The Selfish Giant || Oscar Wilde || Compulsory English Grade 11

 

 THE SELFISH GIANT

Oscar Wilde

Introduction of the Author

v Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854- 30 Nov 1990)

v Irish poet and playwright, scholar,

v Father was Sir William Wilde, who was ear and eye surgeon,

v Mother was a revolutionary poet an authority on Celtic myth and folklore.

 

 

Characters:

1. The Giant:            

A selfish and cruel later turns to be a kind person

2.  The Children:   

Innocent and sweet, source of love, beauty, attraction, representative of God, attract the goodwill of nature

3. The Little Boy:    Jesus Christ in a disguise offers a chance to the Selfish Giant to be kind for the redemption of sin and giver of eternal happiness of paradise to the giant.

Spring, summer and autumn: Personified seasons

4. The Force of Winter: The Snow, The North Wind, and the Hail and personified

 

 

Symbols:

1.     The Giant’s Garden: It symbolizes a journey that a person’s soul undertakes in order to find redemption

a)       The Tree: The tree in a corner of the garden marks the little boy’s true identity as a Christ. It is a symbol of redemption.

 

Summary:

The Giant has a beautiful garden full of green grass, trees and flowers. As he has been to visit his friend, the Cornish ogre, the children enjoy playing in the garden. But when he returns after seven years, he sends the children away and keeps the garden closed up. As a result, all the seasons except winter refuse to grace the Giant's garden, and so only winter weather with frost, snow and wind prevails. With each passing day the Giant’s anxiety grows for his garden until one day he wakes up in the morning to hear the laughter of the children and to see the touch of spring in his garden. He is very happy and runs outside to play with the children who enter through a small hole in the fence. In the farthest corner of the garden, he sees one small boy blinded by his own tears of frustration because he can’t climb a tall tree. Unlike the other children, the little boy hugs and kisses the Giant for helping him to climb the tree. The spring prevails everywhere. Much to the Giant's sadness, the small boy who kissed him never appears again. The Giant grows very old and weak in the presence of the happy children sharing his garden space. When the Giant is nearing the end of his days, the small child comes to his garden again. The Giant is angry when he notices that the boy has imprints of two nails on his hands and feet. But the boy tells him not to be upset because they are wounds of love, and he comes to take the Giant to heaven. Shortly afterwards, the happy Giant dies, and his body is found lying under the tree, covered in blossoms.

 

Glossary:

Celtic Myth:            The religion of the Iron Age in pre-Christian era, people  of Western Europe

Folklore:                   traditional beliefs, customs and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth/oral tradition

Mythology:             collection of myths belonging to a particular religious

Revolutionary:       Causing a complete or dramatic change

Authority:                a person or an organization having political or administrative power and control

Lectured:                 the act of delivering an educational lecture

Renaissance:          A French word which means rebirth in arts, science and European society from 14th to 17th century. It is a transitional movement in Europe between medieval and modern times

Decoration:                         the act of process of decorating, adoring or beautifying something

Prolifically:               In a way that produces many works of art, literatures etc. fruitfully in a great increase

Journalist:               A person who collects, writes, photographs, processes, edits or comments on news.

Biting wit:                a harsh criticism

Personality-            a person having distinctive patterns

Master piece:         A work of art, music or literature that is regarded as the most important or best work/ magnum opus

Comic:                      meant to cause laughter

Spokesperson:       somebody elected to speak on behalf of others

Aesthetic movement:     Late 19th century movement in literature and Arts emphasizing the visual or sensual qualities of an art and a design over practical, moral or narrative considerations.

Art for art's shake: Arts need no justification, having its own value. Or any art should not be judged apart from any theme.

Advocated:             spoke or wrote in favor of public

Selfish:                      behavior related to personal benefits, profit or pleasure

Giant:                        An imaginary or mythical being of human form but superhuman in size, a person of extraordinary powers, a legendary humanlike creature having a great strength

Anthology:              a collection of literary works or selected writings

Cornish Ogre:         A large frightening character in children's stories, supposed to eat children, (here a      brutish giant, friend of the Selfish Giant)

Castle:                       A large strong building of a ruler of powerful person made to protect his people inside from attacks

Trespasser:              people who go into someone's land or enters their building without authority or permission

Prosecuted:             charging someone of a criminal act and to charge a punishment to such person

Wander:                   Walk around slowly without any clear purpose

Cloak:                        Covering to something

Wrapped:                covered with something

Furs:                          skin of animals

Linnet:                      a small brown and grey colored bird with a red front, found in Europe, Africa and Asia

Casement:               a type of window that is fixed on one side and opens like a door

Stretched out:        Extended

Feeble:                      week

Marvelous:               miraculous, wonderful

Underneath:           beneath

Cease:                       stop happening or existing

Blossoms:                a mass of flowers

Crept:                                    crawled

gruff:                         unfriendly, hoarse-voiced

Hastened:                acted without delay

Hath:                         has

Rattled:                     made a series of short loud sounds that of hailstones

Slay:                           kill

Thee:                         you (object)

Thou:                         you (subject)

 

Understanding the Text:

Answer the following questions:

a)       Where did the children use to play?

The children used to play in a large, lovely garden belonging to the Selfish Giant.

 

b)       What did the Snow and the Frost do to the garden?

The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak and the Frost painted all the trees silver in the garden.

 

c)       What did the giant hear when he was lying awake in bed?

The giant heard some lovely music when he was lying awake in bed on morning.

 

d)       Why do you think spring season never came to the giant's garden?

I think the spring season never came to the giant's garden because he had been too much selfish to the children and to prevent the children entering into the garden, he builds a large wall around it.

 

e)       How did the giant realize his mistake?

The giant realized his mistake by breaking the wall and letting the children play in his garden as their playground forever and ever.

 

 

Reference to the Context:

A. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:

a. How happy we were there!" they said to each other

i.   Where does 'there' refer to?

'There' refers to inside the large and beautiful garden of the selfish giant.

ii. What does 'they' refer to?

'They' refers to the children who used to play in the garden of the giant.

iii. Why are they saying so?

They are saying so because they were expelled from the garden to play after the giant came back to his castle after seven years.

b. "I have many beautiful flowers," he said; "but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all."

i. Who is the speaker?

The giant is the speaker.

 

ii. Who is he speaking to?

He is speaking to himself.

 

iii. Who are 'the children' that the speaker is refereeing to?

He is referring to the children who used to play in his garden.

 

iv. Why is the speaker saying that 'the children are the most beautiful flowers of all'?

When the giant saw the children playing in his garden, the beauty of the garden in increased more and more so she said that 'the children are the most beautiful flowers of all."

 

c.  When the little child smiled at the Giant, and said to him, "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is paradise," Shortly afterwards, the happy giant dies. What is the coincidence of this event? Describe in relation to this fairy tale.

 

The coincidence of this even is, once in a corner of the Garden, the little child was trying to play at the top of a tree. The boy was unable to play because he was very small. The giant approached near the boy and put him into the tree. The giant let the boy play happily in his garden. At the last of the story the disappeared boy whom the giant loved the most, reappears with the wounds of Love. After the redemption of the giant from his previous sin, the god has come to take him to the paradise in a form of a little boy in return to give an eternal peace and happiness once the giant gave to the little child. The death of the giant under the tree all covered with white bosoms after he sees the little boy there proves that the giant has already made a place in heaven because of his noble work.

 

B.  The story makes use of personification as one of the main figures of speech. Cite three examples of personification from the story. What is the significance of the seasons personified in the story?

 

A figure of speech is a word or phrase or even a sentence having a separate meaning from its literal definition. It is used in literature to adore sentences and impart the main themes to the readers. There are many tools or figures of speech such as simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification etc. used in both verbal and written language. This fairy tale 'The Selfish Giant' uses the figure of speech 'personification' as the main tool to attribute human qualities to non-human objects such as flower, snow, hail, north wind, and frost. Personification to these objects in the story helps the reader to understand the main theme or the moral lesson. Giving the things human qualities, the writer has made the readers to have a clear understanding of the story emotionally.

The flowers are personified when one of them begins to bloom, then sees there are no children in the garden, and goes back to sleep. This variety of personification continues with the happiness of snow and frost as the garden lacks the spring season and they invite the north wind to the garden. The wind is personified when it says with delight that they must ask the hail to visit the garden.

The story has the significance of the seasons personified. At the beginning of the story, the seasons bless the garden with pleasant weather until the Giant sends the children away from his garden. Repulsed by the Giant's unkindness the spring season leaves the garden. The seasons' disfavor indicates that the Giant's selfishness goes against the natural order and thus deserves punishment.

 

 

C.       This story can be read as a fairy tale, where the children, the season and the tree, the corner of the garden, the snow, the wind and the frost are all used as symbolism. Interpret those symbols.

 

The story ‘The Selfish Giant’ is a fairy tale. The story writer has adopted the approach of symbolism to teach the readers a moral lesson. The children symbolize innocence and love. Likewise, seasons represent hope, life and death. The tree is the symbol of patience whereas the corner of the garden stands for heaven. The snow, the wind, and the frost signify grief, sorrow and discomfort.

 

D.       Which figures of speech is used for 'winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail and little child'? Who is the little child compared to?

As a fairy tale, the story is full of figures of speech. Both the methods of personification and symbolism are used for winter, frost, snow, north wind and hail. The little child is presented as the Christian symbol. He is compared to Jesus Christ.

 

Reference beyond the text

a.       What is the main there of this story?

Ans:- Oscar Wilde has covered the themes of unselfishness and love. At the beginning of the story the giant is very selfish and cold towards the children, and builds a high wall around the garden and puts a notice–board to stop them. But later he realizes his mistake when the children stop coming to the garden and the garden never experiences the spring season until he allows them to play in his garden. As he knows the meaning of love and sharing, the spring weather comes. Not only the Giant brings happiness to the children but he also ensures that he will get into Heaven with his act of kindness. The Giant’s nature is associated with that of human beings. We rarely share our belongings to any one even if someone is needed. We are selfish too. The story teaches us to share love to get love in return.

 

b.       Does God punish those who are cruel to children and very selfish?

Ans:- Yes God punishes those who are cruel to children and very selfish.