Summary

The narrative begins with the children playing every afternoon after returning from school in the Giant's garden. The garden was lovely, big, and had fruit trees and soft grass. Birds sat on the luscious fruit trees and sang sweetly.

After seven years, the giant returned one day. He had gone to his friend The Cornish Ogre. When he saw the kids playing in his beautiful garden he got very angry and the children were afraid of him. He declared that his garden belonged to no one else but himself only and he sealed the hole on the wall and put up a warning, “Trespassers will be prosecuted”. As they had no other place to play, the children became depressed. As they walked around the garden's high walls, they would think of the lovely garden that was inside.

Everywhere there was spring, but in the giant’s garden there was winter and frost. Birds also did not sing when there were no children around. A flower once bloomed, but when it saw the sign, it went back to sleep. The hailstorm and the North Wind followed. The giant's selfishness prevented the golden autumn from reaching his garden as well.

The giant then awoke to the sound of sweet music one day. Outside his window, a linnet was singing. He could feel the spring as the hail and the North Wind stopped. He noticed that the children had entered his garden through a small opening. The blossoming trees were visible as the children sat on tree branches. He saw the birds flying and hear them trilling. The blossoms had also emerged.

However, to his surprise, winter was still present in other sections of the garden. He noticed that a young boy was standing there, unable to reach the trees' branches. He was still unable to climb despite the tree lowered its branches.

His heart broke when he saw this scene. He realized he was truly very self-centered. He made the decision to remove the walls, put that boy on top of the tree, and let children play here forever. However, when the children saw him, they fled, and the garden went back into winter. However, despite his weeping, that child did not flee. He was placed on top of the tree by the giant, and the tree immediately blossomed. He gave the giant a kiss.

Realizing that the giant is not evil anymore, the other children returned. They returned with the spring. Every afternoon, the giant used to play with the kids, but that little boy wasn't there. He became extremely weak over time. He saw a lovely tree in a corner with white blossoms one winter morning. The young boy stood beneath the tree, which had golden branches.

The giant was furious because the boy had been injured. He promised the boy that he would kill the person who had hurt him. He was informed by the boy that these were love wounds. The boy asked the giant to visit his garden with a smile. Later, the children discovered the enormous corpse beneath the white blossom-covered tree.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

a. Where did the kids use to play?

After school in the afternoon, the children used to play in the magnificent giant's garden.

b. What did the Snow and the Frost do to the garden?

These two agents who showed up in the giant's garden after the giant acted rudely toward the children were the snow and the frost. The great white cloak of the Snow covered the grass, and the silver paint on the trees was done by the Frost. Even the North Wind was invited to stay with them.

c. When the giant was awake in bed, what did he hear?

Lying awake in the bed, the giant heard a linnet singing after a long cold winter.

d. Why do you think the giant's garden never experienced spring?

As children bring warmth in any family, without them giants garden and the nature were also upset. Spring is generally associated with happiness and winter with sadness. Therefore, I think the nature was also sad with the giant’s behavior so the spring never arrived.

e. In what manner did the giant realize his error?

After the day the giant chased away the kids, his garden never saw spring, fruits, birds and flowers but only chilling winter. However, one day in one of the corners of his garden a bird called linnet was singing and children were playing. Only in that corner, spring had arrived. By this incident giant realized that children were the source of happiness and warmth and he knew that he was wrong to chase the children.

REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

A. Read the following excerpts and respond to the questions.

a. "How happy we were there!" They said to one another.

i. To what location does "there" refer?

Giant’s garden is referred by “there”

ii. What is meant by "they"?

Kids who always came to play in giant’s garden is meant by “they”.

iii. Why do they saying this?

They are saying so because they are upset of not being able to play in the giant’s garden.

b. "I have many beautiful flowers,” he said; "but, the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.

I. Who is the speaker?

➜ The old giant is speaking to himself after the realization of his mistake.

ii. Who is he addressing?

He is speaking to himself.

iii. Who exactly are "the children" referred to by the speaker?

The children that the speaking is referring to are the children who visit his garden to play after their school.

iv. Why is it stated that "the children are the most beautiful flowers of all" by the speaker?

Whenever one sees a flower, any person becomes happy. In his garden even the flowers wanted the children to play with them. Without children the giant’s garden was empty and cold. Winter never went. Therefore, the giant realized that the original source of happiness were children. So the giant says this.

c. When the young child said to the Giant, "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise," he smiled at him. The happy giant passes away shortly thereafter. What is the coincidence of this event? Describe it in relation to the fairytale.

It seems like the giant was only alive in the wait of his favorite child. As soon as he saw that child, and when the child offered him to come to his garden, the giant could not handle the happiness so he must have died. Another interpretation could be that the child must be a God who wants to take the giant to heaven and in order to go to heaven one must die.

B. Personification is one of the main speech figures in the story. Give three examples of personification from the story. What significance does the personification of the seasons have in the story?

Snow, frost, tree, flower, wind, hailstorm are personified in the story. Personification is the way of giving human characteristics to the inanimate or non- human things in literature. The personification of the seasons helps the readers to understand what these things think and make the readers dive in to a fairy world which is the main intention of the story. If there would not have been personification, this story would be dry and uninteresting for the children and they would not learn what the story is trying to teach.

C. The children, the seasons, the tree, the corner of the garden, the snow, the wind, and the frost are all used as symbols in this fairytale. Make sense of those symbols.

Here, the springtime is associated with happiness, while the wintertime is associated with suffering. The child's identification with Christ is represented by the tree. The corner of the garden represents the hallowed spot of God from where nirvana can be achieved. The frost, wind, and snow all represent a singular force of damnation and punishment against evil deeds.

D. The figure of speech "winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail, and little child" comes from which figure of speech? Who is compared to the young child?

Mainly two figures of speech is used for these. The first one is personification where they behave like humans, who have own thinking capability and emotion and the other one is that they are symbolized for sadness, punishment, and hard time. The child, on the other hand is symbolized as the Jesus Christ.

REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT

a. What is the story's main idea?

The major theme of the story is ‘sharing is caring’ and no matter how tough and derailed a human being is, that person can be transformed with love and suffering. Another theme is that God is always watching over us and he wants us to be the best version of ourselves every day or else he makes us suffer and at last makes us a better person.

b. Does God punish those who are cruel to children and incredibly self-centered?

God is pure and so are the children. They do not have hatred, cruelty, selfishness, greed or grudge. In this sense they are the purest form of human beings. Therefore, the God cannot tolerate those who are cruel against children and he punishes them.