him to come catch fish and make more money. His wife didn’t want him to go and he did anyway. While he was at sea he had problems like getting his arm cut off and the boat being attacked by pirates. By the time he came home he lost his wife and he was all alone. Both stories show that the characters wanted more in life and they did or tried to be more successful. The boy from “The Giving Tree” just kept asking for more and more till there was nothing left. You can say that this type of cooperative is kinship because of the tree willing to give more and more to the boy so that he would benefit until the tree had nothing left to give. Then the sailor left and he gave up on everything then when he got back everything he thought would still be there was gone. This type of cooperative is like reciprocity the man gave up on his old life to try to make it better but he failed. In both stories a character gave up something to benefit them or someone else. The differences is that in “The Giving Tree” the tree just wanted the boy to be happy and so the tree gave the boy things he needed to be happy so that the tree can be happy. But the sailor just wanted to benefit his own life so that he could have more money and what the sailor didn’t realize is that his wife didn’t mind living like the way they are as long as they are together.
Sheryl Soo
Theta
I think the world in The Giving Tree was a place where people were generous, caring, and patient. But there were also people who didn't realize their actions and kept on taking from others around them. In this world, people need to learn that they need others to show appreciation and that it is necessary to be acknowledged for what you do because otherwise it makes life miserable and just keep giving away does not make you happy anymore. Like the Tree in the story, it kept giving away because it believed that as long as the other was happy, it does not need anything else to live on, but it was wrong. Near the end everything was gone for the Tree and it started becoming lonely. The greedy people and those who keep taking and asking from others are like the Boy in the story. In the world of The Poor Sailor, there are many new things that people want to explore and they take chances even if it's risking never seeing the people they love or care for. There are people who are, like the Wife in the story, given up for others' hopes and dreams. People in this world are different, like in The Giving Tree, there are those who seem to be doing the good things, and those who seem to be doing the wrong things. It is never pointed out in the story which is which, but it is pretty obvious. Though, the Wife and the Tree are very different characters from both stories, they share the common theme of being there for the other person, but they are not appreciated or cherished the way they should be or deserve to be. The Sailor and the Boy are also very different characters from both stories, but they are both unconscious of what or who they treasure most until they realize they've lost them.
Liz Dyer—Theta Block--- 08.29.07
The Giving Tree and the Poor Sailor appear to be stories that simply tell simple stories.
The Giving Tree is a simple depiction of the love a tree had for a boy, and as a result the tree kept giving and giving to the boy so he could be happy. Although, as the boy entered his adult years, the boy wanted more than what the tree could offer. He deserted the tree time and time again. As the years passed, the tree gave the boy it’s branches and trunk and all it had to offer until the end of the boy’s life. In the end, the boy (now an old man) only needed a place to sit, which was the mere stump left of the tree.
The Poor Sailor depicts the life of a man who wanted more than what he had. He lived a simple life with his wife in the countryside. Although, he wanted a sailor’s life and he to work at sea. His wife felt as though he’d be deserting her, and didn’t want him to go. He did go, when she was asleep in the nighttime. The man would seem to pay the price, as he lost his arm and his crew throughout the course of his adventure. He missed his wife, but by the time he found his way back home, he found his wife and died.
These two stories can illustrate the issue of ‘wanting’ in the modern day and it’s affect on relationships. If one person keeps wanting more and more of what life has to offer, it could easily hinder the other person within the relationship. The boy in the Giving Tree wanted more from life, and the tree gave him all she could until she was nothing. In the Poor Sailor, the man deserted his wife for something new, leaving her alone and ultimately him as well.
Another connection shown between the two stories is their depictions of childhood, adulthood, and reaching your older years. The stories both seem to give an impulsive, selfish view on adults. The adults in both stories want more for themselves, whatever modern day society has to offer. Younger and older years are shown to be somewhat different, especially in the Giving Tree. The boy was so loving and appreciative of the tree when he was young, and not only until he became old and feeble did he re-realize that the tree had what he needed. In the Poor Sailor, the man discovers this in his later years, too. After missing his wife he finally goes back for her, only to find that she died. This is somewhat of an embodiment of the saying ‘you don’t know what you have until you lost it.’
In a perfect world, all you’d really need is that person(s) that love you and that you love equally. Harsh realities prove otherwise in the two stories. No one will ever be pleased with life, that is, until the end of it.
Ivy Leung
Zeta
In the story The Giving Tree and The Poor Sailor the similarity between the two worlds are that both the main characters are pretty happy with their life and it seems simple to live in. They have all they can get. In The Giving Tree, the tree gave the boy what he wanted and he was happy. He got to play and climb on the tree, he gave it a tattoo, and the tree gave a few things to him, such as a boat and a chair. In The Poor Sailor, he had a simple life, and he seemed to have what he really wanted, the simple life. He has a wife, a house, and that was really what he needed.
The difference in The Giving Tree is that the boy took what was given to him for granted even until he was very old. As he got older, his wants were more expensive, like he really couldn’t get what he really wanted directly from the tree. Just like when he wanted money, he couldn’t get it directly from the tree and had to get apples from the tree to sell to actually get the money. In The Poor Sailor, even though he had a simple life and all that he can ask for, I think he wanted more than what he had. So he sacrificed his wife and his house to go out and explore the world. He went all over the place in a ship and worked as a crewman and even had to sacrifice his arm for fishes. When he lost his arm, he went home and saw that his wife died and his house was not like before. It’s like a regret that he had because he didn’t know what’s lost until he lost it. I think this is the feeling of the main character that was in the comic.
Calvin Chan
Block Eta
A Comparison of Two Tales
The first tale is “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. This is a classic tale set in a land of fantasy. Though it is a children’s story book this story have a deeper meaning behind it. It is a tale of a boy who in his youth would run deep into the forest and play on a tree. Gathering its leaves to make a crown or swinging from the branches and from time to time napping in the shade of the large tree. But this tree was not ordinary tree, this tree could speak and this tree loved the little boy. As the boy grew older he would come to the tree less often and eventfully he only came to the tree to as for things. The first thing he asked for was money. The tree had not money to offer to the boy it loved so it offered up its apples so he may sell them for money, and he would not return for many years. The next time the boy returned the boy asked for a house, a wife, and children. The tree could not provide the later two but offered up its branches to make a house. After that the boy would not return for a long time. And when he did he asked the tree for a boat. The tree offered up its trunk so the boy could use it as a boat it would be many years before the boy would return. But he did and the tree had noting left to offer. But the man wanted nothing more than a place to sit and rest. So the tree stump became a chair for the boy to rest upon.
The second tale is the “The Poor Sailor”” by Sammy Harkham is a comic that illustrated the life of a man named Joshua. In the beginning of the comic Joshua is living happily with his wife. And he is working on the roof of his house. When one day his brother comes to visit him. Joshua’s brother is a captain of a fishing vessel and asked that Joshua join him and his crew on an exciting voyage and Joshua agrees. The night before he leaves his wife tries to get him to stay bringing up the fact that the roof to their house has yet to be completed. He promised her that he should return shortly and that they will lead a happy life together. So the next day he sets off before his wife even wakes up. And he sets sail on this voyage with his brother. Along the way his arm is trapped by one of the fishing nets and the crew of the ship wants to cut the line to free him. But his brother’s greed consumes him and ordered that they leave it until they could reel it in. By that time his brothers arm is infected with gang green and had to amputate the arm. A short wile after that the ship is attacked and their crew murdered by plundering pirates. Joshua escapes on a floating piece of wreckage and is found by some men. Shortly he is returned to lad where he returns home to discover that his wife had died while he was away. He did nothing for a while but he soon realizes that he must continue living and he finished the roof of his house.
Those these two tales are very depressing they both have a message of hope. In “The Giving Tree” the tree continues to provide thing to make the boy happy. Even as a stump the tree made use of it to satisfy the needs of the boy by making use of every possible component. It’s apples, its branches it’s trunk and it’s stump. All given to the boy to satisfy him. All because the tree loved the boy. Even as a lowly stump. The tree provided its service giving them both great joys.
And in the tale “The Poor Sailor” the Sailor having a wife to love him and a house to live in wanted. More to satisfy him. And his brother had given him the chance to satisfy his needs. Though his choice cost him every thing in the end. Joshua continues to live. Knowing that he must continue to live despite the fact that he lost his arm, his wife and his brother. Joshua keeps going to complete the house and continue living.
Yet at the same time both of these tales show us how greed cost us every thing. In “the Giving Tree” The boys greed cost the tree everything that made it a tree. And the tree got neither reward nor any thanks for its generosity. And in the tale of “The Poor Sailor” Joshua’s greed caused him to leave his wife and go on an adventure. Expecting her to be there once he returned. But his greed had it’s cost and it was a cost that he would not have been so willing to pay.
David Luerssen
Theta Block
The story of The Giving Tree and the story of The Poor Sailor have a big commonness. In both stories the main person wants more then he has. In the story of The Giving Tree the man wanted money and a house for example. In the story of The Poor Sailor the man wasn’t happy with his live because he wanted to sail. An other commonness is that there is the same change in each story. First in both stories the boy and the man were content with their live. But then the boy grew up and an old friend visited the man and then both weren’t happy any longer with their live.
But the difference is the reaction from the waif and the tree. The tree only wants that the boy is happy. He did everything he could to fulfill the desire of the boy. He gave him all his apples so that the boy could sell them and he gave him his branches so that the boy could built his house. And the tree was happy because the boy was happy. But in the story The Poor Sailor the wife didn’t want to sail with his man. She only wanted that everything levels off. An other difference between this stories is that in the end when the boy is an old man the tree still exists even though he is only a stump. In the story of The Poor Sailor the waif is already death when the man comes home.
©Fia.
Zeta
A similarity I see between the stories of The Giving Tree and Poor Sailor is the expectations of how things will be, and also how these expectations ultimately are wrong. In The Giving Tree the tree has some sort of subconscious, fixed expectation of the boy. Throughout the story it expects the boy to always come back to swing in its branches, climb its trunk, collect its leaves, and eat its apples. However the boy matures and he fails to be happy with those simple pleasures the tree provides. Instead he becomes dependent on material objects, and because the tree wants nothing more than for the boy to be happy it gives him everything. Similarly in the Poor Sailor, Thomas gives in to the temptation to see the world (or more specifically the tropics), probably expecting a great deal. Things he was more than likely to expect were earning money, but most importantly to come back to his wife and house soon. He told his wife he would be back soon. And just as the trees expectations failed Thomas’ expectation to see his wife again failed as well. When he came home she was dead, and his trip had been nothing like he had hoped.
No difference between the stories immediately occurred to me, so to think of something I went through the stories in my head and when I arrived at the end I noticed a difference. The two stories endings are different. Even though the Giving Tree’s ending, to me, has a melancholy tone to it (because the tree is basically stripped from everything it once had since the boy, as it turns out, is quite the jerk) the story ends happily. Quite oppositely, the Poor Sailor obviously has a rather sad ending, but ends with a positive tone.
Rolando Casella...
Theta
In “The Giving Tree” when the boy was little he really liked the tree. He swung and everything with it, and he soon grew older as time went by. The older he was the more time there was the boy didn’t visit the tree. The tree liked the boy and wanted to take care of him like if the tree were the only family he had. The tree wanted to take care of him while he was getting older. As the boy grew older he didn’t want to play much and only asked for things and never said thanks but the tree was happy.
In “The Poor Sailor” Thomas had a simple life. He had a wife, he was building their house on his own, and he had food that he could get. He lived a happy life even if he didn’t have money. His old friend came by and wanted him to come catch fish and make money and thought it would be better for. His wife didn’t want him to go because she didn’t want him getting hurt and he did it anyway. While he was at sea he had problems like getting his arm cut off and the boat being attacked by certain trips people. When he finished and came back home he lost his wife and he was alone.
Both stories show that the characters wanted more in life and they did or tried to be successful. The boy from “The Giving Tree” just kept asking for more until all was left was the boy all-old, poor and the tree becoming only a stump. You can say that this type of friendship because of the tree willing to give more and more to the boy so that he would be benefited until finally the tree had nothing left to give. Thomas from “Poor Sailor” left and gave up on everything. When he got back everything he thought would still be there was all gone and he was alone. This type of wanting something and end with nothing was having the man gave up on his old life to try to make it better but he failed.
In both stories a character gave up something to benefit them or someone else. The difference is that in “The Giving Tree” the tree wants the boy to be happy and so it gives the both everything it has because once the boy is happy the tree is happy. But the sailor just wanted to benefit his own life so that he could have more money and help out with his relationship. What Thomas didn’t realize is that his wife didn’t mind living the life because she would be there, as long as they are together.
Maggie Gaster
8/29/07
Eta
Both "The Poor Sailor" and "The Giving Tree" share a theme of not being satisfied with what you have. The boy in "The Giving Tree" took and took from the tree and wasn't satisfied until there was nothing left. The Sailor in "The Poor Sailor" had a house and a wife who loved him, and he was happy. But when a promise of adventure was dangled in front of him he became unsatisfied with the life he had. So he left on a whim and when he returned there was nothing left for him but the unfinished house.
If the boy in "The Giving Tree" had known what would happen to the tree after her used up all her resources, he may not have been so quick to take from her. The Sailor is similar because if he had known that he would lose an arm and that his wife wouldn't be at home when he returned, he probably wouldn't have left in the first place.
Another similarity that the stories have is that in "The Giving Tree" the boy took things that he wanted or thought he needed. The Sailor took an opportunity that he wanted and thought he needed. But like I mentioned before neither of them looked ahead at what might be the consequences of their actions.
The main difference that I noticed was that the boy always had the tree that he could come back to and she was always ready to make him happy. The boy didn't really suffer from his actions although he may have felt bad for the tree when she had nothing left at the end. He could finally relate to her because he didn't really have anything left either. The poor sailor however lost the one thing he really cared about which was his wife. He also lost his arm and the ship he went off to work on. The sailor was not happy in the end. He was lonely and broken and sad. He did pay for his mistakes and nothing good came out of what he did.
John Sy
Theta
In the story The giving Tree, I feet like it was a very gental and caring place to live in. I feel this way because even though the boy kept disappearing from the tree and everytime the boy would come back he would always want something. All those times the tree never failed to give or show love to the boy. To me it really seemed like the boy was just using the tree for his needs and wants and even though the tree might have felt like that, the tree still gave everything to the boy just to see him happy. To me that is very gental and caring. To put your own wants and needs to side, just as long as you make sure the one you love will be happy. In the Poor Sailor, Thomas seem to live a simple life. He had a house to live in, he had a wife, and he worked enough to keep him and his wife alive. Then he had to leave his wife so he can go with his friend to the ocean and fish. I feel like it wasn't worth it because he lost his a good wife and plus he lost his arm because his friend was being ignorant and only thought about his self in the moment. Because his friend was selfish, Thomas lost his arm. I feel like this world or atleast the world that Thomas's friend lives in is a place where he doesn't really care if his friend gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants.
Eta Block
In the story of the “Giving Tree” the little boy doesn’t ask anything from the tree at first. All he wanted is to play with the tree. He didn’t care much about anything else. Once he started to get older he stop coming to the tree. The tree became very sad and when he did came by all he wanted was things from the tree, which the tree was happily to give up whatever she could. As for the “Poor Sailor”, the guy is happy with his life until he wants more. Once he starts asking for more he was willing to give up without thinking whatever he already had that already made him happy. Both of the short stories have someone wanting everything without thinking what it may cause to the other person. In the “Giving Tree” the boy keeps on asking and at the end the apple tree isn’t a tree anymore. As for the “Poor Sailor” the guy keeps on asking for more things and at the end he loses everything. The differences between them are in the “Giving Tree” the boy doesn’t lose the tree. As for the “Poor Sailor” the guy loses everything. Both of them ask for things but they don’t think of what it will cause to the other person. The tree doesn’t become a tree anymore in the “Giving Tree”. In the “Poor Sailor” the guy loses his wife and his home. Overall both of the story has the same meaning to it just different ending. Beside the “Giving Tree” is meant for kids and in every kid book there is always a happy ending.
Heather Tabios
Eta Block
Well in "The Giving Tree" it shows a lot of how people take and take from others just to make them happy and satisfy themselves. Also the tree wanted to make the boy happy. So it was hard to give what the boy wanted each year he came back when he took everything away from the tree. The tree gave everything it had to give to the boy. The boy was so selfish. He only thought about himself. He never thought about how the tree felt. Even though the tree liked him a lot and would do anything to make him happy til he got old. He never appreciated what the tree did for him when he needed a boat, and sold the tree's apple, and cut the branches to make the his home.
The type of world that "The Giving Tree" occurs in a way that the world is in life, politically, public, government, society. In "The Poor Sailor" it was hard to catch what the message was because the guy left his wife behind and didn't appreciate what he had and lost everything he had. He lost his arm from the boat. He lost his friend. He lost his wife. I think she died. He lost everything he didn't appreciate until there was nothing left for him to cherish anything. He lost everything in the story but in the end he started a new life. Like when something doesn't work out refresh it. The type of world "The Poor Sailor" is living in is a cruel and unfair and takes things that he owns. Just like how the government is in society they take money away from people and be unfair about whats going on and only care about themselves.
It seems that the worlds of the Poor Sailor and The Giving Tree have little separating them other than the fact that in The Giving Tree, trees have emotion and can communicate. Otherwise these two stories could take place in the same world.
In The Giving Tree, the characters consist of a young boy and a tree that he loves to spend his time swinging from and playing games around. As time goes by the boy gets older and starts to demand more and more of the tree. The tree is happy to provide whatever it can give for it only wants the boy to continue to spend time around it. In its actions the tree was selfless and in response the boy offered almost no thanks.
In the Poor Sailor, the main character starts out living peacefully with his wife in the wilderness. When his brother visits he starts to feel anxious and decides to leave his wife behind in order to have some adventure and make his life more interesting. He spent time on the sea, suffering misfortunes like the loss of his arm and a pirate attack that left him shipwrecked before finally coming home and finding his wife dead and buried in his absence.
The Giving Tree talks about how sometimes even when you give up all you can possibly give to someone they won’t stay with you. How people don’t always show gratitude for your help but they’re willing to take everything you can give.
The Poor Sailor makes a point about how taking things for granted means that you don’t appreciate them while you’ve got them. When they’re gone it hurts that much more.
Both of these stories talk about loss by failing to appreciate the things that end up lost. When the characters finally realized what they’d lost it was too late for them to do anything about it. The morals are sort of “Be sure to appreciate what you’ve got cause it won’t be around forever.”
Calvin Zhang
Theta
The similarities between "The Giving Tree" and “The Poor Sailor" is that in both stories, the main characters started out with a simple life; the boy had the tree to play and spend time with while Thomas has his wife and got everything he needed in nature. Both the tree and Thomas' wife wanted them to stay with them and be happy but they both had to give up something for the other to be happy; the tree had to give up its apples, branches, trunk and Thomas' wife had to give up being by his side so Thomas would be happy. Also, the main characters of both stories realized how important their companions were when it was too late to thank them. In both stories, the main characters wanted more in life; the boy just kept asking and asking for more until the tree was a stump, and Thomas wanted a more adventurous life but ended up losing an arm and everyone he cared for.
After thinking about the similarities, I don't think that there are major differences.
Brett Moran
Epsilon Block
8/29/07
The worlds of the two stories are complete opposites in my eyes. The world of the book "The Giving Tree" was mostly happy and getting things. the story "The Poor Sailor" it is completely different. Like the title of the story says the sailor is very misfortunes and all the things that happen to him from a few pages in the story are just bad. First of all the world of "the Giving Tree" is happy because the tree is providing its best friend with everything he needs to live in life to be happy. the only bad side of this is that the boy didn't seem to do anything for the tree after he grew up. all he was doing was taking and taking and not giving anything in return. until he ruined the life of the tree. yet the story was still much more happier then the story "The Poor Sailor". first off in this story the world is blank or at least it seemed to me blank and bland. everything seemed negative for the sailor. and when something comes up when is brother shows up and takes him fishing that was the only positive thing. yet this turned into disaster. the sailor loses his arm and the entire crew from his ship is murdered. when he finally gets home he finds his wife dead. so that is why i think this story was much sadder and makes the worlds complete opposites.
Aryana
Theta
The message in both stories, I believe, is taking things for granted. Unfortunately for both the tree and the man's wife, the men in both of these stories took what they had for granted. The boy in “the giving tree,” did not fully appreciate the effort the tree put forth. The man in the story did not cherish the happiness he had. In the end both of the men were left with nothing. If the boy had truly cherished the tree, instead of using it and using it, he might have been left with more than a stump. Although in the end of that book, that was all he asked for, the tree might have been happier. Although trees do not usually have emotions, the life of the tree was spent giving all and everything to a boy who obviously took the tree for granted, someone who was hardly considerate, and only took, who never returned the favor.
In the case of the poor sailor, the husband took his wife for granted. He did not come to a happy ending, or at least a content ending, like you might see in “the giving tree.” In his case, he not only lost his arm, and his brother, but also the wife he hoped to come back to. If he had not left in the first place for whatever motives he had, perhaps because he didn't see how good things were in the home and the life he had created with Rachel, he might not have lost so much of himself. They are alike in their taking.. and their loss. They are alike in their regret.
John Jimenez
ETA Block
The giving tree is the story of a child who his whole life was taken care of by a mother like tree. As the boy got older he begins to forget about his tree of a mother. The boy later comes back to visit his old friend only in his times of need. For example when he needs money, a home, and a wood to build a boat. The tree becomes happy and doesn’t mind giving away its pieces of her self. In the end the tree is just a stump and the boy is now an old man who just wants to sit. In the end of the story they are reunited.
The poor sailor on the other hand is about a man who leaves his happy but simple home to try a gain more money for his own selfish purposes. But as he hits the see his life just gets worse and worse. First he loses his arm. Then his boat is invaded by pirates and sees his brother get killed. As he floats home he finds that his wife has died and now he is alone and with one arm and now brother.
These two stories are different but also share similar parts of their world. They show the greed that a purpose can experience and how in the end it can change who they are. But the Giving Tree was nothing but nurturing to the little boy, but the sea was vicious and cruel to the sailor.
Morgan Ashley Chang
Theta Block
Solemn, serious, saddened, and woeful. These were the feelings I experienced when reading both “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein, and “The Poor Sailor” by Sammy Harkham. Although both stories left me in a low state, with the need to say “Aww” every other minute, I realize that even though each of these stories makes me feel similar things, they each have their unique differences as well.
Let me begin by pointing out what I feel to be greatest similarity between these two stories. The boy in “The Giving Tree” and Thomas in “The Poor Sailor” essentially travel down the same course as they go through life. This course however, seems to lead them each further and further away from their loved ones. The boy rarely revisits the tree, his childhood friend; and when this does happen, it is usually when he is in need. Thomas doesn’t have the option of returning to his wife at all, because his path has taken him out to sea, where he can not return from easily.
The world where “The Giving Tree” is set in seems to be a very materialistic one, with a pressure on its people to meet certain expectations. The boy deals with these expectations poorly, by taking advantage of the loyalty of his Giving Tree. However, the kindness and willingness to be selfless of the Giving Tree balance out this world, giving the impression that this world has its equal share of good and bad.
In “The Poor Sailor”, I feel like the world is much more tragic, with less to rely on. It seems like Thomas felt that his life was not very solid, or stable, and would rather go away on an adventure than stay home with his wife. But the fates dealt Thomas very different cards, and instead of adventure, he seemed to run into every problem that he could. The discovery of Thomas’ wife’s death only adds to the idea that accounts of happiness are hard to come by in this world where misery runs wild.
I think both stories exemplify the themes of the cycle of life and losses very well. In “The Giving Tree”, the boy grows older and leads his life away from the tree, returning only when in need of resources. When he finally reaches old age and no longer has a need for anything that society has convinced him he should have, he returns to the tree once again. The tree is now nothing more than a stump, showing how the boy has lost much of his friend during his time away, and constant use of her resources. Yet this time, all the boy needs of the tree is a place to sit, which she offers up without a second thought. The boy begins his life spending all his days with this tree, and ultimately ends it sitting with this old friend.
For Thomas in “The Poor Sailor”, we find him at the beginning of the story building his house, and essentially his life from the ground up. He is a woodcutter, and is working to provide for his wife. When the opportunity to go off to sea comes up, he struggles with his decision to leave her behind. While away, death takes his wife, so that when he returns from his hardships at sea, he is greeted only by her grave. The cycle of Thomas’ life brought him right back to where he began his story, but this time without his loved one. And though Thomas gained an adventure on the ship, he lost a loved one in return.
I feel the main difference between the two stories is the underlying message that each one represents. I feel that “The Giving Tree” has a more positive message, as it pushes the reader to be happy for what they are fortunate enough to have. It also encourages the reader to try and disengage from the expectations that society has planned out for you. For the boy, these expectations were to have a wife and family, to be successful in the terms of money, and to have a nice roof over his head.
The message of “The Poor Sailor” is a tad more negative. I believe the ultimate underlying message is that sometimes you may be right where you need to be in life, and following impulse wants for adventure and excitement may cost you. It teaches you to weigh out your choices and evaluate your life a little more closely before you jump off into an opportunity, not taking full advantage of the good life you already have.
In the end, I hope that I will be able to put the messages of these stories into my mind. I hope I will learn from the boy to try and make my own success first, before taking the offerings of those around me to help. And from Thomas, I hope that whenever I complain about my life, I will be able to recognize that it may be just how it needs to be for the moment, and how much worse it could be if I were to lose it all.
Yuri Bondarenko
Govt/Econ
Mr Koh
Aug 29
Theta
The Giving Tree and The Poor Sailor
I think that although the concept of The Giving Tree and The Poor Sailor are the same, the way the authors wanted to express their feelings is very different. What I mean by this is that in The Giving Tree the author showed us how the giving tree continuously and selflessly supplied the boy with whatever he needed in exchange for absolutely nothing but company. The tree loved him so much that all it wanted was for the boy to climb it and keep it company. I think if the author was writing this story based on a personal experience, he would be feeling very discouraged because the situation with the person he loves isn’t anywhere the same as it used to be.
In The Poor Sailor, I could tell from the very beginning that this story wasn’t going to be a very happy one. I noticed that the way the author portrayed the setting was very bleak and focused. Every one of the images he drew had a very sharp focus, which helped me to imagine what thoughts were going through the sailor’s head in that frame, and how the situation might have felt to him in that bleak colorless world. It’s very sad how he left something he loved to pursue another love (being out on the ocean), and in the end he loses everything he has, and yet he still manages to live another day without his wife or his brother or the sea.
Taylor Kemp, Eta, 257 words
The main similarity between the worlds of the poor sailor and the giving tree is that both worlds are run by desire and the need for more stuff. In the world of the giving tree, the boy always needed something else and was never satisfied. In the world of the sailor, he had a perfectly good life and then he gambled it all for an adventure, and he lost everything. The world of the giving tree is obviously not the real world because there is no such (known) thing as a talking tree. The world of the sailor might be the real world, because there is no real mention of anything that makes it not the real world. Either of the worlds could be real in the sense that they both involve greed and the want of the world, as opposed to a world where there are fairies, leprechauns, and magical things and stuff like that. Other than those thoughts, there is not much more you can deduce about the worlds of the two stories. At the end of both stories each of the characters realized they had lost or sacrificed something to the world in which they live. The poor sailor sacrificed his wife and his arm for his adventure, the boy sacrificed his tree for the things he needed in his world, but at least it was a happy ending and he still had his friend in the end. Their worlds also revolved around what they needed not what they already had.
Jasmin Palencia
The similarities in “The Giving Tree” and “Poor Sailor” are that they both gave up things so that they can have a chance for something better. In the “Poor Sailor” he gives up his life and an arm just so that he could have a chance at a better life. In “The Giving Tree” the tree sacrificed everything it has so that the man could have what ever they wanted because of their friendship. They both sacrificed something that was very big to them to do what they thought would be the best. Even if at the end it wasn’t the right thing to do. The differences are that in “The Giving Tree” the tree gave up everything that it had so that somebody else could have a good life. In the end he ends up with the boy not all alone like in the “Poor Sailor” because he did think about the consequences that would happen but did them anyways because he knew it was best for the boy. In the “Poor Sailor” the sailor left his family to try and get better things for himself without thinking of what the consequences would be. He didn’t think about how his wife would react to him leaving her to go do what he wanted that’s why at the end he ends up all alone in the house. Also they had to convince the sailor to go unlike the tree were it did it out of love for the boy.
Ariel
Epsilon block
Aside from the act of reciprocity, and it’s only slightly in “The Poor Sailor” I don’t really see very many similarities between that and “The Giving Tree”. In the latter the act of reciprocity is so much more obvious. The tree is selflessly giving everything she has, which isn’t much, just her apples, branches and eventually her whole trunk, and hoping that the boy will keep coming back and they can eventually be together again. The boy eventually does come back and I think that is a closing to her giving everything up because although they can’t play together, all she wanted the whole time was her boy back. In “The Poor Sailor” I saw Thomas going with Jacob, his brother, has a slight form of reciprocity. Jacob promised him adventures and great travel and while he did do that, Jacob ended up causing the amputation of his arm and in an indirect way, the death of Rachel, Thomas’ wife. So while Thomas gave up his quiet simple life for his brother and never really got anything back. He came home with one less arm, aged, and to a dead wife. And now that I think about it, the two stories are still very different but have a lot of the same aspects. I think the biggest difference is the way each man in the story left, and their reasons for it. In “The Giving Tree” the boy left simply because he grew older and didn’t realize how much he was hurting the tree. Thomas knew exactly what he was doing but thought that leaving wouldn’t turn out the way he did, obviously, even though I still think he would have left. What struck me the most about “The Poor Sailor” was how the roof was still damaged, it gave me the impression that Rachel didn’t do anything except wait for Thomas, painstakingly, until he returned and when he did, he went back to fixing his roof and his life, though without Rachel I think he wasn’t the same. That was another main difference between “The Giving Tree” and “The Poor Sailor” the boy left without a second though and Thomas seemed to face a troubling decision, yet it turns into a similarity when they both come back they seem to realize their mistakes; Thomas with the death of his wife and the boy with the fact that he had nothing left except the tree, which he had all along and he didn’t notice it. So, now that I think about it, the two stories aren’t very different, they take different paths, but end up at the same ending.
Daniel Kong
Epsilon
In The Giving Tree, the tree is much like a merciful mother who wishes to provide for her child and give up the things and possesions she has. She does this, hopefully, to give the boy a chance at happiness much like what mothers do for their children. As the boy grew older he modled, what human children go through. Young children always want to play with their mothers but as they grew older, they become more distant and only come back to their mother if they want something. In the end, the boy has grown old and come back to the tree and tree offers her stump for him to sit on and rest. This is much like a mother doing what she could to accomadate her child even in her later years.
In The Poor Sailor, Thomas is a man who, seemingly, lives in the middle of nowhere with his wife. One day Thomas' brother shows up and makes him an offer to go fishing with him throughout the ocean. Thomas thinks it over but his wife does not want him to go. Eventually, he leaves without her but says that he will be back. This is similar to the story The Giving Tree because eventually he returns to the house and to his wife after losing his brother to pirates. Unfortunatly, this differs greatly because he returns home only to find his wife buried and the house empty whereas the boy returns to the tree to find that the tree is still willing to accomadate him. Thomas accepts this and goes on with his life repairing his house and still lives at that house.
That Logan kid.
ZETA blk.
083007
In that book, "The Giving Tree" there was a little boy, and that little boy was friends with a tree. This little boy always played with this tree, climbed it, and swung from it and ate its apples, but he eventually grew out of that, but the tree didn't because its a tree. The tree always wanted the boy around, but as he got older, he came through less and less, and the tree was sad, but it never held a grudge, and was always there. The boy always came back, and got somthing that the tree would give up wiht no question, and he never thanked the tree.
In that strip called "The Poor Sailor" there was a guy name Thom, and he had a wife, and a brother, and he lived a simple life. makin it, but not rich, then his brother came through and told him that he had a good way to come up on some extra money. So he went, even though his wifey didnt want him to, he told her that he would be back. After a while his lady got sad and lonely, and died. While Thom was out @ sea, he got his arm chopped, and his ship attacked by pirates and he had to find his way home. When he ogt there, he saw that his house was not as it had been elft, and that his old lady was underground, and he came back even a lesser man than he had left.
In both of these stories there is a main character, who wants more than waht theyve got, even though they could live a fine life just the way they are and be happy and keep the ones they love happy. So they go for it, and dont quite get the desired results. There is a kind of kinship likeish relationship in "The giving Tree" because there is someone asking so much of someone else,even till there is nothing left to ask for, and that someone else asks nothing in return. With the "Poor Sailor" Hes got what he needs, but he leave anyway, and unknowingly leaves his life behind, in a receptical sort of way. He was just trying to make things better, just trying to get ahead in life, but all he did was make evrything just about as bad as he could have. And he lost his arm.
The differences between the 2 of these stories are that 1 story was about being selfless, and in the other it was about being selfish.
Kaid Alameri
Espilon
I think the author wrote The Given Tree at time where people were kind to each other, and give away things without thinking about what are they going to get out of it, or in another word, thinking about the returns. The book shows how people could take advantage of a person’s generosity. When I was reading the story, I felt that the boy is just a typical human that has his own needs. When we were reading the book in class, I noticed the all of the students felt bad for the tree, and some people were about to cry, where in real life most people do the same thing the boy did. Human when they are little kids they always be attached to their parents, but as they grow up, the distance between the parents and the kid grow up as well, even though the parents took care of them, gave them everything they needed but still human forget all of that and move on. And that just the way it is, and nobody stays the same. I think Poor Sailor is somehow related to The Given Tree or they sort of have the same idea. In the Poor Sailor the guy was living with someone who cared about him and loved him, but he moved on to try something different because (as I mentioned earlier) he just a typical human that has his own needs. But the two stories are different because the boy from The Given Tree was actually going back to the tree and asked her for her support, and he was taking advantage of her kindness and didn’t even realize that what he was doing was wrong, but the guy form Poor Sailor didn’t want to go back because he felt guilty and felt that he made the wrong decision.
Christine Tsang
Epsilon
In The Giving Tree, a tree always provided happiness for a boy through his childhood and until he grew old. The tree made sacrifices for the boy every time he visited it and the boy didn’t necessary cherish the tree as an important thing to him. The boy got use to going to the tree that he began to take things for granted or for his own needs. The tree sacrificed parts of itself to make the boy happy and the boy just took it, not realizing that the tree was giving up everything it had.
In “The Poor Sailor”, an ordinary guy named Thomas sacrifices everything he had (his wife, time and lifestyle) to go on a journey with his brother to find riches. He made this sacrifice for his own greed of riches and happiness and didn’t listen to his wife. He went on a sailing journey expecting that he will benefit greatly and make it home to his wife. After he returned from his journey he realized that he didn’t gain anything at all. He ended in a worse condition than he had before he left for the journey.
A similarity between The Giving Tree and “The Poor Sailor” is that in both stories a character had to sacrifice something for the benefit of themselves or others. Also in both stories, the greedy seems to return back to where they once were and ask for nothing more. A difference between The Giving Tree and “The Poor Sailor” is that the characters made sacrifices, but they were two different kinds of sacrifice for a different cause. The Giving Tree seemed more about somebody that cared a lot for a friend and wanted the friend to be always happy. “The Poor Sailor” is more about a guy finding happiness and riches for himself. I think in the story “The Poor Sailor”, there is reciprocity involved because Thomas made sacrifices and he expected to gain more than he had, but it didn’t come true. In The Giving Tree, there is kinship because the tree made sacrifices to make the boy happy and the tree always cared about the boy.
Felicia T.
Epsilon Block
In both stories there was a common theme. It seemed like one person was always let down in the story. For example in the "Poor Sailor" he goes off on an adventure, and forgets what he has sitting at home he leaves his wife for new adventures and comes back to sadness. In "The giving Tree" the little boy forgets what he has because he is seeing bigger, and better things so he moves on from his tree, but when he comes back he is sad, and realizes he has nothing less.
It shows how people take things and other people for granted. People think they things in life just come and go, but in reality you either have to hold on or let go. Only you can make that decision. When we read "The Giving Tree" it started off happy, and slowly went to the sad, and depressing things that the little boy was going through to stay happy. And in the "Poor Sailor" he went off on the boat kind of doubting his decision, and came back with even more regret and sorrow. They were like opposites , but so much alike.
In both stories you can see the cause and affect of their actions. Both good and bad.
Ayinde Bell-Stampp
Epsilon
The story “Poor Sailor” was about a man who wanted to support his family and he took a job with his brother. He worked at home and had a wife. One day his brother had came in town. His brother told him he wanted him to be a sailor with him and have a job. So the Husband took the job in consideration even though his wife wanted him to stay. He was working on the job and messed up his arm. At times you can tell he wished he hadn’t gone through that route because he would day dream, missing his wife. After the injury he was told he had to cut his arm or he would die. He went through with the procedure, and after the whole thing he ended up being back home with his wife.
In the Story “Giving Tree” a boy used to climb the tree from when he was young and then got older and asked the tree for many things. The tree knew the boy since he was little so was very happy to see him when he would come around. The boy asked the tree for many things even though he didn’t have many things he gave him what he could. When he gave the boy everything he could, when this time came around the boy was an old man. At the end of the story the man came back and wasn’t as active as he was when he was little. He told the tree he needed a place to rest and the tree was a little stump and still gave him a place to rest.
The message of these stories has a lot to do with “Giving” people. If you read the stories you will realize both of the main characters had people that gave them the little things they had. If you realize, after both characters had their experiences in life, they both went back to where they started. The Poor Sailor man went back to his wife who cared for him as well as the old man going back to the tree, which was a place he started at as a little boy. This had to with reciprocity. Both characters were given things and all the tree and the wife wanted was for them to go back where they started. This sends a message saying you never forget where you come from and who helped you the most in life, and those who care will always have an open hand for you. This is a life moral of certain human beings.
Ayinde Bell Stampp The story “Poor Sailor” was about a man who wanted to support his family and he took a job with his brother. He worked at home and had a wife. One day his brother had came in town. His brother told him he wanted him to be a sailor with him and have a job. So the Husband took the job in consideration even though his wife wanted him to stay. He was working on the job and messed up his arm. At times you can tell he wished he hadn’t gone through that route because he would day dream, missing his wife. After the injury he was told he had to cut his arm or he would die. He went through with the procedure, and after the whole thing he ended up being back home with his wife.
In the Story “Giving Tree” a boy used to climb the tree from when he was young and then got older and asked the tree for many things. The tree knew the boy since he was little so was very happy to see him when he would come around. The boy asked the tree for many things even though he didn’t have many things he gave him what he could. When he gave the boy everything he could, when this time came around the boy was an old man. At the end of the story the man came back and wasn’t as active as he was when he was little. He told the tree he needed a place to rest and the tree was a little stump and still gave him a place to rest.
The message of these stories has a lot to do with “Giving” people. If you read the stories you will realize both of the main characters had people that gave them the little things they had. If you realize, after both characters had their experiences in life, they both went back to where they started. The Poor Sailor man went back to his wife who cared for him as well as the old man going back to the tree, which was a place he started at as a little boy. This had to with reciprocity. Both characters were given things and all the tree and the wife wanted was for them to go back where they started. This sends a message saying you never forget where you come from and who helped you the most in life, and those who care will always have an open hand for you. This is a life moral of certain human beings.
Jasmine Martinez
Epsilon Block
In “The Giving Tree” and “The Poor Sailor” the two worlds in which the stories take place are very similar. They both contain caring people who’ll do anything to make the ones the care about happy. They do this knowing that they will get nothing in return, but they conform to just seeing them happy. This was the case in The Giving Tree. They tree gave and gave until she had nothing else to give, and even then she was happy because she figure out that she had a little more left and gave it to the boy. In the Poor Sailor Thomas gives up being with this wife Rachel in order to make his brother Jacob happy. Meanwhile Rachel gave up too because she thought that Thomas would never return. After a while when Thomas had nothing left he returned to Rachel, but it was too late. In both stories there are people who are trying to make others happy and the others who only care about themselves. In both of the stories there is a third person who comes into play and causes a shift in the way that the boy and Thomas behave. Which leaves the tree and Rachel behind and alone.
The differences between the two are that in the end the boy from The Giving Tree isn’t alone, but Thomas is left all alone without an arm and without his wife. Also the tree never wanted anything except to see the boy happy, while the sailor tried to do things to make his wife happen but what he didn’t realize was that she was happy living the way that they were before. That is why in the end he is left all alone and unhappy.
Post a Comment