Unveiling the Implicit Meanings in “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde

Abstract

This analytical research article presents the ideas against the conventional ways of teaching and claims that literary texts should be taught deeply by going beyond the text. Teaching only the literal aspects of the text violates its connection to the multiple meanings of the text. In fact, literature is the reflection of the human society and it is not just the source of learning language. A literary writer uses figures of speech to carry out his/her intended meaning in the text. So, the main message of the writer is the core aspect in a piece of literature that the readers should obtain. In this sense, the main aspect of this article is that the learners should be able to cope up with the figures of speech mentioned in the text to trace the intended meaning. Teaching and learning only the literal meaning do not provide justice to the writer and the text. The teachers and learners should even go beyond the text to trace the real meaning of the text. In this article I have taken the folktale "The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde to justify my ideas regarding teaching and learning a literary text. It is a qualitative research article. The events, setting, character, title, etc. in the story were taken as the primary sources of the study. Similarly, the textbook, journals, articles and criticism regarding the research text were taken as the secondary sources for the study. As a qualitative research article, analysis, explanation, interpretation and description were taken as the major tools for the interpretation and analysis of the data. By analyzing and interpretating the data, it was found that the text literally presents story of a giant and children. But analyzing the story in connection of figure of speech, symbols, and characters and so on, it was found that the intended meaning of the text is about humane instincts, morality, spiritualism, cooperation and the other aspects of human life.