Shel Silverstein has always been an inspiration to me. As a child, I devoured his poems and short stories. His simple diction and almost childish writing style appealed to me, thus he swiftly became one of my favorite authors. I occasionally take time to read his work again to reminisce and find new meaning in the writing. One such work, which I have read too many times to count, is Silverstein’s famous book: The Giving Tree. When I was younger, I took The Giving Tree’s message at face value. I did not understand what Silverstein was attempting to say about societal values or the disillusionments of life; instead I simply believed it was a sweet, albeit somewhat melancholy, story. Nonetheless, even with my lack of full comprehension,