The Selfish Giant

By group 1
 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

 Author, poet, playwright

 Known for aestheticism
 Advocacy of art for art’s sake
 Known for his epigram, his novel “The Picture Of Dorian Gray”, his plays, as
well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death
 Noted for his witty dialogues, humour, careful choice of words and
arrangement of words
 The Selfish Giant

 Included in, The Happy Prince and Other Tales published in 1888

 A Fairy Tale 
 Story with a moral
 Style of writing: Third Person Narration
 Theme
- Give happiness and gain happiness.
 Plot

 Set in the Giant’s garden in Spring season

 Story of a ‘Selfish Giant’ who doesn’t like children
- He doesn’t like any one to enter in the garden of his castle
- He always stops them playing into his garden
But soon he realizes his mistakes because, winter falls in his garden
- No other season comes there
- An incident changes his thought and he let the children play there
- Nature scatters happiness every where
 Interpretation Questions

 What is Wilde trying to share with us?

 Who do you think is ‘The little Child’?

 Do you think everyone gets second opportunity?

 Interpretation

 Unselfishness promotes happiness

 Kindness- The key to get to the God
 Everything is owned by nature
 No particular form of god; The child represented God
 Grabbing second opportunity
 Critical thinking question

 Why do you think ‘The Selfish Giant’ got transformed?

 Do you feel that there are some selfish giants still in our communities?

 If ‘The Giant’ had a family, would he accept the presence of children in his
garden?
 Critical Thinking

 Changing psychological state of mind

 Tension between haves and haves not

 Lack of socialization and civilization

 Assimilation

 Unselfishness- the root of happiness

 Nature treats accordingly
 Equal share of nature’s gift
 Socializing ourselves
 Unselfish deeds leads to salvation
Questions Please??