Socialism In Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant

Wilde himself was a rather religious man. This was shown in many of his writings. He displayed this aspect of his life in his works like “The Selfish Giant.” The giant in the story is a very religious man. This is also a little ironic because the giant is a large, intimidating figure. However, we see that he has a soft side like everyone us. The giant’s faith allows him to reunite with his lost friend, the boy. This, in a way, is Wilde’s way of asking for forgiveness for the bad things that he has done in his life. This is evident because the giant himself received forgiveness and got what he wanted. This is yet another example of Wilde expressing some of his own thoughts and desires throughout his writings. His worries, too, are shared with his readers. Wilde was a firm believer in the Christian set of morals. He also thought that if one acted with proper Christian behavior, then that person would be rewarded for his or her actions. This was especially the case when it came to the afterlife. For him, Christian morals meant some sort of happiness after death.

Wilde loved to use love to rid sin committed by the characters that he shows us. He often shows this in the idea of separation and reuniting. This is not only in terms of literal separation, but also a spiritual separation from the Lord. His main message is that God forgives (Kohl 391-393).
Another of Wilde’s literary techniques is that of satire. This, however, was not uncommon among his contemporary colleagues. Wilde typically used some sort of sarcastic attitude in his works. At times his readers would be left guessing whether or not he was actually serious in his words. This is used in his An Ideal Husband. This is one of his ways of working some light humor into his writings. This is no sort of childish humor; instead, it is more of a mature, educated style of bringing the aforementioned humor into his creations. In reality, it is meant to be understood primarily by the mature themselves (Gregor 506).
Unlike many of his peers, Wilde supported the idea of equality no matter what the argument was about, whether it is gender, race, religion, or anything else. Stereotypes were evil to him. Much like in his idea of social purity, Wilde saw separate ideals for men and women as useless. They only discriminated and slowed down productivity. Also, it was bound to change some time with the increasing amount of liberal groups such as feminists. Social class was also another area in society that was imperfect. These classes were widely divided. Wilde believed that a person’s economic situation was ultimately irrelevant when it came to the quality of the person. To combat this, Wilde used the dandy as a character often of the lower class who had the mannerisms and the appearance of an upperclassman. This was his very own way of showing everybody that the economic situation of a person does not at all determine the kind of person that he or she is. Wilde was able to recognize the true values of life when most of society could not. So, in the works of Wilde, such as An Ideal Husband, there is a strong emphasis on the insignificance of one’s social class. One’s moral ideals and behavior are a priority and those things are exactly what make him or her pure. This is the case not only when determining who in the family has what role, but also in political affairs. He thought that men should not have any more of a say than women (Dellamora 304).
The idea of the economy played a large role in Wilde’s writings. This was not only the case for his beliefs that everyone is equal despite the economic situations of some. He saw the economy as something that is all about maximizing pleasure. The economy prompts us to buy and sell. These things allow people to build themselves. Many viewed economic status to have a connection to who they were. Building oneself economically gave a person a sense of achievement and this gave them pleasure. In fact, Wilde saw that there were many people who believed that money was the whole point of life. Socialism in Wilde’s eyes was, according to Richard Dellamora, “the motor of change in relations between sexes” (304). Wilde believed that socialism was a way for man to truly achieve individualism (Alexander 79).
Authors very frequently use politics as a large part of their writings.

In Wilde’s case, socialism has a lot to do with writing. He believes and shows is his works that people are sometimes disconnected from society. Socialism itself brings competition between people everywhere. This divides them even further. People begin to grow against each other instead of with each other. Wilde shares these thoughts with his readers in works such as his essay “The Soul of Man under Socialism.” Wilde saw cooperation as a necessity in society. This was something that was also something that must be for the sake of the economy. It was only healthy for some people to come together. This was, in Wilde’s eyes, the only way for people and industries to recognize their big flaws. This would, in the end, benefit society socially and industrially. His goal was not just to help individuals, but virtually everyone (Dellamora

304-305).