The Giant, The Giant

"The Giant" is a satirical tale about a leader and his followers, people who blindly follow him for their own positions. The main character is the Committee Secretary in a small town. Thanks to his sycophantic behavior, the reader encounters numerous hilarious scenes in the novel. The Committee Secretary wants to give the leader's name to all kindergartens, schools, and other institutions. Of course, the leader deserves to have even the main street in the city named after him, but there are no streets long enough, so neighboring villages are annexed to the city. Many buildings are demolished to make way for this street. He wants to erect a huge monument to the living leader in the center of the city, so he orders the demolition of museum buildings and other cultural and historical sites. When the sculptor finished the monument, news arrived that the leader's hand had been amputated, causing panic. The sculptor found a solution, he also amputated the hand of the monument. They invited the leader to unveil the monument himself. That's when they saw that he had been fitted with an artificial hand. They wanted to return the hand to the monument, but it ended up in the trash and was swept away by the river in a big flood. When they realized they couldn't add a hand to the monument, they decided to bury it. The burial took place at night, in secret. Representatives of the city authorities believed that the leader's monument could not be buried without appropriate speeches and a funeral march, so the burial turned into a real comedy. These are just the most striking scenes from the novel.