The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

Once upon a time, there was a tall, massive, and ugly Giant who was really very selfish by his nature. He had a beautiful garden in his castle. There were beautiful flowering plants, soft grass, and twelve peach trees in his garden. In the spring seasons, peach trees used to bear beautiful pink and pearl flowers, and in autumn, they used to bear rich fruits. The birds used to sit in the trees and sing songs very sweetly.

Every afternoon, many children used to play in that Giant’s garden when they came back from school.

Seven years ago, the Giant had gone to visit his friend named Cornish Ogre. One day, he came back to his castle. He found children playing in his garden. He became quite furious to see that sight. He cried, “What are you doing there?” The children ran away out of fear. The children became quite sad because they didn’t have a proper place to play. They didn’t like to play on the road due to its dust and hard stones. The Giant built a high wall around his garden and put up a notice-board on which he wrote a warning line:

“TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED”

When the season of spring came, there were little blossoms and birds all over the country. But the garden of the selfish Giant became completely desolate. Snow, frost, the north wind and hail came there one by one. The Giant became quite sad because everywhere summer, spring and autumn came but in his garden, there was always winter. One morning, the Giant heard very lovely and sweet music. It was a little linnet singing outside his window. A delicious perfume came to him through the open casement. He thought that the spring had come. He peeped out but saw a wonderful sight. The children had come into the garden through a little hole in the wall. They were sitting in every branch of the trees. The trees were in full bloom. The birds were twittering and singing melodiously. In the farthest corner of the garden, there was standing a very little boy who couldn’t reach the branches. Seeing that sight, the Giant’s heart melted. He said to himself, “How selfish I have been! Now I have understood why spring didn’t come in my garden”. The Giant took the little boy and seated him in the tree. The little boy kissed the Giant feeling happy. The Giant said to the children, “It is your garden now, little children!” Thus, there was again spring throughout the year.

After many years, the Giant became quite old and weak. He kept on watching the children at their games. He didn’t meet the lovable little boy after his first meeting. He inquired about him a lot but couldn’t get any information about him.

One morning, during wintertime, he saw a marvelous sight of a tree in the farthest corner of the garden. He saw white flowers, golden branches, and silver fruits of the tree. He saw the same little boy underneath the tree. He became quite happy and rushed towards him. He became angry to see prints of nails on the little boy’s palms and feet. Eventually, he realized that the little boy was a divine power of God. Once, the Giant had let the little boy play in his garden. The little boy also wanted to take the Giant to his garden of Paradise in return. The Giant died at last and his dead body was completely covered with white flowers.

This story teaches us not to be selfish. We should love and help others as much as we can, especially children.

SHORT SUMMARY OF  The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful garden of the giant in his castle. During the time of his absence, the school children used to play there. After seven years, when the giant returned from his friend cornish Ogre, he became furious to find children playing in his garden. He chased them out of his garden and put a high wall around his garden along with a notice board with a warning line:

“TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED”

The children became quite upset because they didn’t find a proper place to play. Due to the selfish nature of the giant, the spring season stopped appearing in his garden. In other seasons the frost, the north wind, the hail, and the snow started appearing there. The giant became sad to find spring season outside but not in his garden.

One morning, he saw a wonderful sight. He saw the children entering his garden through a small hole in the wall and playing in his garden. He found spring season once again in his garden. He saw a small boy in one of the farthest corners who were unable to climb up the tree and crying. The sight made the giant realize his mistake. He went there and helped the boy. The boy kissed the giant being happy. The giant broke the wall of his garden and allowed all the children to play in his garden. He started playing with them. Time passed by, and the giant became old and feeble. He tried his best to find his lovable boy most of the time but couldn’t find him. One day, while he was sitting on his chair, he saw the same boy once again in one of the corners of the garden. He rushed towards there but became angry to find signs of nails on the boy’s palms and feet. When he asked the boy about him, the boy related to him his help and offered him his garden which was the garden of paradise. That particular afternoon, the giant was found dead underneath a big tree. His body was covered with flowers.

EXERCISE

Understanding the text

a. Where did the children use to play?

The children used to play in the Giant’s garden.

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

The snow covered the grass with its large white cloak and Frost painted all the silver trees.

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

The giant heard a beautiful music when he was lying awake in bed.

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 was cruel to the children.

e. How did the giant realize his mistake?

The giant realized his mistake when his garden was covered by snow and frost as he stopped children from visiting the garden.

A. Read the extracts given below and Ans the questions that follow.

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

i. Where does ‘there’ refer to?

‘There’ refers to the Giant’s garden.

ii. What does ‘they’ refer to?

‘They’ refers to the children who used to play in the Giant’s garden.

iii. Why are they saying so?

They are saying so because they aren’t allowed to play in the giant’s garden anymore as the giant had chased them out of his garden.

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

i. Who is the speaker?

The speaker is the Giant.

ii. Who is he speaking to?

He is speaking to himself.

iii. Who are ‘the children’ that the speaker is referring to?

‘The Children’ that the speaker is referring to are the small and innocent school kids who used to play in the Giant’s garden.

iv. Why is the speaker saying that ‘the children are the ……’?

The speaker says ‘children are the most……..’ because the children bring joy and happiness in the garden as like the flowers.

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 it in relation to this fairy story.

The coincidence of this event once, the giant let the little child play in his garden and make him happy and today the same child wants to take him to his garden paradise to make him happy in return, which means the final time of the gaint has come and the little child is a messenger/ fairy who wants him to the heaven because of his noble works.

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?

The practice of representing the objects, qualities etc. as the human beings in art and literature is called personification. Three examples of personification from the story are the beautiful little flowers who slips back into the garden after seeing the notice board, the snow and the frost who says that the spring has forgotten this garden.

The story has the significance of the seasons personified. At the beginning, the seasons bless the garden with pleasant weather until the Giant sends the children away from his garden. Because of the Giant’s unkindness to the children, the spring season leaves the garden. The seasons disfavor indicates that the Giant’s selfishness goes against the natural order and thus deserves punishment. Thus the significance of the seasons personification is to show that if someone does bad then he/she will deserve the bad.

C. This story can be read as a fairy story, where the children, the seasons, 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. Here, the children symbolize innocence, love, compassion and blessings. Likewise the seasons represents life and death. The tree symbolizes patience and hope. The corner of the garden depicts the paradise. Finally the snow, the wind and the frost symbolize pain, suffering and discomfort.

D. Which figure 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. The figure of speech is used for ‘winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail and little child’ is personification. The little child is compared to the God Almighty (Paradise).

Reference beyond text

a. What is the main theme of the story?

The main theme of this story is selfishness and love. It is the story of transformation of selfish giant into selfless giant. At the beginning of the story, the giant was very selfish and wicked towards the children and he closes the gate of beautiful garden for them. But later he realizes his mistake when the children stop coming to the garden and the garden never experiences the spring season until and unless he allows them to play in his garden. At this point he realizes the meaning of love and sharing. This story is very much relatable to the nature of human beings. We hardly share our belongings to anyone if somebody is needy and we are selfish too. This story teaches us to share love and compassion to get love in return.

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

Yes, God punishes those who are cruel to children and very selfish. As in the story, Giant has really been so cruel to the children and selfish and he didn’t let them play on the garden because of which spring never came in his garden. In the absence of children birds also did not sing. Once a flower bloomed out of the grass but after seeing the notice board, it also went back to sleep. Then came the North Wind and the hailstorm. Due to the giant’s selfishness, autumn’s golden fruits also did not come to his garden. In this way god punishes to those who are cruel to children and very selfish.