𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐆𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 (ᶠᵃⁱʳʸᵗᵃˡᵉ)

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Verbal elements

Writer's purpose

A beloved tale that has lasted for generations, The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde, one of the worlds greatest writers, tells the tale of a very selfish giant, his wonderful garden, the curious and playful village children, and, of course, the little child who changes the giant's heart. A beloved classic in English literature, The Selfish Giant may be Oscar Wildes greatest story of redemption and forgiveness. Newly illustrated by renowned artist Jeanne Bowman, this fantastic edition of this famous tale showcases Wilde's story in a pallet and composition that will delight and inspire both young and old and will become a family treasure to be read again and again.

Plot

A group of children would play in the garden belonging to a giant each day after school. One day, the giant returns home from a seven-year visit to his friend, a Cornish ogre. Furious at finding the children trespassing, he chases them out and proceeds to build a wall around his garden. He erects a sign reading: TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED." The children are very sad, as playing on the road is a poor substitute. When spring comes, life begins to blossom everywhere except the giant's garden, where it remains winter. A single flower blooms but sinks back into the earth when it reads the sign on the gate. The Snow and the Frost decide to stay in the garden, and invite the North Wind and Hail to join them. Seasons pass but it stays winter in the giant's garden. One morning, the giant hears a linnet singing outside his window and is astonished to find the spring weather has finally come to his garden. He sees the cause- some children have snuck through a hole in his wall and are playing in his garden. He sees a small boy crying because he cannot reach the lowest branches. This corner of the garden is still covered in snow. The giant is moved by pity, realizing how selfish he has been. He enters the garden, the children flee, and winter returns. But he lifts the little crying boy and places him in the tree, telling the children the garden is theirs now. The children return to play and the garden turns to spring once more. The children return but the crying boy has vanished. Over the years, the giant grows old and watches the children play from his armchair. One day he sees the small boy under the same tree, which has turned beautiful and white. The giant approaches and sees the boy has wounds on his hands and feet. He asks the boy who injured him, so that the giant may avenge him, but the child says they are the wounds of love, and as the giant allowed him to play in his garden, so would the boy take the giant to his garden in Paradise. Later, the other children find the giant lying dead under the tree, covered in white blossom.

Characters

The Giant: The main character is the Giant. At first, the Giant is what you might expect from a fairy tale giant: he doesn't spend a lot of time talking, he's rude, and he wants everything his way. As Wilde tells us, this is a 'very selfish Giant.' So selfish that he builds a wall around his beautiful garden, and hangs a sign on the wall that says 'Trespassers will be prosecuted to keep the neighborhood children from playing there.

The little boy: He is very small, too small to reach even the lowest branches of a tree he wants to climb up and sit in. In the story, the Giant had a change of heart because of the little boy.

Settings

The Selfish Giant is set somewhere in a fairytale world with castles, ogres, and giants. The story mostly takes place in the giant's beautiful garden. It is cold, dark, and rainy in the garden but warm and sunny in the garden after the kids play in it.

Themes

The key theme in this story is that selfishness is ultimately self-defeating and self-destructive, as these actions result in misery. As the seasons' pass, the garden itself remains locked in perpetual winter, with flowers and trees refusing to bloom.

Style

"The Selfish Giant" is a short fantasy story for children by the Irish author Oscar Wilde. The story's plot revolves around a giant who builds a wall to keep children out of his garden but learns compassion from the innocence of the children.

Visual Elements

One of the visual elements used in the story is illustrations. One of the things that the illustrations can do is to help us better understand the words in the text.  Illustrations can enhance or increase our understanding.

Other Stylistic Elements

Musical Quality 

The musical quality of the different adaptations in real life of The Selfish Giants has any tone with characteristics such as controlled pitch and timbre. The sounds are produced by instruments in which the periodic vibrations can be controlled by the performer. The tone of the story is cheerful. The giant learns his lesson about sharing his garden with the children. With the help of a little boy, at the end of the story, the giant helps the little boy by going to his garden paradise.

Action

The action of the story is apathetic because of the Giant's selfishness but later on, became enthusiastic because of the little boy's appearance.

Humour

At first, there was no humour in the way the Giant treated the children who attempted to play in his garden because he was selfish until the little boy came.

My reactions to the story:

After reading the Selfish Giant, I could say that the giant was merciless and selfish as he did not even let children play in his garden. Th giant's ruthless activity affected kids. Children's were upset as they had nowhere to play. But later on I understand the giant's behavior because he was alone for a long time and the thing he lacks was companion. So when thee little boy arrive, he stared to open up to others and embrace happiness. That's what happens to the people who caged themselves in as the giant did for a long time, they became unhappy and merciless.

My reading experience for midterm: 

From what I've experience reading from children's literature such fairytales, I learned that Fairy tales are important because they spark the imagination. They give us an outlet for experiencing things in our minds before we experience them in the real world. It is where the troubles of the real world can meet the supernatural and mix things up. In a fairy tale anything can happen and any kind of creature can exist, and when anything can happen, we can find solutions to things in our real lives. Through imagination, we learn about our world. We can explore outcomes and possibilities.