Week 11

Oscar Wilde is an Irish author whose three most popular stories are not necessarily geared toward younger audiences like most other fairy tales, because his stories are much more grim and realistic than traditional fairy tales and all feature death. 

The Happy Prince is about a statue of a rich prince whom had died and was made into a statue that commemorated his wealth. Over the years, he had seen the true reality of his people- them being poor and struggling- and it made him feel really upset. One day, a bird, whom lost its way from the group trying to fondle love, took a break and rested under the statue, whom then asked to have his jewels stripped from himself and given to those whom needed it most throughout his village. The concept of death was shown here because the bird had died and the statue was later torn down and rebuilt. 

The Selfish Giant was about a mean giant whom lived in a large castle with beautiful garden. One day he went to visit his friend for a couple of years and came back to see a handful of kids playing in the garden. He became upset and and chased off the children but afterwards his garden started to become droopy and made him remorseful. he invited the kids back to play and his garden came back to life. The concept of death was shown in this story by an interaction that he had with a young boy struggling to get into a tree, who then died and revealed himself to be a Jesus.

The Nighttangle and the Rose is about a young male gardener who is looking for a red rose to impress the love of his life. He meets a tree who exchanges his own life for a rose, which he has waiting for the gardener. When the gardener wakes up and finds the rose, he presents it to his potential mate and is rejected because it  had came too late and had already been outdone by a gifted necklace. This tale has a much more graphic concept of death because it illustrates sacrifice/suicide.