# the Selfish Giant — Children’s Stories character guide

> the Selfish Giant in Children’s Stories by Oscar Wilde.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** the Giant, The Giant, The Selfish Giant

**First appearance:** 0002-the-selfish-giant

## Snapshot

A giant who walls his garden against the children, only to find that Spring refuses to enter, and who learns that the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.

## Who they are

The Giant returns from seven years with his friend the Cornish ogre to find children playing in his garden, and he builds a high wall and a notice board to keep them out. Winter settles permanently on his grounds while Spring blooms everywhere else, and his loneliness grows as he watches the frozen world from his window. When the children creep back through a hole in the wall, his heart begins to thaw, and his longing for the one small boy he loved becomes the story's tender center.

## In the story

### [The Nightingale and the Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/children_s_stories_se/chapters/the-nightingale-and-the-rose)

Not present in this chapter.

### [The Selfish Giant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/children_s_stories_se/chapters/the-selfish-giant)

The protagonist who transforms from selfish to kind, ultimately entering Paradise.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/children_s_stories_se/characters/selfish_giant
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/children_s_stories_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/children_s_stories_se/characters