Unit 1.1: The Selfish Giant Complete Exercises

This article has all the exercises of unit 1.1 of class 11’s English, The Selfish Giant.

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. Where did the children use to play?
→ The children used to play in the Giant’s garden.

b. What did the Snow and the Frost do to the garden?
→ The snow covered the grass with its large white cloak and Frost painted all the silver trees.

c. What did the giant hear when he was lying awake in bed?
→ The giant heard beautiful music when he was lying awake in bed.

d. Why do you think spring season never came to the giant’s garden?
→ I think the spring season never came to the giant’s garden because he was cruel to the children.

e. How did the giant realize his mistake?
→ The giant realized his mistake when his garden was covered by snow and frost as he stopped children from visiting the garden.

Reference to the context

A. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

a. “How happy we were there!” they said to each other.
i. Where does ‘there’ refer to?
→ ‘There’ refers to the Giant’s garden.
ii. What does ‘they’ refer to?
→ ‘They’ refers to the children who used to play in the Giant’s garden.
iii. Why are they saying so?
→ They are saying so because they aren’t allowed to play in the giant’s garden anymore as the giant had chased them out of his 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 speaker is the Giant.
ii. Who is he speaking to?
→ He is speaking to himself.
iii. Who are ‘the children“ that the speaker is referring to?
→ ‘The Children’ that the speaker is referring to are the small and innocent school kids who used to play in the Giant’s garden.
iv. Why is the speaker saying that ‘the children are the ……’?
→ The speaker says ‘children are the most……..’ because the children bring joy and happiness in the garden as like the flowers.

c. When the little child smiled at the Giant, and said to him, “You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise,” shortly afterward, the happy giant dies. What is the coincidence of this event? Describe it in relation to this fairy story.
→ The coincidence of this event once, the giant let the little child play in his garden and make him happy and today the same child wants to take him to his garden paradise to make him happy in return, which means the final time of the giant has come and the little child is a messenger/ fairy who wants him to the heaven because of his noble works.

B. The story makes use of personification as one of the main figures of speech. Cite three examples of personification from the story. What is the significance of the seasons personified in the story?

→ The practice of representing the objects, qualities, etc. as the human beings in art and literature is called personification. Three examples of personification from the story are the beautiful little flowers that slip back into the garden after seeing the notice board, the snow, and the frost that says that the spring has forgotten this garden.

The story has the significance of the seasons personified. In the beginning, the seasons bless the garden with pleasant weather until the Giant sends the children away from his garden. Because of the Giant’s unkindness to the children, the spring season leaves the garden. The season’s disfavor indicates that the Giant’s selfishness goes against the natural order and thus deserves punishment. Thus the significance of the season’s personification is to show that if someone does badly then he/she will deserve the bad.

C. This story can be read as a fairy story, where the children, the seasons, the tree, the corner of the garden, the snow, the wind, and the frost are all used as symbolism. Interpret those symbols.

→ The story ‘The Selfish Giant’ is a fairy tale. Here, the children symbolize innocence, love, compassion, and blessings. Likewise, the seasons represent life and death. The tree symbolizes patience and hope. The corner of the garden depicts paradise. Finally, the snow, the wind, and the frost symbolize pain, suffering, and discomfort.

D. Which figure of speech is used for ‘winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail and little child’? Who is the little child compared to?

→ As a fairy tale, the story is full of figures of speech. The figure of speech is used for ‘winter, frost, snow, north wind, hail and little child’ is personification. The little child is compared to the God Almighty (Paradise).

Reference beyond the text

a. What is the main theme of the story “The Selfish Giant”?
→ The main theme of this story is selfishness and love. It is the story of the transformation of a selfish giant into a selfless giant. At the beginning of the story, the giant was very selfish and wicked towards the children and he closes the gate of the beautiful garden for them. But later he realizes his mistake when the children stop coming to the garden and the garden never experiences the spring season until and unless he allows them to play in his garden. At this point, he realizes the meaning of love and sharing. This story is very much relatable to the nature of human beings. We hardly share our belongings with anyone if somebody is needy and we are selfish too. This story teaches us to share love and compassion to get love in return.

b. Does God punish those who are cruel to children and very selfish?
→ Yes, God punishes those who are cruel to children and very selfish. As in the story, Giant has really been so cruel to the children and selfish and he didn’t let them play on the garden because of which spring never came in his garden. In the absence of children birds also did not sing. Once a flower bloomed out of the grass but after seeing the notice board, it also went back to sleep. Then came the North Wind and the hailstorm. Due to the giant’s selfishness, autumn’s golden fruits also did not come to his garden. In this way god punishes to those who are cruel to children and very selfish.

If you have any confusion, feel free to drop a comment down below. In the meantime, you can read these articles.

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