Following is a summary of the The Selfish Giant, a short story mentioned in the first unit of Literature section of Grade 11 English Textbook prepared by the MOST, Curriculum Development Centre, Government of Nepal. Along with the summary, answers to the logical questions have also been mentioned.

Whatsoever, the following study material is prepared by a student of Grade XI and everyone might have a different take on this story. So, we highly encourage everyone to read the following text just to perceive the story through the thoughts of that student and not as a complete summary of the story.

The Selfish Giant

Important characters: The Giant, The Children, The Little Child

Before we begin, I want you to know that Oscar Wilde was a follower of Christain religion.

Here is my take on the short story for Children - The Selfish Giant written by Oscar Wilde.

The story 'The Selfish Giant' is a representation of the dramatic transformation of a stone-hearted massive man into a light-hearted and caring one. He was self-centered and thought that anything belonging to him would belong to him only.

While the giant was on a visit to his friend for seven long years, his empty yet beautiful garden was taken as a playground by the school children. They would visit the garden each day and enjoy their fullest. All the trees and flowers present in the garden also enjoyed the presence of those children.

However, as the giant returned to his home, nothing remained as it were during those seven years when he was away from the home. As soon as he returned there, he kicked those children out of the garden, raised a high barrier and threatened them not to visit there again.

As the children were forbidden to enter the garden, the flowers and trees saddened. In the story, it says that the entire garden was covered with snow and it was ruled by the Frost, Hail Storm, North Wind and more. What it symbolizes is sadness and sorrow. This is the representation of the Giant's life which is devoid of happiness.

But as soon as the children started enjoying in the garden again, the sorrow which was represented by the white colour (or snow) turned into colourful blossoms which symbolizes the return of happiness.

Now, here is something I noted down the most...

The little child was the first one who the gaint saw entering into the garden after a long long time. It was that small child who helped transform the thoughts of the Giant and invited the Spring season into the garden. It was the same little child who urged the Giant to re-invite the little children and allow them to enjoy in his garden.

After everything happened, the child disappeared. But, the child reappared one day. He was on one of the corner of the garden near a tree.

What is interesting to find out is the lines mentioned in the story. It has been written, "... Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved. ..."

The golden colour symbolizes the wealth, silver colour symbolizes the happiness and sadness of life of the selfish Giant. This tells us that when we are to depart from the Earth, we shall leave everything right here and only our soul may depart from here.

Another sentence, "... For on the palms of the child's hands were the print of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet. ...". I drew my attention to this sentence and then imagined an image on my mind. The first image that came into my mind was of Jesus Christ who was killed in the same way.

Well, this is the major part of the story that attracted me. In conclusion, it was Jesus who persuaded a selfish and arrogant Giant to transform himself into a lovely and kind human then took him with himself to the paradise for the happiness he had brought into the lives of those children.