I found this video on youtube [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZCP6OqRlE[/yt] I really liked the story and it is a found memory of my childhood. Then I read this at Wikipedia: Link to Wikipedia. So it got me thinking, was this a story about a selfish boy who is a user and a tree that just enables him? or is it a metaphor about the unconditional love a mother has for her child? At first I thought of it as the the latter. Now watching the story again and reading the article in Wikipedia, I'm not so sure. The boy does seem selfish, and the tree a pushover, giving everything to a user. I'm starting to see the book that way. What do you guys think?
Wow! Thank you so very much for posting that. That story popped into my head a while back, and it's something I want my son to see. Like yourself, it harkens back to my youth. As to your question, I think the pessimists see the boy as being selfish. It's a wonderful story of unconditional love.