The popular children's book The Giving Tree tells the story of a tree that loves a boy so completely and selflessly that he is willing to give up everything he has for the boy. Gilbert Grape is a realistic version: a young man who resentfully abandons his own dreams to support those around him; powerfully, the traits of strength, compassion and sacrifice are visible in the novel What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges. Gilbert is a kind of contorted generous tree who is ultimately willing to sacrifice his own happiness to support his dysfunctional, borderline-insane family. Instead of leaving the small town of Endora and earning a living, he stays to support his family, which is on the verge of collapse. Everyone around him wants something from him: his mother wants food and cigarettes, his mentally disabled brother wants him to stay forever, and his older sister Amy wants him to support the house, literally. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Gilbert not only has to keep his family from figuratively falling apart, but he also has to find a way to keep the house from collapsing under the weight of his enormous mother. His entire family depends on him and a part of him hates them because of it. This is evident when Gilbert sits in his living room and thinks, “I see the sagging floor, the withered house…the mold on my clothes, and I understand wanting to erase this place, erase these people” (Hedges 109). . Gilbert is wasting away and resents everyone around him because of it. This resentment also comes from his fear of leaving. His roots are embedded in Endora, and his past, present, and foreseeable future are trapped there as well. Despite this, Gilbert understands that there is no longer any life for him in his hometown and he constantly dreams of escape. And even though he resents his family for making him stay, at the same time, he likes that they are needed and admired. He fears that if he leaves, he will lose his family, not only in the sense that they might simply fall apart, but also in the sense that his family will resent him forever. His desire to be helpful is demonstrated when he reveals why he helped some friends: "All of a sudden I'm the greatest guy and I leave, sure of their esteem" (218). His fear of leaving is also partly due to witnessing first-hand his family's reaction when his father hanged himself. Perhaps one of Gilbert's greatest fears is that of becoming his father, a man so overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being a father figure that he has completely abandoned his family. Despite his brutal honesty and cynical nature, we see that Gilbert is truly a good person. But years of putting his family before his own happiness have left him bitter and he longs to leave. There is, however, a small problem: the well-being of his family depends on his stay. Without Gilbert, his brother might not make it to eighteen, his mother might fall to the ground, and his family might simply fall apart; every selfless action he performs exhausts him, until he is practically a shell of a human being – a man who can no longer express emotion or form relationships with anyone. This is evident when Becky tells him, “You’re disconnected, out of sync. You don't love yourself. You don’t even see yourself” (254). Gilbert has indeed completely abandoned himself for his family and is about to meet the same end as Giving Tree. Yet what keeps him from completely losing his will is the same thing that caused him,.