Grade - 11 (English) 1.1 The Selfish Giant - by Oscar Wilde (Short Stories) Part-2

Grade - 11 (English) 1.1 The Selfish Giant- by Oscar Wilde Part-2 (Short Stories)

About the writer…

Ø An Irish wit, poet, novelist, and playwright.

Ø A son of professional and literary parents. (His father- an eye and ear surgeon who also published books.

Ø His mother- a poet and an authority on Celtic myth and folklore.

Ø He was a journalist and a spokesperson for the late 19^th century Aesthetic movement in England who advocated art for art’s sake.

About the story “The Selfish Giant”…

Ø It is a  short story for children by Oscar Wilde.

Ø It was first published in the anthology The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888.

Ø The story is about a giant who learned an important lesson about love and sharing, and holds different meanings for people of different age.

Ø The Selfish Giant, written by Oscar Wilde, is a famous short story, a nice work of imagination, is mainly for children with magical creatures like the Giant and the Ogre.

Themes of the story “The Selfish Giant”…

—  It teaches the importance of sharing the good things in life and how it brings happiness to not just the one it is being shared with but also the one who is sharing.

—  A kind heart is always a blessing and is amply blessed by the Almighty.

—  It also teaches that one gets what he gives. If you spread happiness, you will get happiness in return and if you give sadness to others, it also comes back to you many folds.

—  It forwards a message that bad deeds are always punished and good deeds are always rewarded in life or after life.

 

Characters:

Ø Children-  the kids

Ø The little boy- the Protagonist/a messenger/Jesus Christ

Ø The Giant- the antagonist

Ø The Cornish Ogre- the giant’s friend

Plot

1.     Exposition-The Giant finds kid playing in the garden.

2.     Rising Action- The Selfish Giant bans the children in the garden by putting a tall fence  around it.

3.     Climax-Children came back in the garden with Spring season.

4.     Falling Action- The kids are really nice to the Giant and he loves to the kids in return.

5.     Resolution- The Giant is no longer selfish.

Setting

Ø Setting means time and place.

Ø A fairytale world with castle, ogres and the giant’s beautiful garden.

Ø The garden looks cold, dark and rainy in absence of children and it looks warm and sunny in presence of children.

Ø The tall fence and the trees and snowy garden.

Summary “The Selfish Giant”

Ø “The Selfish Giant”  is a story about a giant, his garden and the children who used to play in it.

Ø There was once a giant who had a beautiful garden which was lovely, large, with soft grass, and fruit trees. The peach(cf?) trees bore rich fruits and birds sang sweetly sitting on them.

Ø He had gone to visit his friend, the Cornish Ogre(a brutish giant), for seven years.

Ø When he returned home, he found that children used his beautiful garden as their playground. Their happy voices as they played there infuriated the giant.

Ø Very angry at the children, he shunned them out of his garden and built a wall/ a tall fence around it and also put a notice board. The notice board displayed a warning on it, ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’.

Ø The children could not return to the garden. They became sad as they had no other place to play. They would wander around the high walls of the garden and remember the beautiful garden inside them.

Ø As the seasons passed and the time for Spring to arrive came, the Giant waited eagerly to watch his garden bloom with beautiful flowers. However, he waited and waited but Spring never came to his garden.

Ø Days passed by and the Giant grew worried and sad for his garden until one day he woke up in the morning to hear the laughter of the children with a little linnet( a small brown and grey bird) singing outside the window and to see the touch of Spring in his garden. The Giant was very happy and he ran outside to play with the kids who had entered through a small hole in the fence.

Ø As he played, he noticed a small boy stuck on top of a tree. The Giant very lovingly brought him down and when he asked his name, the kid ran away.

Ø From then on, every day, the Giant waited for his little friend to come but he never came.

Ø After a very long time, when the Giant was old, he woke up in the morning and saw his little friend in his blooming garden.

Ø He quickly ran out and the child told him that he was the Christ and had come to take him to Heaven with him.  The Giant died peacefully and his soul rested in Heaven with God.

                 

                 

Main points…

Ø It is mainly for children with magical creatures like the Giant and the Ogre.

Ø It is a story of a young boy who was a messenger of God and a selfish giant.

Ø It teaches the importance of sharing the good things in life and how it brings happiness to not just the one it is being shared with but also the one who is sharing.

Ø Moral: It also teaches that one gets what he gives. If you spread happiness, you will get happiness in return and if you give sadness to others, it also comes back to you many folds.

Ø Spring is the symbol of happiness. Season is personified in the story with its symbolic function. The cold and gloomy winter symbolizes suffering. There were no flowers in the Giant’s garden means that the happiness was nowhere to be seen.

Ø In The Selfish Giant written by Oscar Wilde, main themes are – humility, salvation, compassion, kindness, arrogance, loneliness, love and pain.

Ø Christian allegory “The Giant’s Garden” is analogous to the Bibiical Garden of Eden (paradise) where humans first came into being as innocent lacking all knowledge of good and evil.

Understanding the text…

Answer the following questions.

a.     Where did the children use to play?

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

b.     What did the snow and the frost do to the garden?

Ø The snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the frost painted all the trees silver.

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

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

d.     Why did the spring season never came to the giant’s garden?

Ø I think ‘Spring’ is the symbol of happiness and joy and it never came to the giant’s garden because he was selfish and unkind to the children.

e.     How did the giant realise his mistake?

Ø The giant put the little boy on the top of the tree and then knocked down all the fence built by him to allow children to play in the beautiful garden. Thus, he realised his mistake.

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?

Ø ‘There’  refers to the giant’s garden.

      ii.            What does ‘they’ refer  to ?

Ø ‘They’ refers to the poor children.

    iii.            Why are they saying so?

Ø They are saying so because they miss the beautiful garden where they used to play  in the past.

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

        i.    Who is the speaker?

Ø The Giant is the speaker.

       ii.       Who is he speaking to ?

Ø He is speaking to himself.

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

Ø School children who are playing games in the garden are the children that the speaker is referring to.

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

Ø The speaker is saying that “the children are the most beautiful flowers of all” because the arrival of children in the garden bring spring seasons bloomed with beautiful flowers in the garden.

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 (Occurring at the same time) of this event? Describe it in relation to this story.

Ø 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. These incidences take place one after another sequential way in the story. They are coincidental in the sense before the Giant was cruel and built a tall fence around his garden and then even in spring season, winter was prevalent but as soon as the giant permitted the children to play in the garden as promised by the little boy that he would show the giant the paradise, shortly after the happy giant dies or receives the respectful place in heaven.

Ø Thus, the giant’s being kindness is closely connected to his salvation (mukti).

 

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?

Ø The Selfish Giant, by Oscar Wilde makes use of personification as one of the main figures of speech. Here, personification refers to giving animate characters to inanimate objects. For instance, giving quality of a lady to the moon.

Ø The three examples of personification from the story are:

1.     Spring is the symbol of happiness or joy and greenery givers. The garden gave the children joy and happiness before the giant’s arrival and after he permitted children to play in the garden.

2.     Winter carries the character of  destroyer which is  very cold and gloomy  and it symbolizes suffering. There were no flowers in the Giant’s garden means that the happiness was nowhere to be seen.

3.     Snow and frost cover trees with white cloak and make trees look like lifeless. They posses the characters of enemies who are always ready to end  others’ life.

v Snow, Frost, Hail and North Winds are used as four visitors who left the garden finally which means that they are given human characters in the story or personified.

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.

Ø This story “The Selfish Giant”  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.

Ø The seasons: Spring symbolizes happiness and Winter symbolizes suffering.

Ø Trees symbolize Children’s favourite spot to play.

Ø The beautiful tree behind the Christ Child symbolizes the Giant’s complete redemption or eternal life in paradise.

Ø The Giant’s Garden symbolizes the state of his soul or the journey that a person’s soul undertakes in order to find redemption

Ø The snow, the Wind, the Frost symbolize the human negative emotions  where the snow indicates to coldness; the wind refers to anger and rush and the frost symbolizes violence which result as the Giant prohibits children to play in the garden.

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

Ø A figure of speech is a word or phrase that possesses a separate meaning from its literal definition. It can be a metaphor, simile, symbol, alliteration, assonance or a hyperbole to provide a dramatic effect.

Ø The words like winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail etc are used as symbols in the story. They represent negative  human emotions and here, the winter is personified, too. It carries the character of a destroyer human being which kills children pleasures and make the  garden like dead.

Ø The Little child is a metaphor who carries the quality of Jesus Christ or who is compared to Christ. He arrives in the Giant’s garden to make children free to play in the garden and to take the giant to the paradise for salvation.

Reference beyond the text…

a.     What is the main theme of this story?

Ø In The Selfish Giant written by Oscar Wilde, main themes are – humility (gd|tf), salvation (df]If), compassion(;xg'e"lt), kindness, arrogance, loneliness, love and pain.

Ø It teaches the importance of sharing the good things in life and how it brings happiness to not just the one it is being shared with but also the one who is sharing.

Ø It also teaches that one gets what he gives. If you spread happiness, you will get happiness in return and if you give sadness to others, it also comes back to you many folds like the Giant.

Ø  It suggests us that a kind heart is always a blessing and is amply blessed by the Almighty.

Ø This beautiful short story suggests giving happiness to others will make us feel happy in our life as well.

 

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

Ø Of course, God punish those who are cruel to children and very selfish people like the selfish giant in the story “The Selfish Giant”. As the Giant arrived, he prohibited children to play in his garden. He built a tall fence around the garden. Because of his misdeeds, the God was furious and he planned to punish the Giant. Therefore, he prohibited happiness, joy and pleasures in the garden and even spring looked like winter. The effects of the snow, the frost, the hails and the North wind were seen but as the Giant welcomed the children in the garden to play, the God was happy and the things continued as usual it was before.

Ø  The bible gives a definite answer to this question stating that not punishment but a severe or terrible punishment is given to the wicked. He has been favour  of those who are in support of God and his right paths.

 

Describe in brief the Giant’s garden.

Ø The Giant’s garden was very beautiful. It had soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars and there were twelve peach trees that in the spring time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in autumn bore rich fruit.

     Who did the Giant love most? Why?

Ø The Giant loved the little boy most because he had kissed him. He felt helpless and began to cry. The Giant saw him. His heart melted all of a sudden. He came to the little boy and put him into the tree. The tree broke at once into blossom and the birds came and sang on it. The little boy became happy. He stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant’s neck, and kissed him. The Giant’s joy knew no bounds. He (the Giant) made the little boy his friend.

 

         

(All Images Credit : Google Images)