Adam Grant

One of Topher's projects is writing new endings for classic children's books.

In 2020, he picked up The Giving Tree for the first time since childhood.

To refresh your memory, here's the gist.

But as the boy grows up, he starts asking for things.

And the tree always says yes.

First it's apples.

Eventually it's wood to build a house.

So for me, the most fucked up part of the story is the ending where the tree is reduced to a literal stump and it says, and the tree was happy.

Yeah.

Like what the hell are you talking about?

The tree isn't happy.

The tree hardly exists anymore.

That's exactly right.

I mean, the boy is a huge taker, the worst.

And it's, I don't even know, people saying this is an allegory for maternal love.

No, it's an allegory for an abusive relationship.

Well said.

The tree has confused giving with self-sacrifice.

And it almost seems like the tree is the most extreme people pleaser you could possibly imagine.

I'm going to neglect whatever my own needs are in order to say yes to whatever this boy asks for.