The Selfish Giant (Story) Grade 11

 The Selfish Giant

'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.

 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 (Summary)

This is a story written by Oscar Wilde. It is a children’s story. In this story we can find the characters like the selfish giant, his friend Cornish Ogre who are mythical humans.

The story begins with the children who used to play in the giant’s garden after school. The garden was large and very beautiful with green grass. Over the grass there were beautiful flowers like stars. There was the castle of the giant also. After seven years, the giant returned from his friend Cornish Ogre. He became furious because he saw the children playing in his garden. He growled and chased the children out of his garden. He built high wall around his garden and put up a notice board with warning. In the board "TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED" was written.

The children became quite upset because they missed their lovely place to play. They didn't find any suitable place for them to play. Because of the bad behavior of the giant, the garden started to become ugly. There was spring season all over the country but there wasn’t spring season in the giant’s garden. The spring season stopped appearing in his garden. There was only winter season. The frost, the north wind, the hail and the snow started appearing there whereas there were beautiful flowers, fruits and birds chirruping outside his garden where children were free. The giant became very sad to find the boring condition of his garden.

One morning, he saw the most wonderful sight. He saw the little hole in the wall through which the children were entering into his garden. He saw the children playing in his garden. The trees were so glad to welcome the children back again in the garden. They had covered themselves with blossoms. The birds were also flying and twittering with delight. He found spring season once again in his garden because of the presence of the children. Far away in one corner, there was still winter. He saw a small boy there who couldn’t climb up the tree.

The poor tree was covered with frost and snow and north wind was blowing and roaring above it. The sight made the giant realize his mistake. His heart melted. He noticed that why the Spring wouldn’t come in his garden. He went there and helped the boy. The boy kissed the giant being happy.

The giant broke the wall of his garden. He permitted the children to play in his garden. He started playing with them. After some years, the giant became old and weak. He was very feeble too. He couldn’t play with the children so he sat on a huge arm chair and watched the children playing the games. One day, while he was sitting on his chair, he saw a marvelous sight in the farthest corner of the garden. There was the same little boy whom he had loved. 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 about 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 white blossoms.

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