The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant is an 1888 children’s book written by the notorious Oscar Wilde. He wrote a play entitled The Importance of Being Earnest and the novels De Profundis and The Picture of Dorian Gray. He is known for his literary contributions to a primarily adult audience. This is what makes The Selfish Giant stand out most notably. It is a children’s story not to older people. Yet what is all the more intriguing is the day and age it was written in has much to offer us. We are given a story for children that are shaped by a Christian imagination. I say this with surprise because Oscar Wilde’s life was sordid and leaves much to be desired. Notwithstanding, Wilde lived in a Christian Europe that had the biblical story before its mind. Even if you were not a Christian or were nominal at best, you still would be formed by the Bible.

In light of this I would like to pick up three parts of the story:

(1)    The fairy tale captures Christ as a child. In the early church and stretching into the wider Roman Catholic Church, Jesus Christ is often depicted as a child. The early church in the Book of Acts 3:13, 26; 4:27, 30 had used servant which broadened in interpretation to be child. In Catholic art, Jesus is held with adoration by His mother Mary. The child being an allusion to Christ here contrasts the grand heights the giant stands. A prominent biblical motif in the First Testament would include seeing giants like the Nephillim (Genesis 6:4) or Anak (Numbers 13:22) in a thoroughly negative light along with the more well-known giant named Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4).  Also, the child stands in solidarity with Christ’s own upholding of the child as a type of what we must become to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:1-4). Further, the children in the story are seen connected with Christ since He too is one of them. The child as a Christ figure points us to God’s own nature that is humble, vulnerable and meek.

(2)    The picture of the child being helped by the giant up into tree provokes the question, “Is this an innocent act by the giant or more of a sinister one that reminds us of Jesus being nailed the cross?” I believe the imagery here ought not to be pressed too far or else we make it say something beyond what is written. After all, the giant was moved out from his castle by the boy in the farthest corner of the garden. He was guided by love. The children see by this act that the giant is not wicked anymore. Something of what the giant does here enables an ice-melting change from within. The little tiny boy who could not get up in the tree, even when the tree sought to help, finds himself put in the tree by a giant that he embraces and gives a ‘giant’ kiss. The only kiss we remember in the Passion of Jesus Christ is betrayal but here it is from the child to the narcissistic hulk. What appears to be happening here is a Gospel rendering of what Christ did on the tree was God’s great act of love. Whatever else may be said about the Giant’s motives, we must be open to the child getting into the tree as what stops the crying and kisses giants, even the most selfish of them. Good news for narcissists!

(3)    Near the end of the story, the Giant (the description of being selfish has dropped out of circulation by then) finally locates the boy. Upon meeting him again, he sees the prints of nails on his hands and feet. Clearly and without ambiguity this is the Risen Christ appearing to the Giant. The Giant is enraged because of the wounds the child bears. But the child makes it clear that these are the wounds of love. From that point on, the Giant is caught up in the mystery that is Christ Jesus. Notice three things: (1) a strange awe overcomes him and he kneels at the feet of the child (2) the child smiles at the giant and receives him into his life and promises him paradise (3) the giant dies with white blossoms all over him under the tree.  

Dear reader, the One on the tree who suffered did so because He loves you. Receive the loving embrace of the Father by faith in His Son Jesus Christ the Lord today and be made whole. Amen.

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