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The Giant
The children in the story are a group of local kids who play in the Giant’s garden after school. Innocent and sweet, they attract the goodwill of nature—they are loved by the birds, the trees, and even the seasons themselves. Spring, Summer, and Autumn bless the children’s playtime with good weather and cheer, sharing in their joy. When the Giant returns home from an extended vacation and cruelly drives the children out of his garden, the warmer seasons follow them out, leaving only Winter to inhabit the Giant’s property year-round. Only when the children later manage to sneak through a hole in the wall does Winter thaw into Spring, so that the children can once again enjoy the garden. This entire sequence—Autumn into Winter, Winter into Spring, all following the children’s movements—speaks to the children’s innate power to transform the world around them, simply by virtue of their innocence. Beyond changing the garden for the better, they change the Giant himself. The sight of their renewed happiness is enough to melt the Giant’s heart and make him see the error of his ways. Immediately he works to make amends. Initially the children flee from his approach, but his first kind gesture—raising a little boy into a tree that he had been trying to climb—warms them to him immediately. Wilde suggests that in their innocence, children are keenly perceptive to a person’s true nature, and so these children can forgive the Giant quite readily. After the Giant knocks down the wall around his garden, the children play there ever after, treasured by their new friend. Looking at the story from a structural standpoint, the children provide the framework for the Giant’s redemption; they create the situation which brings about change in him, and their wellbeing is the barometer for the Giant’s moral progress. The story resolves with the children in a harmonious relationship with their giant neighbor, showing that he has truly redeemed himself.
The Children Quotes in The Selfish Giant
The The Selfish Giant quotes below are all either spoken by The Children or refer to The Children. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Selfish Giant
Quotes
The birds sat on top of the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. “How happy we are here!” they cried to each other.
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“My own garden is my own garden,” said the Giant; “any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.”
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Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant was it 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 felt so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep.
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“How selfish I have been!” he said; “now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground for ever and ever.” He was really very sorry for what he had done.
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“It is your garden now, little children,” said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.
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“I have many beautiful flowers,” he said; “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.”
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The Children Quotes in The Selfish Giant
The The Selfish Giant quotes below are all either spoken by The Children or refer to The Children. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Selfish Giant
Quotes
The birds sat on top of the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. “How happy we are here!” they cried to each other.
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“My own garden is my own garden,” said the Giant; “any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.”
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant was it 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 felt so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep.
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“How selfish I have been!” he said; “now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground for ever and ever.” He was really very sorry for what he had done.
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“It is your garden now, little children,” said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.
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“I have many beautiful flowers,” he said; “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.”
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