Summary of The Selfish Giant

In this article, we will study the summary of The Selfish Giant. The writer of this lesson is "Oscar Wilde". The message of the story is coexistence and the spread of love. It is the story of a young man who was a messenger of God and a selfish giant. The giant did not allow children to play in his garden. Therefore, there was always winter in his garden. Seeing this young man, he realized that he was being selfish. Thus, he allowed the children to play in his garden and also play with them. After years, the giant became very weak. At that moment, this young man came and took him to paradise. .. 

The Selfish Giant English Summary 

The story selfish giant begins with the children playing in the Giant's garden every afternoon after arriving from school. The garden was beautiful, large, with soft grass and fruit trees. The trees bore rich fruit and the birds sang sweetly sitting on them. One day after seven years, the giant returned. He was staying with his friend, the Cornish Ogre. The children were afraid to see him. He saw the children playing and said that he would not allow anyone to play here as it was his own garden. He built a wall around it and also put up a bulletin board. The bulletin board displayed a warning: "Trespassers will be prosecuted."

The children were sad because they had no other place to play. They would wander the high garden walls and remember the beautiful garden within them. Spring season arrived and there were flowers and little birds everywhere. But it was winter in the giant's garden and there were frost and snow. In the absence of children, the birds did not sing either. Once a flower sprouted from the grass, but after seeing the bulletin board, he also fell asleep again. Then came the north wind and the hail storm. Due to the giant's selfishness, the golden fruits of autumn also did not reach his garden. 

Then one morning the giant detected sweet and wonderful music. It was a linnet singing outside his window. The hail and north wind stopped and he could feel spring. He saw the children entering his garden through a small hole. The children were sitting on the tree branches and the trees were blooming. He also saw the birds fly and heard them chirp. The flowers had also risen. But, to his surprise, winter was still in one corner. He saw that a boy was standing there and he could not reach the branches of the trees. The tree lowered its branches but still, it couldn't climb. In this scene, his heart melted. He realized that he was actually very selfish. He decided to put that boy on the top of the tree, tear down the walls, and allow the children to play. 

But when the children saw it, they fled and the garden was winter again. However, that child did not run while crying. The giant put it on the top of the tree and the tree immediately blossomed. He kissed the giant. The other children came back to realize that the giant is not evil. Spring returned with them. The giant used to play with the children every afternoon, but that child was nowhere to be found.

Over the years, it became very weak. One winter morning, he saw a beautiful tree with white flowers in the corner. The branches of the tree were golden and the boy stood underneath. The boy was injured, which greatly enraged the giant. He told the boy that he would kill the man who had hurt him. The boy told him that these were the wounds of love. The boy smiled and asked the giant to come to his garden. Later, the children found the dead giant under the tree covered in white flowers. 

Main Summary

The selfish giant is a popular fairy tale however there are a lot of symbols in the story which make it an allegorical story. The symbols used in this story have contributed a lot to intensify the meaning of the story.

The children are the most important characters who love to play in the giant’s garden. Here, children represent innocence. They played in the giant’s garden regardless of whom the property belongs to, however, the wall made by the giant restricted them from entering the garden. The wall represents the giant unwillingness to let others enter his life or property. The wall also symbolizes the selfish nature of human beings.

Similarly, when the giant arrives home, he rudely drives out the children from his garden. The winter takes over the whole change of his garden after he forbade the children from entering the garden. Here, the winter symbolizes the cold heart of the giant which keeps him isolated from love and happiness. The garden loses its beauty when the snow, wind, frost, and hail start ruling over there. The snow covers the grass, frost paints the trees, the wind roars around the garden. In this way, they represent the suffering, agony, and solitude of the giant. Furthermore, the corner of the garden is to symbolize his past deeds which lead to overall unhappiness in the garden.

When he saw the trees offering their arm to a child, he realizes his mistake and reflects on his mistake by helping the little boy to climb up a tree. He also destroyed the walls and allow children to play in his garden because he knew that it was him who kept the spring away. Spring, summer resemble joy, happiness, and prosperity which came back to the garden with the arrival of children.