# What was the purpose of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-purpose-of-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil/980405>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 26, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-purpose-of-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil/980405 "2023-02-26T19:56:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-purpose-of-the-tree-of-the-knowledge-of-good-and-evil/980405/28 "2023-02-27T14:34:40Z")

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> [@Horatius](#):
>
> Yeah, if “Genesis” were a new story being shown on HBO, we’d have threads galore here on how none of it makes sense

> [@Jas09](#):
>
> As for the tree, IMO, it’s a metaphor.

To me, there’s enough about the story that doesn’t add up or make sense if you take it at the strictly literal, surface level that I’m pretty sure we’re _not_ supposed to take it at the literal, surface level, but rather to read it as allegory or metaphor or parable. Which might be the point that @C_K_Dexter_Haven was trying to make here:

> [@Adam and Eve and Apple and Serpent](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-and-apple-and-serpent/71775/36):
>
> \<\< It is only when we graft on “God” to the “gods” of the original story that it becomes contradictory. \>\> An interesting perspective. Bear with me: If a Greek myth or Grimm fairy tale or Aesop fable has “contradictory” elements in it, we think it is flawed story-telling. This is because Greek myths or Aesop’s fables are simple, straight-forward, stories-to-be-told-to-children. We do not expect depth beyond a simple moral (“Don’t say that you are more beautiful than Hera, not out loud” or “Tr…

I suspect that allegory has fallen out of favor somewhat, and that people today are less adept at recognizing and appreciating it than in the past.

The fact that it’s called “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”—that’s the kind of thing that you often find in allegory, making the abstract concrete and giving it a label like that.

The bit about Adam and Eve suddenly realizing they were naked and being ashamed of it is, to me, another clue. Is eating the fruit a metaphor for growing up? Little kids often have no shame or embarrassment about running around naked, but when they get older they develop modesty. Or is it a metaphor for the human species becoming more than just another animal? Other animals don’t wear clothes or have any issue with nakedness. Or is it something else, that still may be analogous or reminiscent of one or both of these?

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