British Art History Exam Study Guide

The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

This fairy tale explores themes of selfishness, redemption, and the transformative power of love and generosity.

The Giant's Garden

• The children loved playing in the Giant's beautiful garden, which had soft grass, lovely flowers, and twelve peach trees.
• The birds sang sweetly, making the children exclaim, "How happy we are here!"

The Giant's Return and Selfishness

• After seven years visiting a friend, the Giant returned.
• He cruelly drove the children away, declaring his garden exclusively his own.
• He built a high wall around it and put up a notice-board, demonstrating his selfish nature.

Perpetual Winter

• With the children banished, the garden fell into a permanent winter.
• Spring, Summer, and Autumn refused to visit the Giant's selfish garden.
• Snow, Frost, the North Wind, and Hail made the garden their year-round home, creating a desolate landscape.
• The Giant couldn't understand why Spring was so late.

The Return of Spring and the Children

• One morning, the Giant heard beautiful music (a linnet singing) and realized Spring had finally arrived.
• He looked out to see a wonderful sight: children had crept through a hole in the wall.
• The trees had blossomed, birds were singing, and flowers were laughing because the children were back.
• However, in one corner, it was still winter around a small boy who couldn't reach the tree's branches.

The Giant's Redemption

• The Giant's heart melted with remorse: "How selfish I have been!"
• He decided to help the little boy and knock down the wall to make the garden the children's playground forever.
• The Giant gently helped the little boy into the tree, which immediately blossomed. The boy kissed the Giant.
• The other children, seeing the Giant was no longer wicked, returned, bringing Spring with them.
• The Giant demolished the wall and played with the children.

The Mysterious Boy

• The Giant noticed the special little boy went away and never returned for daily play.
• Years passed, the Giant grew old, always longing for his first little friend, noting, "the children are the most beautiful flowers of all."

The Final Encounter

• One winter morning, the old Giant saw the little boy under a blossoming tree in the farthest corner of the garden.
• The Giant rushed to him, but saw prints of nails on the boy's hands and feet, filling him with anger.
• The child revealed these were "the wounds of Love."
• The Giant, filled with awe, knelt before the child, asking, "Who art thou?"
• The child said, "You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise."
• Later that afternoon, the children found the Giant dead under the tree, covered in white blossoms.

"Fanny and Annie" by D.H. Lawrence

This excerpt introduces a domestic drama focusing on class, familial dynamics, and a wife's unwavering devotion amidst adversity.

Setting the Scene

• Willy Horsepool, a nineteen-year-old collier, marries his twenty-year-old wife.
• She was a cook, described as tall, fair, and quiet. He was a physically vibrant ("tight little fellow"), good worker.
• They settled in a respectable six-roomed house in Scargill Street.
• The house overlooked a valley where the mine lay.

Early Marriage and Collier's Life

• Willy immediately established himself as gaffer (master) of the house, dictating household routines.
• He instructed his wife on preparing his "pit-things" (mining clothes) and breakfast.
• He insisted on no white tablecloths for breakfast, preferring to "slobber" freely.
• His wife meticulously prepared his items for work.

Willy's Work Life and Appearance

• Willy left punctually at 5:30 am, without goodbyes.
• He returned at 4 pm, looking indescribably black from the mine dust, contrasting with his clean, fair wife.
• He refused to wash before dinner, saying, "What am I to wesh mysen for?", citing eating his "snap" (lunch) in the pit without washing.
• His appearance ("small bullet head was quite black," "mottled black" arms and hands) gave his wife a "queer sensation."
• The smell of the pit ("damp, exhausted air") lingered in the room.

Intimacy and Resilience

• His vest was black on the shoulders from water dripping in the mine.
• His wife found him frighteningly muscular when he washed, comparing him to a "vigorous animal."
• Despite the hardships, they were very happy, with Willy taking great pride in his wife.
• He spent evenings chattering, listening to the newspaper, or squatting outside greeting passers-by, content in his "sufficiency and satisfaction."

The Strike and Accident

• Less than a year into their marriage, a long strike occurred, causing financial strain.
• A year later, Willy had a severe accident in the mine, tearing his bladder.
• He raged against going to the hospital, ultimately being brought home.

Willy's Illness and Delirium

• Willy suffered intense pain for six weeks, trapped in bed.
• Doctors were unsure of his condition, despite him not losing flesh or strength.
• During a national strike, Willy, still vigorous but with "hunted fear," called for a red handkerchief, suggesting his pain was escalating.
• He began to believe the pain was real despite the doctor saying it was imaginary, saying "Canna I feel what's inside me?"
• When men outside discussed going to a football match, Willy became delirious, insisting he was going too.
• He accused his wife, "It's thee as ma'es th' peen come," and in a fit of madness, tried to attack her, shouting, "Kill her! Kill her!"
• Lucy's neighbor, Ethel Mellor, intervened. Willy eventually subsided.

The Aftermath

• Willy, ashamed, asked what he had said. His wife gently replied he "didn't know what you was saying."
• He broke down crying, and his wife comforted him, worried about his compensation if news of his delirium spread.

"The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D.H. Lawrence

This excerpt introduces the Pervin family facing financial ruin and explores their individual coping mechanisms.

Family Ruin

• The story opens with the Pervin family (three brothers Joe, Fred Henry, Malcolm, and their sister Mabel) facing financial collapse.
• Their father, a prosperous horse dealer, died heavily in debt, forcing them to sell everything, including their beloved horses. The family estate is being dismantled.
• The dining room itself "looked as if it were waiting to be done away with," reflecting their situation.

The Brothers

• The three brothers are described as fine, well-set fellows but ineffectual and lacking inner freedom due to their impending ruin.
• Joe: The eldest (33), broad, handsome, but "stupid" with "shallow and restless" eyes. He watched the horses depart with "glazed look of helplessness" and "stupor of downfall." He is engaged to a woman whose father will get him a job, making him feel his life is over, that he will be "a subject animal now."
• Fred Henry: The second brother, "erect, clean-limbed, alert," but "not master of the situations of life." He appears more controlled than Joe.
• Malcolm: The youngest (22), "the baby of the family," with a "fresh, jaunty museau."
• They discuss Mabel's future without much consideration for her feelings.

Mabel, The Sister

• Mabel: (27) described as "rather short, sullen-looking," with an "impassive fixity of her face" ("bull-dog," as her brothers called it).
• She is detached from her brothers' lives and their conversations.
• Her brothers suggest she stay with Lucy or train as a nurse, but she remains silent and unmoving.
• She is like "one condemned" amidst the unspoken tension.

The Horses

• The "cavalcade of shire horses" are being led away for exercise, marking the last time they will pass through the family's hands.
• They represent the family's lost prosperity and a way of life ending.
• Joe feels a deep connection to them, seeing them as "almost like his own body."

Impending Arrival

• The family debate Mabel's future intensifies, with Joe threatening her with homelessness if she doesn't decide soon.
• The arrival of Jack Fergusson, a young man "muffled up in overcoat and a purple woollen scarf," disrupts the tense atmosphere. He has a cold and appears tired.