1. Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

 Unit 1 Short Stories

1 The Selfish Giant

Oscar Wilde

Before Reading

Answer these questions.

a. Look at this picture. Is it a real man or mythical human?

b. Is it good to be selfish?

c. How do selfish people behave?

About the Author

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish wit, poet, novelist, and playwright. Wilde was born of professional 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. He published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art" and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist.

Known for his biting wit, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. He is best known for his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). He was a spokesperson for the late 19th-century Aesthetic movement in England, which advocated art for art’s sake.

'The Selfish Giant' is a short story for children written by Oscar Wilde. It was first published in the anthology The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888. This story is about a giant who learned an important lesson about love and sharing, and holds different meanings for people of different age.

Characters

A Giant ;  Giant shows selfish nature at first, builds a high wall around his garden to enjoy himself, can't understand why there is no spring in his garden, once he hears sweet music in his garden, finds children there , spring season comes with them, plants bear flowers, realizes his selfishness, helps a small boy climb on the tree, gets kiss from him, breaks down the wall, lets children play there, misses the little boy who stops coming, once there comes the boy to take him to play in his garden. children find him lying dead under a tree covered with flowers.

A little boy ;  once comes to Giant's garden to teach a lesson, kisses the giant, later comes to take the giant to his garden i. e. paradise.

Some other children ; play in the giant's garden, 

Summary

The story begins with the children playing in the garden of the Giant every afternoon after coming from school. The garden was lovely, large, with soft grass, and fruit trees. In the garden the trees bore rich fruits and birds sang sweetly sitting on them.

One day after seven years the giant came back from the house of his friend, the Cornish Ogre. By seeing the giant, the children were much frightened. He saw the children playing in his garden. He said that he would not allow anyone to play there as it was his own garden. Being selfish he built a wall around it and also put a notice board with a warning on it, ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’.

 After this the children became sad as they didn’t have other place to play. They tried to play on the road but it was dusty and full of stones. They would wander around the high walls of the garden and remember the beautiful garden inside them. They were very happy while playing in the garden.

 As time passed, the spring season came and there were blossoms and little birds all around. But it was winter in the giant’s garden and there were frost and snow. 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 there came the North Wind and the hailstorm. Due to the giant’s selfishness, autumn’s golden fruits also did not come to his garden. The giant didn’t know why there was only cold winter.

After a long time one morning, the giant heard sweet and lovely music. It was a linnet singing outside his window. The hail and the North Wind stopped and he could feel the spring. He saw that the children had come into his garden through a little hole on the wall. The children were sitting on the branches of trees and the trees were blossoming. He also saw the birds flying and heard them chirping. The trees had also bloomed the beautiful flowers.

But, to his surprise, in one corner there was still winter. He saw that there a little boy was standing and he was not able to reach the branches of trees. The tree lowered its branches but still, he could not climb.

At this scene, his heart melted. He realized that he was really very selfish. He decided to put that boy on the top of the tree, pull down the walls, and allow children to play here forever. But when the children saw him, they ran away and the garden became winter again. However, that little boy did not run as he was weeping and his eyes were full of tears. The giant put him on the top of the tree and the tree blossomed at once. The little boy bent toward the giant and kissed him.

The other children realizing that the giant is not wicked and they came back. The spring came back with them. The giant played with the children every afternoon but that little boy was nowhere to be seen. The giant asked other children about the little boy but no one knew him.

As the years went by, he grew very old and weak. One winter morning, he saw a lovely tree with white blossoms in a corner. The branches of the tree were golden and the little boy stood under it. The giant was happy to see the boy whom he expected all the time. He went hurriedly to meet him. As he reached near him, he saw the boy was wounded which made the giant very angry. He told the boy that he would slay/ kill the man who had harmed him. The boy told him that these were the wounds of love. When the giant asked who he was, the boy smiled and said that once he had let him play in his garden and asked the giant to come to his garden which is paradise. Later, when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the giant lying dead under the tree covered with white blossoms.

 

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. Where did the children use to play?

Ans:- The children used to play in the Giant's garden every afternoon after their school.

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

Ans:- The Snow and the Frost ruled in the garden. The Snow and the Frost covered up the grass and all the trees. They invited the North Wind to stay there for a long time.

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

Ans:- When the giant was lying awake in bed, he heard some lovely music coming from the garden.

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

Ans:- I think spring season never came to the giant's garden because he didn't let the children to play in his garden putting high walls around it.

e. How did the giant realise his mistake?
Ans:- He realised his mistake by seeing the change in garden after the children entered in it. There didn’t come the spring season in the garden in the absence of children.

 

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?

Ans:- 'There' refers to the Giant’s garden where the children used to play.

ii. What does ‘they’ refer to?

Ans:- 'They' refers to the children who used to play in the garden.

iii. Why are they saying so?

Ans:- They are saying so because the Giant has stopped them playing in 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?

Ans:- The Giant is the speaker.

ii. Who is he speaking to?

Ans:- He is speaking to himself.

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

Ans:- The children that the speaker is referring are the children who play in the Giant’s garden.

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

Ans:- The speaker is saying that 'the children are the most beautiful flowers of all' because children or flowers make us very happy. They are the source of happiness, pleasure, etc.

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 tale.

Ans :- In this story, when the Giant became very old and weak, he was unable to play with the children any more. He sat in his armchair and watched the children playing there. One winter morning, he saw the little child whom he once helped to climb the tree and wanted to see.  The little child smiled at him and said, "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise," It meant the little boy offered him eternal peace in his garden i.e. heaven. Shortly afterwards, the happy giant died. Thus, the occurrence of the child’s offer of eternal life in heaven and the death of the Giant is the coincidence. From the religious point of view, the appearance of the child with prints of nails on the hands and feet resemble with Jesus Christ who taught the lesson of extending love to all.

 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?

Ans :- The story ‘The Selfish Giant’ makes the use of personification as one of the main figures of speech. Personification means giving human characteristics or qualities to the non-human objects. Such technique of personification makes non- human entities more vivid  for the readers to understand and sympathize with or react emotionally to them.

The personification can be seen in flowers 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 North Wind is personified when it says with delight that they must ask the hail to visit the garden.

The seasons like Spring and Winter are also  personified. They come to the giant’s garden according to their own wishes.

 C. This story can be read as a fairytale, 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.

Ans :- The story ‘The Selfish Giant’ cam be read as a fairy tale. The writer has used the approach of symbolism to teach the readers a moral lesson. The children symbolize innocence and love. Different 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 in the life of 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?

Ans :-  Regarding the figures of speech used in the story The Selfish Giant are personification and symbolism.  As a fairy tale, the story is full of personification and symbolism used for winter, frost, snow, north wind and hail. In the story the little child is a Christian symbol. He can be compared to Jesus Christ.