The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant – General Understanding Quiz

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

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Now That April’s Here
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The Snob
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Fairy Ointment
English Folktale. A strange looking man asks a nurse to help his sick wife look after their baby boy. His wife gives her some ointment to put on the baby's eyes. When she puts some of it on one of her own eyes, she learns the family’s secret.
Cinderella
French Folktale. Many of the world’s best-known children’s stories have their origins in folklore. Charles Perrault took a folktale framework that had been around since the days of the pharaohs, and added the three elements for which the story is famous today: a fairy godmother, pumpkin-carriage, and glass slippers.
The Drowned Giant
Short Story by J. G. Ballard. The body of a giant man is dehumanized because of its otherworldly size. Left to rot on a beach, it first becomes a tourist attraction and later a source of exploitation as various body parts are taken for commercial purposes or as souvenirs.

The Chosen Vessel
Short Story by Barbara Baynton. A graphic picture of the isolation and dangers faced by women living in 19th century ‘outback’ Australia. A ‘swagman’ traveling the countryside looking for work visits a woman on a farm whose husband is away. Things end badly for the woman and her baby.
The Judgment (The Verdict)
Short Story by Franz Kafka. A frail but dominating father thinks his son is trying to ease him out of their family business. After an argument over the son’s marriage plans and a mysterious friend he communicates with in Russia, the father sentences him to death for selfishness and betrayal.
Ashes for the Wind
Short Story by Hernando Téllez. A corrupt mayor and police, aided by a local informer, are systematically expelling (and presumably taking over the land of) residents who voted against the incumbent government. A man and his wife courageously, or foolishly depending on how you look at it, resist.
Some Families, Very Large
Short Story by Jose Dalisay Jr. It is Christmas, but nine-year-old Sammy’s father is more interested in gambling than celebrating it with him. Later a grieving mother, desperate for company, welcomes them into her “family”. In a moment of reflection, the three close their eyes and imagine a better life.
Miss Brill
Short Story by Katherine Mansfield. The weekly highlight for a lonely, middle-aged woman is a Sunday trip to the city park. A daydream that the park is a huge theatre performance in which she is a central character is shattered by some unkind words from her imaginary hero and heroine.