The Giant Character Analysis in The Selfish Giant

The main character of the story, the titular selfish giant owns a garden where local children have taken to playing while he is away on an extended vacation. At the beginning of the story, the Giant is selfish and hardhearted; he drives the children out of his garden upon discovering them there, and he builds a high wall to keep them out. Spring, Summer, and Autumn leave the garden as well, repulsed by the Giant’s selfishness, leaving only the forces of Winter—the North Wind, the Snow, the Frost, and the Hail—to inhabit it year-round. For months thereafter, the Giant is miserable, unable to understand why Spring will not come. Springtime only returns to the garden when the children sneak inside to play. Softened by the months he spent deprived of warmth and cheer, the Giant realizes that he brought the winter upon himself with his selfishness, and immediately he wishes to make amends. His first gesture of kindness is to a little boy in the far corner of the garden, who is crying because he can’t climb the tree there. The Giant raises the boy up into the tree, which at once bursts into bloom as the child embraces the Giant, kissing him. With this act, the Giant warms the rest of the children to him, and he knocks down the wall so as to share his garden with them forevermore. In the years that follow, as the Giant ages, his heart softens further still. He comes to cherish the children far more than the garden itself. Even so, he wishes that he could once again meet the little boy who kissed him, whom he loves best of all. The Giant’s wish is granted only in his twilight years, when he is very old and feeble—the boy appears in the corner of the garden, transfigured, revealing himself to be the Christ Child. He then welcomes the Giant into heaven as reward for his kindness. This arc of redemption, from selfish sinner to selfless neighbor, ending in eternal Paradise, illustrates the Christian promise of redemption. The Giant’s character is meant to teach this moral lesson as simply and straightforwardly as possible.

The Giant Quotes in The Selfish Giant

The The Selfish Giant quotes below are all either spoken by The Giant or refer to The Giant. 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:

“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.”

Related Characters: The Giant (speaker), The Children

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Page Number and Citation: 1

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.

Related Characters: The Forces of Winter, The Children, The Giant

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 2

Explanation and Analysis:

“I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,” said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; “I hope there will be a change in the weather.”

Related Characters: The Giant (speaker), Spring, Summer, and Autumn, The Forces of Winter

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 2

Explanation and Analysis:

The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant’s garden she gave none. “He is too selfish,” she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees.

Related Characters: Spring, Summer, and Autumn, The Giant

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 2

Explanation and Analysis:

One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King's musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world.

Related Characters: The Giant, Spring, Summer, and Autumn

Page Number and Citation: 3

Explanation and Analysis:

“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.

Related Characters: The Giant (speaker), Spring, Summer, and Autumn, The Children

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden, The Tree

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 3

Explanation and Analysis:

“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.

Related Characters: The Giant (speaker), The Children

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Page Number and Citation: 4

Explanation and Analysis:

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

Related Characters: The Giant (speaker), The Children

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Page Number and Citation: 4-5

Explanation and Analysis:

[T]he child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, “You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.”

Related Characters: The Little Boy (speaker), The Giant

Related Symbols: The Giant’s Garden

Page Number and Citation: 5

Explanation and Analysis:

The Giant Character Timeline in The Selfish Giant

The timeline below shows where the character The Giant appears in The Selfish Giant. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Every afternoon after school, the children go to the Giant ’s garden to play. This is their favorite spot in the neighborhood. The garden is... (full context)

One day, however, the Giant returns home from a long vacation—he had spent the past seven years visiting a friend... (full context)

...They try playing in the street, but it is rocky and dusty—so they return to the Giant ’s property and spend their afternoons wandering aimlessly around the high wall, reminiscing sadly about... (full context)

When Spring arrives, the Giant ’s garden remains trapped in Winter, as all the trappings of springtime—the birds, the trees,... (full context)

...and the Frost blanket everything in white; the North Wind blows all about, knocking down the Giant ’s chimney-pots; the Hail dances atop the castle roof, damaging it, and then flings himself... (full context)

Meanwhile, Spring, Summer, and Autumn all refuse to appear, on account of the Giant ’s selfishness, and the Giant is left cold, miserable, and confused. “I cannot understand why... (full context)

One morning, the Giant hears what sounds like lovely music outside his window, and “so sweet to his ears... (full context)

Upon looking outside, the Giant sees “a most wonderful sight.” Spring has indeed returned to his garden—because the children have... (full context)

Moved by this scene, “ the Giant ’s heart melt[s],” and he understands at once that his selfishness is what kept Spring... (full context)

As the Giant enters the garden, all of the children flee from him in fear, and the garden... (full context)

Seeing this, the children realize that the Giant now means well. They return to the garden, bringing Spring with them. The Giant declares,... (full context)

As the children bid him farewell that evening, the Giant asks after the little boy who had kissed him, having grown especially fond of him.... (full context)

Years pass, and the Giant comes to cherish the children more than the garden itself, calling them “the most beautiful... (full context)

...Winter—which he no longer hates, “for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep”— the Giant awakes to a miraculous sight. The tree in the farthest corner of the garden has... (full context)

Overjoyed, the Giant rushes down to meet his friend, yet stops when he sees that the little boy’s... (full context)

The little boy does not answer the Giant directly, but rather says, “You let me play once in your garden, today you shall... (full context)

The Giant Character Analysis

The Giant Quotes in The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant Quotes

The Giant Character Timeline in The Selfish Giant