April 3rd, 2013

Arboreal Justice

by Wayno & Piraro

Bizarro is brought to you today by Permanence.

If you didn’t get this gag, it is likely because you are not familiar with that which it parodies, one of the most famous children’s books of all times. It is “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. It’s a terrific book and one I used to read to my daughters when they were little. It’s all about a tree that loves a little boy so much that it lets him play in her branches. When he is a little older, she gives him her apples to sell for money. Some years later, she gives him her branches and limbs so he can build a house for his family. Once his family is gone and he’s an old man, she gives him her trunk to make into a boat so he can sail away. As he sails out to sea, she intentionally sinks and drowns him for being such a selfish jackass his whole life. In the final scene, the lonely tree stump is chuckling to itself, then blows it’s own brains out.

I may not be remembering that entirely correctly, but you get the point. This cartoon is a parody of a famous book.

Here is a picture of me sunbathing with my girls when they were little. We didn’t have a proper pool, so we blew up a small inflatable kid’s pool in the summer and lounged around in our front yard. I had just finished reading The Giving Tree to them, which explains the unsettled look on my eldest daughter’s face.