The Selfish Giant
Olufemi Akinrinlola
English 1302
Professor R.Perrard
June 29th, 2011
The Selfish Giant In short story, The Selfish Giant, there are many literary elements construed. Though the paper is meant for the eyes of children, there are many motifs that the adult eye can spot. Not only was the entire short story a metaphor to the rewards of selflessness, but also displays a sense of comparison within the ever changing seasons. The story begins with the children of the piece frolicking in the garden of the giant. Due to his selfishness he kicked the children out of the garden, solely because he wanted to enjoy the fruits of his garden by himself. His actions spurned the attraction of certain seasons that shadow sorry and gloom, basically the opposite of happiness. There is a deeply embedded message in this story, and its meaning yearns to be discovered by the authors subtle yet grandeur attempts at making them easily recognized. The way by which the author used a little children’s story to represent the idea of selflessness can be seen in multiple ways. The first way that we can blatantly notice, is the fact that the giants actions spurned a negative even though the children’s petty playful actions were nowhere near hurting a fly. So why should the children be punished for doing nothing wrong? There is no real reason besides the selfishness of the giant by wanting the garden all to himself. And through the results of his actions, sorrow ran rampant throughout his garden, thus teaching him a lesson and causing him to become less selfish.
An underlying instance that may have escaped the normal reader’s eye is the inclusion of another motif, which is the little boy that was crying as the symbol for that of Jesus. Though many may not know the bible story, to those that do, it is evident that him and the boy drew major comparison. In the short story, the child cried because he could not reach the tree to embrace is warmth and thus ending the situation in the garden.
English 1302
Professor R.Perrard
June 29th, 2011
The Selfish Giant In short story, The Selfish Giant, there are many literary elements construed. Though the paper is meant for the eyes of children, there are many motifs that the adult eye can spot. Not only was the entire short story a metaphor to the rewards of selflessness, but also displays a sense of comparison within the ever changing seasons. The story begins with the children of the piece frolicking in the garden of the giant. Due to his selfishness he kicked the children out of the garden, solely because he wanted to enjoy the fruits of his garden by himself. His actions spurned the attraction of certain seasons that shadow sorry and gloom, basically the opposite of happiness. There is a deeply embedded message in this story, and its meaning yearns to be discovered by the authors subtle yet grandeur attempts at making them easily recognized. The way by which the author used a little children’s story to represent the idea of selflessness can be seen in multiple ways. The first way that we can blatantly notice, is the fact that the giants actions spurned a negative even though the children’s petty playful actions were nowhere near hurting a fly. So why should the children be punished for doing nothing wrong? There is no real reason besides the selfishness of the giant by wanting the garden all to himself. And through the results of his actions, sorrow ran rampant throughout his garden, thus teaching him a lesson and causing him to become less selfish.
An underlying instance that may have escaped the normal reader’s eye is the inclusion of another motif, which is the little boy that was crying as the symbol for that of Jesus. Though many may not know the bible story, to those that do, it is evident that him and the boy drew major comparison. In the short story, the child cried because he could not reach the tree to embrace is warmth and thus ending the situation in the garden.