Dickens Stories

Question 1

What is a summary of “The Selfish Giant”?

Answer 1

• a giant has a nice garden but doesn’t want anyone in it
• he puts up a sign banning kids, this makes it winter forever in his garden since spring didn’t want to come (because there were no kids)
• until the kids break in and bring joy back
• there’s one little boy who can’t reach a tree to climb so the giant goes out to help him
• spring finally came, but the little boy did not come back → the giant was sad because they bonded
• … the little boy turned out to be Jesus and invited the giant to heaven after many years

Question 2

What is a summary of “The Happy Prince”?

Answer 2

• there’s an admired statue of the happy prince
• a bird stayed the winter for her lover, but tired of her and decided to nest at the feet of the prince
• the bird noticed the prince crying because his statue is so high that he can see people’s suffering (unlike his life in the palace)
• he enlists the bird to act as his messenger to help people he sees suffering (3 nights)
• he gives them jewels, blinding himself because they’re his eyes
• the bird vows to stay with the prince for the winter to keep him company
• he gives the gold leaf from the statue to more suffering people
• it got so cold that he died, prompting the statue to break in two
• the statue was melted because it was ugly, and God brought up the bird and the prince to live happily in heaven

Question 3

What is a summary of “The Nightingale and the Rose”?

Answer 3

• a girl said she’d dance with a guy at the ball if he gave her a red rose, but he doesn’t have any in his garden
• the nightingale likes that he’s in love and goes off on a search for a red rose for him
• she finally reaches a red rose tree, but it tells her she’ll have to kill herself on one of its thorns for one to be produced
• she does so, and the guy (student) sees it and brings it to the girl
  
  • she rejects him saying that she got jewels from someone else

Question 4

What elements are juxtaposed in the stories of “The Selfish Giant” and “The Happy Prince”?

Answer 4

light and heaviness
(light, flying, purity, selflessness)
(heaviness, weighing something down, ogre/giant)

Question 5

What religious value do the stories of “The Selfish Giant” and “The Happy Prince” communicate?

Answer 5

• turns into a Christian morality tale → being selfless means being happy
  
  • value does not come from property, but from relationships with others
  • the selfish giant makes his garden die, the kids make it grow
  • the prince cries seeing others struggling, his sharing make it better and him happy → by being selfless you can benefit from friendship and the unlikeliness of your generosity which makes others happy

Question 6

What general value do the stories of “The Selfish Giant” and “The Happy Prince” communicate?

Answer 6

• moral: here are two things, distinguish them and you will be rewarded properly
  
  • need to share and help others if you have privilege
  • the moral bearing moving from the imaginative realm to the pedagogical realm → the inclusion of God and Jesus at the end of the stories
    
    • the Perrault Red Riding Hood does this too