The Selfish Giant

Trees, especially the little boy’s tree in the far corner of the garden, are perhaps the most important and prominent symbol in “The Selfish Giant.” There are 12 peach trees in the Giant’s garden, which, as the number of Jesus’s disciples, is often associated with perfection and completeness in Christianity. While the trees change throughout the seasons, they are always in bloom or fruitful when the children are near, paralleling their vibrancy and purity. Thus, the trees support the theme of Divine Providence in Nature, as the garden mirrors the morality of those within it.

The symbol of the tree also contributes to the characterization of the little boy as Christ or a Christ figure: “Tree” is a word sometimes used to reference the cross on which Christ died, making the moment the Giant helps the boy into the tree a symbolic crucifixion. The boy later reappears underneath the tree the Giant had helped him climb years before, which is now silver and gold and covered in white blossoms and fruit. This imagery, evocative of more-than-worldly purity and bountifulness, signals the Giant’s imminent entrance into paradise and the culmination of