Chapter Name: The Selfish Giant
Subject: Modern English
Lesson: 6
Class: 7
Board: Board Of Secondary Education Manipur (BOSEM/BSEM)
Contents: Chapter Summary, Questions and Answers and Vocabulary.
BSEM Solutions for class 7 Modern English Chapter 6-The Selfish Giant
About the author:
Oscar Wilde (in full, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde) was an Irish poet and playwright. He was one of the most popular playwrights in London. Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, in Dublin, Ireland, and died in November 1900, in Paris, France. His notable works include “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Summary:
The short story “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde is a fantasy tale suitable for children. It is a simple story that touches the heart. The symbols used, such as winter, spring, trees, green grass, and snow, are superb and create an imaginative and beautiful scene of nature, filling our hearts with love and peace.
In the story, there was a beautiful and attractive garden full of green grass, twelve peach trees, and an abundance of flowers, which belonged to the selfish Giant. The children loved to come and play there every afternoon. For seven years, while the Giant visited his friend, the Cornish Ogre, in England, the children enjoyed playing in the garden. But when the Giant returned, he did not allow the children to come and play, putting up a high wall around his garden.
As a result, every season except winter refused to grace the Giant’s garden, and so winter prevailed throughout the year. One day, the Giant heard a linnet bird singing, a sign of spring’s return. He soon found that spring had returned because the children had been entering through a hole in the wall. However, one small boy was crying in the farthest corner of the garden because he could not climb up the branches of the tree. The Giant helped the boy by lifting him onto the tree. The little boy hugged and kissed the Giant, and so the spring season prevailed again.
The Giant anxiously looked for the little boy who had kissed him every day, but to his sadness, he could not find him. The other children did not know the boy’s whereabouts. The Giant grew old with time.
One day, the Giant saw the little boy again with wounds on his hands and feet. But the boy tells the Giant not to be upset because they are wounds of love. Moreover, the boy has come to take the Giant to paradise/heaven. Afterwards, the children found the giant body lying under the tree, covered in white blossoms.
Themes of the Story:
“The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde conveys the message that everyone can change and learn the important life lesson of not being selfish. It teaches that everyone has something to share and to give to others around them. The story is a beautiful tale of friendship and forgiveness. The children fear the Giant only until they realize that he is not bad. Once the Giant understands that sharing and friendship are pleasant and rewarding, he chooses to share, inspired by the innocent children (the messengers of God). The Giant ultimately dies peacefully, having become selfless.
Video: The Selfish Giant
Answer the following questions in a sentence each
Q1. Where did the children go every afternoon?
Ans: The children went to the Giant’s garden to play every afternoon.
Q2. Where had the Giant gone?
Ans: The Giant went to visit his friend, Cornish Ogre who lived in Cornwall of England.
Q3. What did he do when he returned from his visit?
Ans: The Giant told the children to stop coming and playing in his garden in a very unfriendly way. He put up a notice board forbidding tree passers and built a high wall around his garden.
Q4. Why didn’t spring come to the Giant’s Garden?
Ans: The Giant was a selfish person that he did not allow the children to play in his garden. Since there were no children, the garden seemed cheerless even the birds did not come and sing. So, the spring season did not come to his garden.
Q5. When the Giant heard the linnet singing, what did he feel?
Ans: When the Giant heard the linnet singing, he felt that it was the most melodious and beautiful music in the world and believed spring returned to his garden.
Q6. What was the wonderful sight that the Giant saw in his garden?
Ans: The wonderful sight that the Giant saw in his garden was the children entering his garden through a little hole in the wall playing and sitting happily on the branches of the trees.
Q7. In one corner of the garden, it was still winter. Why was it?
Ans: In one corner of the garden it was still winter because a little boy was still standing there unable to climb up the branches of the tree.
Q8. What was the scene that made the Giant’s heart melt?
Ans: The scene of the little boy crying bitterly in the farthest corner being unable to climb up the tree made the Giant’s heart melt.
Q9. Why did the Giant have the greatest love for the little boy?
Ans: The Giant had the greatest love for the little boy because this little boy had conquered his heart when hugged and kissed him.
Q10. What was the answer of the children when the Giant asked for the little boy in the evening?
Ans: The children answered that they didn’t know anything about the little boy as he had gone away.
Q11. When did the Giant see the little boy again?
Ans: The Giant saw the little boy again in one winter morning.
Q12. What did the children find when they came to the garden that afternoon?
Ans: When the children came to the garden that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.
Answer the following questions in about 20-25 words each.
Q1. Why did the writer say that the garden of the selfish Giant was lovely?
Ans: The writer says that the garden of the selfish Giant was lovely because it had a pleasant scene with soft green grass, beautiful flowers and twelve peach trees where the birds sing melodiously.
Q2. Why did the children have no place to play?
Ans: The children did not have any place to play because the Giant told them that they could not play in his garden. As they could not play on the road, they have nowhere to play now.
Q3. What happened to the garden of the selfish Giant when the spring season came?
Ans: The garden of the Selfish Giant is still winter when the spring season comes all over the country. There were no birds and no blossoms in the garden of the selfish Giant.
Q4. What differences were there between the Giant’s garden and other places in the Autumn and Winter?
Ans: The differences between the Giant’s garden and other places in Autumn and winter were:
1. 1. The autumn gave golden fruits to every garden but to the Giant’s garden she gave none.
2. 2. The length of the winter was longer as it lasted throughout the year in the Giant’s garden.
Q5. What did the Giant see when he heard some lovely music one morning?
Ans: One morning, the Giant heard some lovely music, he saw the hail stop dancing over his head and the North wind ceased roaring. At that time a delicious perfume came to him through the open window. Ans he believed spring cane in his garden.
Answer the following questions in about 50-6- words
Q1. Why did the Giant’s heart melt when he looked out?
Ans: When the Giant looked out through the open window, he saw the children playing happily in his garden. The trees are glad to have children that they have covered with flowers, and birds chirping over. But in one corner, there was still winter. And there he saw a little boy standing and unable to climb up the tree. The tree which was still covered with frost and snow bent its branches for the little boy to climb up. But the boy was too tiny to reach the branch of the tree. On seeing this, the Giant heart melted.
Q2. What were the changes that took place when the Giant put up the little child on the branch of the tree?
Ans: The Giant felt very sad for the little child who could not climb up the branch of the tree so he helped him. Suddenly, the tree broke into blossoms. Birds came there and started singing on it. The little child hugged and kissed him lovingly. The children had brought back the spring season in the Giant’s garden. These were the changes that took place when the Giant chose to share and make friends which is pleasant and rewarding.
Write true or false
i. The Giant was selfish T
ii. Spring did not want to come to the Giant’s garden T
iii. Hail was dressed in grey and his breath was like ice T
iv. The Giant did not want to see the little boy F
v. The Giant died a peaceful death T
Fill in the blanks
i. It was a large lovely garden with soft GREEN grass.
ii. The poor children had nowhere to PLAY now.
iii. The frost PAINTED all the trees silver.
iv. “I believe spring has COME at last”.
v. The Giant lay dead under the tree, all covered with WHITE blossoms.
Match the following words to make a complete sentence.
Ans:
i. The snow—covered the grass with her white cloak.
ii. A small child—was crying bitterly.
iii. The Giant—was a selfish one.
iv. The garden—was surrounded by high walls.
v. Here and there the garden —was covered with beautiful flowers like stars.
Language work
👉 Active voice: The form of a verb which shows the importance of its subject (doer of the action) is called the Active voice.
👉 Passive voice: The form of a verb which shows the importance of its object (receiver of the action) rather than the subject is called the passive voice.
General rules to express a passive voice
✒ The passive voice is formed by using appropriate forms of the verb -be- with the third form of the main verb.
✒ The object takes the place of the subject.
✒ The subject is either left out or mentioned at the end as a mere agent of the action done.
✒ The preposition –by—is mostly used to show the subject as an agent of action. Sometimes, other prepositions like –to, with, at and in are used in place of by.
✒ Prepositions inseparable attached to the verb in the active voice are not dropped while using by.
✒ The verb does not change its tense but its form only.
Change the following sentence into the passive voice.
Q1. The Giant saw the children
Ans: The children were seen by the Giant.
Q2. The snow covered the grass.
Ans: The grass was covered by the snow.
Q3. The Autumn gave golden fruits to every garden.
Ans: Every garden was given golden fruits by the garden.
Q4. He saw a most wonderful sight.
Ans: A most wonderful sight was seen by him.
Q5. I will take you, to my garden.
Ans: You will be taken to my garden by me.
