The Selfish Giant

“Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still Winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower 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 again, and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. ‘Spring has forgotten this garden,’ they cried, ‘so we will live here all the year round.’ The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver.”

This quote highlights the stakes of the Giant’s struggle between Selfishness, Selflessness, and Self-Reliance. Though the Giant does not recognize the error of his ways, he is still punished by Divine Providence in Nature for his selfishness toward the children. It also includes one of the clearest instances of anthropomorphism in the story, with the Snow and Frost acting as characters who make decisions of their own.

“But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant’s garden she gave none. ‘He is too selfish,’ she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees.”

Like the previous quote, this illustrates the consequences of the Giant’s lack of charity. Wilde uses direct and straightforward language to communicate the problem to young readers, noting that the Giant “is too selfish.” This quote also suggests that the Giant’s actions have violated the natural order by affirming that the normal course of seasons continues outside the Giant’s garden.

“He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above the children’s heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and laughing.”

This quote contains several examples of the way Wilde anthropomorphizes nature to show divine providence’s effects on the garden. The trees, birds, and flowers all express their delight at the children’s return to the garden, showing how nature rewards the children for their innocent virtue.