The Selfish Giant
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| Oscar Wilde |
Introducing the Author
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish Wit, poet, novelist and playwright. Wilde was born of professionals and literary parents. His father Sir William Wilde was an ear and eye surgeon, who also published books. His mother was a revolutionary poet and an authority on Celtic Myth and folklore.
About the Story
The Selfish Giant is a short story for children written by Oscar Wilde. It was published in the anthology The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888. This story is a giant who learned an important lesson about love and sharing, and holds different meanings for people of different ages.
A. Answer the following questions.
Understanding the text
a. Where did the children use to play?
The children used to play in the Giant’s Garden. The garden was large lovely with soft grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach trees that in the spring broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl. In the autumn the peach tree bore rich fruit. Every afternoon, while returning home from school, the children used to go and play happily in the garden.
b. What did the Snow and the Frost do to the garden?
The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak (a thing that hides or covers something/coat) and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North wind to stay with them. It is only the case of Giant’s Garden. Outside the garden, there was invigorating spring all around.
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 in the morning. The music sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the king’s musicians passing by. But it was only a little linnet (a small and brown bird of the finch family) singing outside his window. It seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world.
d. Why do you think spring season never came to the giant’s garden?
I think spring felt so sorry for the sad children who were prohibited to enter the garden to play. and got terribly angry with the giant’s selfishness. Spring tried to teach the giant an important lesson of love and sharing and value of generosity. The season might have decided not to enter the giant’s garden until he allowed the children to play there. Spring is personified in this fairy tale.
e. How did the giant realise his mistake?
The giant realized his mistake when he came to know why spring did not enter his garden. He knew the reason only when he saw the little boy wandering all round the tree, crying bitterly in the farthest corner of the garden where there was still winter. Remaining parts were full of flowers looking up through the green grass and laughing, trees covered with blossoms and birds flying and twittering with delight, for there was a child in each tree. This wonderful sight and the corner suffering winter made him realize his mistake.
Reference to the context
a. “How happy we were there!” they said to each other.
i. Where does “there” refer to?
‘There’ refers to the giant’s garden where children used to play after school.
ii. What does ‘they’ refer to?
‘They’ refers to children who used to play in the giant’s garden.
iii. Why are they saying so?
iv. They are saying so because they used to play there happily and now, they are banned to enter the garden. By saying so, they are missing their wonderful past in the 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 owner of the garden, the giant. He is old and weak, and now he is happy watching children playing in the garden.
ii. Who is he speaking to?
He is speaking to himself. He is expressing his extreme happiness.
iii. Who are “the children” that the speaker is referring to?
“The
children” that the speaker is referring to are the ones whom he once prohibited
in his garden. They are the school children who enter the giant’s garden to
play while returning home from school.
iv. Why is the speaker saying that ‘the children are the most beautiful flowers of all’?
The speaker of this line is the giant. He is saying that ‘the children are the most beautiful flowers of all’. The speaker is speaking in the midst of natural flowers and the children who cause spring to come in his garden. Thus, he expresses his love and his impression to the children. For him, flowers are naturally beautiful and the children are more beautiful than 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 giant dies. What is coincidence of this event? Describe it in relation to this fairy tale.
Coincidence refers to the fact of two things happening at the same time by chance in a surprising way. The little child’s offer of taking the giant to the paradise and the death of the giant might just be a coincidence but in this fairy, the little boy seems to be a fairy who appears in a significant moment and brings unexpected change. He first arrives to begin spiritual purification of the giant, i.e., his presence turns a wicked giant into a kind and generous one. Second, he arrives for the giant’s release from the worldly sufferings as he was too weak and old to enjoy the world. He seems to have taken the giant to the heaven to enjoy eternal happiness. The giant loves having the beautiful garden but the garden on the earth is not appropriate for the elderly creature like the giant. That is the reason why the little child has taken him to the garden of paradise.
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?
Personification is a special kind of comparison, closely related to metaphor, that gives life or human characteristics to inanimate objects or abstract ideas. In other words, personification refers to giving human qualities to non-humans.
In this fairy tale, the writer has personified a beautiful flower that put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground. The Snow and the Frost are also personified for they were pleased and cried “the spring has forgotten this garden” and they invited the North Wind to stay with them. Similarly, the birds are also personified for they did not care to sing in the absence of the children in the garden.
The personification of the seasons has significance in this story. In the beginning, spring offers a beautiful scene of the garden. Later on, only winter stays in his garden as the giant banns the children there to enter and play. The giant’s evil spirit is dark and cold like winter and spring is bright side of life that can be marked in case of giant also, but only after the purification of his spirit. Spring did not come until the giant’s stone like heart melted into the ocean of love and sharing.
C. This story can be read as a fairy tale, 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 fairy tale as there is a mythical character, i. e. the title character ‘The Giant’ and a little child, the boy with magical powers. And also, because it has a happy ending.
A symbol is a person, object, action, place, or even. In addition to its literal meanings, it suggests a more complex meaning or range of meanings. In this fairy tale, the children symbolize innocence, the spring season symbolizes the bright side of life full of pleasures and happiness, winter symbolizes dark side of life full of sufferings, the tree is the symbol of a kind man with patience and hope and the corner of the garden symbolizes a holy place where God resides and place where one’s evil spirit purifies. The snow, the wind and the frost together symbolize a gang of evil people who do not stay with considerate and sociable people.
D. Which figure of speech is used for ‘winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail and little child’? Who is the little child compared to?
Figure of speech refers to expressions that describe one thing in terms of something else. In other words, figure of speech refers to a word or phrase having a figurative meaning that goes beyond the literal meanings or definitions; personification, simile, metaphor, irony, alliteration, allegory etc. are examples of figurative language. The story makes use of personification as the main figure of speech. Winter is the metaphor for suffering or dark side of life. The ‘snow’ that falls on the ground is compared with ‘a white cloak’. Similarly, frost on the trees is compared with silver. Little child with prints of two nails on the palms and on the feet can compared to Jesus; a metaphor from Christianity. North wind and hail are presented as masculine gender. They are the metaphor for negative force that avoids creativity and renewal but acts as change agent for those who need transformation.
Theme
There are several possible themes:
a. Selfishness versus generosity
Generosity beats selfishness. Selfish one needs complete transformation to be birth as a generous one. In the story, Giant gets born doubly as he changes after years of suffering winter. A wicked and selfish Giant appears to a kind and generous one after the little boy teaches him a lesson of generosity. Giant immediately learns the reasons why spring is absent in his garden. The little boy in the farthest corner of the garden may be the messenger of God. He may be present there for the purification of selfish Giant. His frantic cry melts the Giant’s stone like heart for the Giant goes there and takes him onto the top of the tree.
b. God punishes those who are cruel to children and very selfish
This theme carries moral of the story. Children are innocence and ignorance. They are spiritually pure and love seekers. One should be kind to them. Kind people to children live a happy and satisfied life as the giant does after the first meeting of the little child. Selfishness gives birth to cruelty. Those who are selfish like the giant suffer unexpected hardships. The giant’s cruelty over children invites winter and makes it stay whole year. It was the hardest day that he had ever experienced. Only the divine authority can make it happen. The little child with power to bring change in the waste land of Giant can taken as the messenger of God. He was there to teach giant a lesson of love and sharing. When the giant is purified, he is invited to the paradise for eternal peace and happiness.
