Divine Providence Theme Analysis

Divine Providence is a Christian theological concept that is fundamental to understanding the logic of “The Selfish Giant.” Divine Providence, or simply “Providence,” is the belief in a world justly ordered by God. It states that the natural world, from plants to animals to weather, exists in accordance with God’s will, and that God will intervene through nature if he deems it just. Oscar Wilde presents this idea through a kind of fairy tale logic—the trees, the Spring, Summer, and Autumn, and the forces of Winter all speak as if they were sentient people—yet it remains faithful at its core to Christian values and thought. Nature smiles upon the children and the garden, and the natural course of seasons is shown to be pleasant and good. The Giant’s selfishness, however, brings an unnaturally long winter upon his home, as the divine order of the universe punishes him for his hardhearted ways. In more general terms, the natural world around the Giant’s garden changes according to what he deserves morally, which reflects both the Giant’s character and the idea of Providence. Through the Giant and the garden’s twinned transformations, Wilde argues that the natural world abides by God’s just will, meting out punishments and rewards as they are due.

When the Giant returns to his property after many years’ absence, the natural order of the seasons is disrupted—a harsh winter settles upon the garden, staying well past the natural span of the season, because his cold-hearted nature deserves only cold and misery in kind. Before his arrival, though, the garden is an idyllic paradise, complete with “soft green grass,” “beautiful flowers like stars,” birds singing sweetly, and so on. The peach trees, which blossom in “pink and pearl” before bearing “rich fruit” through the autumn, show that each change of seasons brings new joys to the garden. Moved by this natural splendor, the children rejoice, “How happy we are here!” This echoes the recurring line in the Book of Genesis, “God saw that it was good,” which follows each of God’s creations as he looks upon them. In the Christian tradition on which “The Selfish Giant” is founded, humans, like their creator, find happiness in nature’s beauty. This belief is foundational to the idea of Divine Providence.

When the Giant returns home and drives the children away, the garden’s beauty and bounty also vanish, further supporting the idea that the natural world submits to God’s just will. As the children flee, and so do the songbirds—and this, in turn, leads the trees to “[forget] to blossom.” The warmer seasons keep away because the Giant is, in the Autumn’s words, “too selfish” to deserve good weather. The Giant’s selfishness attracts only cold, harsh, unseasonable weather. The North Wind, invited into the garden by the Snow and the Frost, calls it “a delightful spot,” and invites the Hail as well. In themselves, these forces are not malicious, nor do they show any intent to punish the Giant, but nonetheless they are drawn to his cold heart as the other seasons were drawn to the children’s joy. It is simply their nature to avoid warmth and seek cold. In other words, the long, miserable winter is merely the natural consequence of the Giant’s bad behavior—yet this natural order is itself willed by God. Punishment for a selfish heart is built into the very fabric of nature that God created.

However, just as punishment is built into the natural order, so too is reward—as evidenced by the blossoming of spring when the Giant mends his ways. The children bring good weather back to the garden when they sneak inside, but it is specifically Giant’s loving gesture towards the Christ Child which dispels the long winter for good. One corner of the garden remains trapped in winter until the Giant, of his own free will, helps the little boy who is struggling to climb a tree there. It should be noted that when the other children notice the Giant’s approach, they flee, and “the garden [becomes] Winter again.” Only when the Giant raises the boy Christ into the tree do the springtime blossoms return again. This is the moment at which the good weather becomes the consequence of the Giant’s character, not just the children’s. In the years that follow, as the Giant welcomes the children into his garden each day, the garden resembles its former state. It blossoms with flowers, and birdsong is heard overhead. Nature returns to its normal course because of the Giant’s kindness, and he enjoys its bounty and beauty as rewards. Once again, God’s justice manifests through the natural world.

At every stage of the story, this cycle of retribution comes about through the natural world, in accordance with the Christian doctrine of Divine Providence. Though Wilde personifies the plants, birds, weather, and seasons, their activities still abide by a sense of cosmic justice, at the head of which is Jesus Christ. “The Selfish Giant,” like many fairy tales and religious parables, teaches its reader that their actions and attitudes have moral weight, and that a higher power will reward or punish them accordingly.