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.
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