SparkNotes: The Secret Garden: Character List The Secret Garden Plot Overview Character Analysis Mary Lennox - One of the novel's two protagonists, Mary Lennox is a ten-year-old girl who, after the death of her parents in India, is sent to live with her uncle in Yorkshire, England. Mary changes drastically over the course of The Secret Garden: she evolves from a spoiled, unloved and unloving creature to a girl who is full of spirit and surrounded by friends. She begins the book as its central character, but is later displaced by Colin. Read an in-depth analysis of Mary Lennox. Colin Craven - The other of the novel's protagonists, Colin Craven is Archibald Craven's ten-year-old son and heir. He was born shortly after the death of his mother, and his father could not bear to look at him because of his resemblance to her. It is feared that he will grow to be a hunchback like his father, and he has been treated as an invalid since his birth. Colin's childhood has been entirely bedridden, and his servants have been commanded to obey his every whim.

As a result, Colin is extremely imperious and gloomy; when we first meet him, he is certain he is going to die. By novel's end, however, he too will have undergone a transformation: he will have become a vigorous optimist, and will have won his father's love. Both his and Mary's conversions are effected by the magical properties inherent in the secret garden. Read an in-depth analysis of Colin Craven. Dickon Sowerby - Dickon is alternately described as "a common moor boy" and "a Yorkshire angel"; he is both. Two years older than Colin and Mary, Dickon has lived on Missel Moor his entire life, and has a uniquely intimate relationship with the land. He is described as looking like the god Pan (the god of ...): he has rosy cheeks, rough curly hair, and blue eyes precisely the same color as the sky over the moor; he even carries a set of pan-pipes. Like Pan, he has the power to charm both animals and people: all the creatures who come close to him are instantly tamed, and he counts a fox, a crow, and two wild squirrels among his pets.

His power to tame creatures works on Colin and Mary as well, and is one of the central causes of their wondrous transformations. He is the brother of Martha and the son of Susan. Read an in-depth analysis of Dickon Sowerby. Martha Sowerby - Mary's friend and maidservant, Martha is distinguished by her charming frankness and levelheaded approach to all aspects of life. Her simplicity and kindness are a great help to Mary upon the latter's arrival at Misselthwaite. In her very ordinariness, Martha represents the goodness of all the people of Yorkshire. Ben Weatherstaff - Ben Weatherstaff is a gruff elderly gardener who is only permitted to stay at Misselthwaite because he was a favorite of the late Mistress Craven. He introduces Mary to the robin redbreast, and helps the children keep the secret of the garden. Ben himself clandestinely tended the garden during the ten years in which it was locked, out of love and loyalty for the Mistress Craven. Although he is rather rough, Ben's essential kindness is fundamental to his character. Archibald Craven - The master of Misselthwaite Manor, who suffers from a crooked spine and general ill health.

He has been in a crushing depression ever since the death of his wife, ten years before the novel begins. Archibald spends most of his time abroad, since he wants to see neither his house nor his son, Colin, because these remind him of his late wife. At novel's end, he undergoes a change of heart after his wife comes to him in a dream. Master Craven comes to embrace his son when he realizes that this latter is in perfect health. Lilias Craven - Archibald's late wife, who died ten years before the outset of the novel. Her spirit is associated with both roses and the secret garden. Her portrait hangs in her son's room beneath a rose-colored curtain, and she is described by all who knew her as the gentlest, sweetest, and most beautiful of women. She represents an absent ideal. Susan Sowerby - The mother of Martha and Dickon (as well as of twelve other children), Susan Sowerby functions as a symbol for the concept of motherhood itself. She is all-nurturing, all-knowing, and appears dressed in a hooded blue cloak like that of the Christian Virgin Mary (the mother of Jesus Christ).

Both Mary and Colin express the wish that she were their mother; stories of her sustain each of them before their respective transformations. Mrs. Medlock - The head of the servants at Misselthwaite Manor, Mrs. Medlock is distinguished by her punctilious obedience of all of Master Craven's odd rules. Beneath her rigid exterior, she, like all the people of Yorkshire, is basically kind. She and Susan Sowerby were friends in their girlhood. Dr. Craven - Archibald's brother and Colin's uncle, he tends to Colin during the latter's illness. He is a bit stuffy and officious, and both Colin and Mary laugh at him at every opportunity. Described as a weak man, he half-hopes for Colin's death so that he might inherit Misselthwaite. More Help Dickon Sowerby in The Secret Garden Character Analysis What a Nice Young Man Dickon Sowerby, Martha's twelve-year-old brother, is basically a mensch . There's really no other word for him: He's a stand-up guy who rescues orphaned foxes and crows from drowning on the Yorkshire moors and raises them up to be his own.

He takes care of a kitchen garden to help his mother feed his many brothers and sisters, and, of course, he also steps in to help train Mary and Colin into great gardeners. He's an all-around great person who loves his homeland on the moors and seems to have a natural gift for looking after all living things—be they people, plants, or animals. Dickon may not be as central a figure in The Secret Garden as either Mary or Colin, but he's at the novel's emotional heart. When Martha first mentions Dickon to Mary, she tells Mary that "th' very birds likes him an' th' rabbits an' wild sheep an' ponies, an' th' foxes themselves" (7.22). If birds and rabbits and foxes all like Dickon, then surely we have to like him, too. Not only is Dickon gentle and kind to the living things around him, but we also get plenty of insight into the quiet, uncomplaining work that he puts in helping out his family.

When he's not working with Mary and Colin on the Secret Garden, he's out in his own garden out on the moor "planting or tending potatoes and cabbages, turnips and carrots and herbs for his mother" (24.1). Gardening turns out to be essential to Mary and Colin's health and happiness, but it's life and death for Dickon's family—without the veggies he grows, the Sowerbys "would never get on as comfortable as [they] do" (24.2). While Dickon has pretty much all of the positive traits the novel could give him, he doesn't get much of a character arc. He starts out great and he ends great—which makes him fairly two-dimensional as a character. Still, without him, neither Mary nor Colin would be able to improve their health and happiness as much as they do. Even though he isn't much older than either of them, he still acts as a kind of mentor in their search for a better life. After all, he has what they lack: a close connection to nature. Natural Religion Dickon obviously has an amazing instinct for the workings of the natural world.

And while the novel doesn't often put this natural instinct into religious terms, the connection between Dickon's love of nature and a love of God does appear here and there in the later chapters of the book. In the second-to-last chapter, when Colin feels particularly full of Magic in the Secret Garden, Dickon leads him, Mary, and Ben Weatherstaff in the Doxology, a song of praise to God. Hearing Dickon sing makes even Ben Weatherstaff admit, "I never seed no sense in th' Doxology afore […] but I may change my mind i' time" (26.37). In other words, while Dickon isn't trying to convert anyone to Christianity, the strength of his own faith and his own convictions affect everyone around him. The Secret Garden definitely doesn't have a rigid, strictly Christian message—Colin talks more about Magic than about more traditional words for God or faith—but there is an undercurrent of connection in The Secret Garden between a love of nature and a love of God. And Dickon is the character in whom this faith in both forces gets its clearest expression.

If you want to compare Frances Hodgson Burnett's real-life beliefs with what you see in this novel, go read our " Trivia " section for some notes on Frances Hodgson Burnett's interest in Christian Science and mysticism. The Secret Garden Characters | GradeSaver The Secret Garden Characters by Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden Character List These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful of their contributions and encourage you to make your own. Written by people who wish to remain anonymous Mary Lennox She is the main character and brings about change to the Craven family during the timeline of the novel. She was born in India and went to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven, after the death of her parents. She discovers the secret garden and brings happiness back to her uncle and life back to the garden. Colin Craven The son of Archibald Craven, and is perceived by characters in the book to be a cripple. However, he only has an issue with his spine and after being introduced to his mother's secret garden by his cousin Mary Lennox, he regains happiness and his father's love. Dickon Sowerby Dickon is a farm boy and grows a friendship with Mary and Colin.

He is let into the garden by Mary due to his gardening skills and helps to grow the garden back into shape. He is seemingly a love interest for Mary but this does not last long as Colin also takes a liking to Mary. Archibald Craven He is the master of the Manor and Colin's father. He has constantly mourned his wife since her death and locked up the secret garden following her death. He takes in his niece and keeps his son under constant care inside the home. He does not spend a lot of time with his son as he reminds him of his wife but reunites with his son after seeing his son in good health. Update this section! SparkNotes: The Secret Garden: Character Analysis Character Analysis Themes, Motifs, and Symbols Mary Lennox The novel begins by introducing the reader to Mary — although it would perhaps be more accurate to say it begins by introducing us to her faults.

She is described as ugly, ill-tempered, and viciously demanding; in short, she is "as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived." At the same time, however, the reader is given to understand that the source of Mary's hatefulness is not precisely in her: the blame lies with her parents—particularly her mother. Disappointed by her daughter's ugliness and sickliness, Mary's mother cruelly refuses to see her, instead leaving her in the care of a retinue of Indian servants who care nothing at all for the child. The servants must, however, obey her every whim, in this can be found the source of her imperiousness. Mary's only pleasure, even at this early point in the novel, is play-gardening: she sits beneath a tree and idly places cut flowers in mounds of sound. After the death of her parents in the cholera epidemic, she engages in the same activity at the house of the clergyman and his family. Throughout the first part of the novel, Mary remains standoffish and rude; however, the omniscient narrator consistently makes it clear that Mary is only so awful because of the wretched circumstances of her early childhood.

The reader has access to the loneliness and displacement that Mary herself is not able to express, but feels deeply. The instant her circumstances improve—that is, the instant that she arrives at Misselthwaite—Mary too begins to improve. She becomes active and interested in the world around her (in India, she was always "too hot and languid to care about anything.") The reader thereby recognizes that there is nothing innately cruel about Mistress Mary: she is a victim of her own isolation. Mary develops real affection for her maidservant, Martha Sowerby, and for the robin redbreast that lives in the secret garden. She falls thoroughly in love with Dickon, and befriends Colin and Ben Weatherstaff; in short, she becomes utterly engrossed in the world around her. The English landscape and her work in the secret garden have a miraculously restorative effect upon her: by novel's end, Mary is no longer bitter and friendless, but is instead an ordinary playful ten-year-old girl surrounded by her intimates.

So long as Mistress Mary's mind was full of disagreeable thoughts...she was a yellow-faced, sickly, bored and wretched child...When her mind gradually filled itself with robins...with springtime and with secret gardens coming alive day by day, and also with a moor boy and his "creatures," there was no room left for the disagreeable thoughts...[and so she became well and happy]. In the world of The Secret Garden (heavily influenced as it is by Christian Science and New Thought), one need only fill one's mind with positive thoughts to change one's fortunes. Divine nature, in the form of Dickon and the secret garden, makes this possible for both Mary and Colin. Colin Craven Colin is Master Craven's ten-year-old son. He was born in the same year in which Mary was born and the secret garden locked shut. Colin's father cannot bear to see him, as Colin reminds him of his late wife; the boy, because of his strange gray eyes, greatly resembles her, and was born only shortly before she died. Archibald Craven is ashamed of how sickly Colin is, and has forbidden the servants to speak of him.

Everyone fears that he will become a hunchback and die before he reaches adulthood. Colin himself hates to be looked at, because he despises the pity and morbid fascination he inspires. He refuses to leave the manor house, and spends all his time shut up in his grand gloomy room. Like Mary, he has become fantastically tyrannical, since all his servants have been instructed to obey all of his commands without question. Mary's meeting with Colin is extremely good for him, because she is bold enough (and unsympathetic enough) to contradict him when he says that he is going to become a hunchback and die an early death. It is essential he have his negative thoughts contradicted, so that positive ones may be put in their place; this is one of the central tenets of both New Thought and Christian Science. Underlying this idea is the belief that nothing truly ails Colin's body—his disease is entirely a product of his mind. The repeated description of Colin as a "hysteric" indicates that Hodgson Burnett's preoccupation with psychosomatic illness may have another source.

In 1896, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the neurologist Joseph Breuer published the Studies on Hysteria; the book was soon translated into a number of languages and gained in popularity all over the world. For Freud and Breuer, hysteria referred to a psychological disorder in which an idea or fantasy that had been repressed (made unconscious) by the mind found alternative expression in the body. While it might appear that the hysteric had an organic illness (that is, a disease of the body), Freud and Breuer maintained that its real source was in the hysteric's unconscious. For Freud, the hysteric's repressed fantasy was always sexual in nature; furthermore, he contended that the overwhelming majority of hysterics were women. Calling Colin an "hysteric" therefore feminizes him—he is weak, and frightened, and bedridden (all things a boy, presumably, should never be). Colin is positioned as Dickon's opposite: Dickon is extremely strong, masculine, and vigorous—he is of the moor, while Colin is often compared with the feminized Indian Rajah (who is described as having limp hands and being "covered with jewels").

So long as Colin shut himself up in his room and thought only of his fears and weakness ...he was a hysterical half-crazy little hypochondriac who knew nothing of the sunshine and the spring and also did not know that he could get well and could stand upon his feet if he tried to do it. When new beautiful thoughts began to push out the old hideous ones...strength poured into him like a flood. His contact with Mary and Dickon, as well as his work in the secret garden, masculinizes and redeems Colin—he becomes "as strong and as straight as any boy in Yorkshire." It also reunited him with his father, who immediately embraces his son when he finds that he is healthy. Dickon Sowerby Dickon Sowerby is, in some sense, the spirit of Missel Moor. His eyes are described as looking like "pieces of moorland sky," and he smells of "heather and grass and leaves...as if he were made of them." When the reader first encounters him, he is sitting beneath a tree charming animals with the music of his wooden pipe. This immediately conjures the image of panpipes, and serves to associate Dickon with the god Pan.

He therefore is presented as having an uncannily close relationship with the wilderness and with wild things. He tells Mary that "Sometimes I think perhaps I'm a bird, or a fox, or a squirrel... and I don't know it." Mary compares Dickon's pipe playing with the way "natives charm snakes in India." Throughout the novel, Mary and Colin perceive Dickon as thrillingly strange and exotic: like the Indian natives, he speaks a different language (his Yorkshire dialect). Also like the Indians, he is visually marked as different from Mary and Colin—his difference is one of class, however, rather than of race. Mary comments several times upon Dickon's patched clothes and rough hair, as well as on the coarse simplicity of his food. This class difference is an extremely provocative one for Mary: she is instantly drawn to Dickon, and her revelation of the garden to him is full of implicit eroticism.

It's as though she were displaying herself to him, on the one hand; on the other, it is underwritten by the extremely charged notion of "letting him inside." Mary describes him as "beautiful," and as "a Yorkshire angel": Dickon is, in some measure, above mere class distinctions, because he is the representative of divine nature. He, as much as the secret garden, is the agent of both Colin and Mary's transformations. He himself, being already ideal, does not change at all. More Help Mary Lennox (Character) - Quotes Mary Lennox (Character) Dickon : The animals tell me all their secrets. Mary : [pointing to the Robin] He wouldn't tell you my secret, would he? Dickon : About what, Miss Mary? Mary : A garden. I've stolen a garden. But it may already be dead, I don't know. Mrs. Medlock : Here's your breakfast. Mary : But I'm still in my nightgown. Mrs. Medlock : You can dress after you've eaten. Your clothes are on the chair. Mary : Who's going to dress me? Mrs. Medlock : Can't you dress yourself? Mary : Of course not.

My ayah dressed me. Mrs. Medlock : What did they do with you in India? Carry you around in a basket? Mary : How dare you speak to me with such disrespect! Mary : Are you my servant? Martha : I'm Mrs. Medlock's servant, and she's Lord Craven's, but I will be doing some upstairs housekeeping and waiting on you a bit. Mary : Waiting on me makes you my servant, then. Martha : Now, what would you like to wear? Black, black, or black? Mary : Are you blind? They're all black. And I will not be laughed at, servant. Martha : What do they wear in India? When I heard you'd be coming from there, I thought you'd be a native. Mary : [furious] A what? You thought I'd be a what? Martha : There's no need to do that. I've nothing against natives. Ben Weatherstaff : [pointing to a robin] Look at him. Cheeky little blighter. I can't think why, but he's decided to make friends with you. Mary : With me? I never had any friends before. Ben Weatherstaff : That I believe.

Martha : I've got a present for you. Me mother sent it over. [She hands Mary a skipping rope] Mary : What's it for? Martha : You've got tigers and elephants in India, but have you not got skipping ropes? Mary : [pointing to a swing] Look, there's a picture of my mother and my aunt sitting here. Dickon : They say that's how she died. Mary : My aunt? How? Colin : I'm master of this house while my father is away. Mary : Your father? He's my uncle. Nobody told me he had a son. Colin : Come here. What's your name? Colin : I'm Colin Craven. Mary : Our mothers were sisters. Twins. Colin : Twins? Nobody told me she had a twin. Fluff the pillows for me, Cousin Mary. Colin : The covers on this bed are all twisted. Mary : Well, I don't know what to do about it. I'll call Mrs. Medlock. Colin : No! She'll be mad if she finds you in here. Colin : See, that's a picture of my mother. Mary : Why do you keep it covered up?

Colin : My father doesn't like to see it. I don't look like her at all. But you, you look like her. She smiles too much. Mary : Smiles too much? How can a person smile too much? Colin : Sometimes I hate her. She died when I was born. Mary : But I thought she died falling off the swing in her garden. Colin : Her garden? What garden? Mary : Oh, just a garden. Dickon : Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Dickon , Mary : With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row. Mary : On the boat coming here, the other children used to sing that at me, but I wasn't as contrary as they were. Colin : Hair is dead. Mary : If it's dead, why does it keep growing all the time, even after you're dead? Well, maybe not your hair. You'll probably be bald. Colin : Don't be daft. I'll die before I'm ever old enough to go bald. Mary : I hate the way you talk about dying. Colin : Everyone thinks I'm going to die.

Mary : If everyone thought that about me, I still wouldn't do it. Colin : How old are you? Mary : Hey that means we're the same age. Colin : What do you say in India when you want people to go? Mary : You say, I have spoken, all depart. Ben Weatherstaff : But aren't your legs all crooked? Colin : Who says my legs are crooked? Mary : Nobody says that. Colin : Are you making this magic? Mary : No, you are. Mary : From what? Colin : [Shrugs] Everything. I've spent my whole life in this bed. Mary : Oh, stop it! I hate you! Everybody hates you! You're so selfish. You the most selfish boy there ever was! Colin : I'm not as selfish as you are! Just because I'm always ill! Mary : No on ill could scream like that! Colin : I'm going to die! Mary : What would you know about dying? Colin : My mother died! Mary : Both my parents died! Mary : Please don't send me away, I won't do any harm. Lord Craven : Harm? What harm can a child do?

Mary : [after seeing Colin and Mr. Craven hugging] Nobody wants me! Mary : You don't know anything about anything; none of you. Nothing! Mary : You, you. You daughter of a pig! Mary : You are strange. Mary Lennox : You don't like anything. Colin Craven : Yes, I do. I want you to stay here and play with me. Colin Craven : You don't even care how I won't live to grow up. Mary Lennox : Stop it. You'll live as long as I will. You just say that to make people feel sorry for you and do what you say. Colin Craven : Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare say how I won't die! Mary Lennox : Why, you're proud of it. It makes you feel important. Dickon : And Ben said he loved her, and I said, what of that? Is loving someone a reason to kill? And Ben said, how old are thee? Colin Craven : My father must've loved my mother very much. Mary Lennox : I suppose we're not old enough. There must be an awful lot we don't know.

I don't want to grow up. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Reading Guide - PenguinRandomHouse.com Questions and Topics for Discussion INTRODUCTION Mary Lennox has no one left in the world when she arrives at Misselthwaite Manor, her mysterious uncle’s enormous, drafty mansion looming on the edge of the moors. A cholera epidemic has ravaged the Indian village in which she was born, killing both her parents and the “Ayah,” or Indian servant, who cared for her. Not that being alone is new to her. Her socialite mother had no time between parties for Mary, and her father was both too ill and too occupied by his work to raise his daughter. Not long after coming to live with her uncle, Mr. Craven, Mary discovers a walled garden, neglected and in ruins. Soon she meets her servant Martha’s brother Dickon, a robust country boy nourished both by his mother’s love and by the natural surroundings of the countryside; and her tyrannical cousin Colin, whose mother died giving birth to him. So traumatized was Mr. Craven by the sudden death of his beloved wife that he effectively abandoned the infant Colin and buried the keys to the garden that she adored.

His son has grown into a self-loathing hypochondriacal child whose tantrums strike fear into the hearts of servants. The lush garden is now overgrown and all are forbidden to enter it. No one can even remember where the door is, until a robin leads Mary to its hidden key. It is in the “secret garden,” and with the help of Dickon, that Mary and Colin find the path to physical and spiritual health. Along the way the three children discover that in their imaginations—called “magic” by Colin—is the power to transform lives. While The Secret Garden is an exquisite children’s story, its timeless themes, precisely drawn characters, and taut narrative make it worthy of the serious discussion due any classic novel. It is a tale of redemption, rich with biblical symbolism and mythical associations. In Mr. Craven, his stern brother, and Mary’s parents, readers have found evidence of a fallen adult world. Consequently, Mary and Colin are physically and spiritually malnourished, and, in the words of Burnett, down-right rude. Mr. Craven’s redemption at the hands of Colin and his niece ensures the return of good rule to the ancient, gloomy house and of health to the children.

Dickon—constantly surrounded by fox, lamb, and bird—evokes St. Francis or Pan. His mother, Mrs. Sowerby, a plain-speaking Yorkshire woman, resembles the archetypal earth mother and embodies an ancient folk wisdom seen neither in Craven nor in Mary’s deceased parents. Invoking traditional nature myths, Burnett aligns the spiritual growth of Mary and Colin with the seasons. Mary arrives at Misselthwaite in winter a dour and unhealthy child. She begins her gardening in the spring, and as crocuses and daffodils push up through the warming earth, her body begins to bloom and her manners to soften. Summer sees the complete regeneration of both Mary and Colin, and by the time Craven returns to Misselthwaite in autumn, the children are harvesting the fruits of their labor—health and happiness. Finally, the overarching symbol of the book is the secret garden, a lost paradise of love and happiness—a version, perhaps, of the Garden of Eden, now reclaimed and rejuvenated.

Throughout The Secret Garden, Burnett seamlessly intertwines the elements of her craft, moving easily between the teasing narrative and dialogue that speaks to a child and the strands of dramatic development, complex characters, theme, and symbolism. Indeed, it is this extraordinary balance that makes The Secret Garden not just “one of the most original and brilliant children’s books of this century,” as Alison Lurie says in her introduction to the Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition, but also an enduring novel of ideas. ABOUT FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT Frances Eliza Hodgson was born on November 24, 1849, in Manchester, England, the third of Edwin Hodgson’s and Eliza Boond’s five children. Her father ran a prosperous firm which specialized in the trade of decorative arts for the interiors of houses. At the time, Manchester was experiencing a textile boom which infused the town with a rising middle-class, and because these families were erecting magnificent houses, Hodgson’s merchandise was in demand. The prosperity of the Hodgson family was cut short in 1854 when Edwin suffered a stroke.

Even more devastating to the family fortune was the American Civil War, which caused a cessation of cotton shipments from Southern plantations, crippling Manchester’s economy. Eliza Hodgson decided to emigrate to America, and in 1865, when Burnett was sixteen, the family settled in a small town about twenty-five miles from Knoxville, Tennessee. This move would prove instrumental in Burnett’s development as a writer. Although she had always been obsessed with storytelling and often amused her schoolmates by acting out tales of adventure and romance, the financial strain of the emigration caused her to turn to writing as a means of supplementing the family’s income. The move from industrial England to rural America was for the family a journey to the green, natural world that would become a central theme in many of Burnett’s later works, including The Secret Garden. Burnett’s first published story, “Miss Carruthers’ Engagement,” appeared in a magazine called Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1868. After the death of her mother in 1872, the family became increasingly dependent on her writing income. She accelerated her career as a popular writer and sold stories to many magazines.

In September of 1873 she married Swann Burnett, a doctor from Tennessee who was preparing to specialize in the treatment of the eye and ear. He wished to further his specialty by studying in Europe, and Burnett financed his wish, once again becoming responsible for the bulk of her family’s income. In 1874, she gave birth to her son Lionel and began work on her first major novel, The Lass o’ Lowries. The critical response was encouraging, and many reviews compared Burnett’s work to that of Charlotte Brontë and Henry James. In 1879 she published her novel Haworth, her first attempt at serious fiction. Later that same year, one of her first children’s stories appeared in St. Nicholas, a magazine in which she would publish for years to come. It is at this time that Burnett, who was constantly battling illness, acquainted herself with the philosophies of Spiritualism, Theosophy, Mind Healing, and Christian Science. These philosophies’ ideas about the healing powers of the mind became a crucial motif in much of her writing, most notably in A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and The Lost Prince.

In 1886 Little Lord Fauntleroy, the book that transformed Burnett’s life, was published. It became a runaway bestseller in America and England. While the success of the book branded Burnett a popular and romantic writer rather than a serious artist, it provided her with enough income to free her from an unhappy marriage and allow her to travel through Europe. In 1890 Burnett’s first son Lionel was diagnosed with consumption and died that same year. By 1898, Burnett and Swann divorced by mutual consent, and she leased a country house in England where she immersed herself in her passion for gardening. The estate was surrounded by several walled gardens, one of which, a rose garden, served as her outdoor workroom. It was here that the idea of The Secret Garden was born. Over the course of her life, Burnett wrote more than forty books, for both adults and children. While her adult novels are considered to be quite sentimental, her children’s books have withstood the fickleness of literary fashions. The Secret Garden, the story of how Mary Lennox and her friends find independence as they tend their garden, has been described as one of the most satisfying children’s books ever written.

Frances Hodgson Burnett died of congestive heart failure on October 29, 1924. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Mary and Colin are often described as being unpleasant and rude. Martha, in fact, says Mary is “as tyrannical as a pig” and that Colin is the “worst young newt as ever was.” Why are both of these children so ill-tempered? Whom does Burnett hold responsible for their behavior—themselves or their parents? How does this fit into one of the larger themes of the novel, that of the “fallen world of adults”? Why does Mary respond so well to Martha? What characteristics of Martha’s personality are responsible for awakening the gentleness hidden in Mary? Compare Martha’s treatment of Mary to Mary’s treatment of Colin. Does it have the same effect on Colin as it does on Mary? Upon Mary’s first encounter with Dickon, Burnett describes the boy in this way: “His speech was so quick and easy. It sounded as if he liked her and was not the least afraid she would not like him, though he was a common moor boy, in patched clothes and with a funny face and a rough, rusty-red head.

As she came closer to him she noticed that there was a clean fresh scent of heather and grass and leaves about him, almost as if he were made of them.” What is significant about this passage? Are there any particular motifs that seem to be connected specifically to Dickon? Compare Dickon’s upbringing with Mary’s and Colin’s. How is it different? Is it important, or just incidental, that Dickon is a “common moor boy” rather than a member of the “privileged class”? Could Mary and Colin have found the path to spiritual and physical healing without Dickon? Is Colin’s deceased mother’s spirit present in the book? Where and when do you sense it the most? Who does she employ as her “agents” of goodwill in the book? Misselthwaite Manor is a house of masculine rule, whether it be Mr. Craven’s or Colin’s rule. The garden, however, is a place of fertility and regrowth. This type of symbolism structures the novel. Where else is this structure manifested in the novel? In its theme of the mind’s potential for regeneration, The Secret Garden has often been considered a tribute to the “New Thought” movement, which included ideas of Christian Science and Theosophy.

How do you feel about this? Do you think that the “magic” employed by Colin was as crucial to his healing as was communion with nature and other living things? Discuss the regionalist aspects of the novel, such as the Yorkshire dialects. How do they contribute to the overarching themes of The Secret Garden? In your opinion, does Mr. Craven, after subjecting his son to years of neglect, deserve redemption? Which narrative features were employed by the author to make The Secret Garden speak to children? Why do you think this novel appeals to an adult audience as well? What makes it a classic? The Secret Garden | Frances Hodgson Burnett | Lit2Go ETC Chapter 4: “Martha” Mary awakens and meets Martha, a servant girl. Mary asks Martha to dress her, for which Martha is taken aback. Mary and Martha exchange words and Mary screams at Martha. Mary goes out to explore and learns of a secret garden. In trying to find it, she meets Ben Weatherstaff and talks about the robin that has befriended him. Chapter 5: “The Cry in the Corridor” Mary continues to look for the secret garden. Martha tells her more about it and about its history.

The master’s wife used to climb a tree and fell from it one day causing her death. After that, the master locked the garden forever. Chapter 6: “‘There Was Someone Crying—There Was!’” Mary decided to explore the mansion. She comes upon several portraits of a woman that looks just like her. She continues to hear a distant crying. When she tries to find the voice, Mrs. Medlock ushers her back to her room. Chapter 8: “The Robin Who Showed the Way” Mary continues her search for the secret garden, to no avail. Martha tells Mary that her mother is truly enchanted by the stories of the girl from India. While skipping rope down a small pathway, she discovers a hidden door which she unlocks with the key she found earlier. Inside, she finds the secret garden. Chapter 9: “The Strangest House Anyone Ever Lived In” Mary wanders about the garden. Later, she asks Martha if she has any tools to aid in gardening. Martha tells her to write a letter to Dickon to bring some tools for her. As Martha leaves, Mary hears a faint sound of someone crying.

Chapter 11: “The Nest of the Missel Thrush” Mary shows Dickon the garden and he agrees to help her take care of it. Mary admits to him that she likes him and he, inturn, admits he likes her. When she leaves to go inside, she worries that she’ll never see him again. Chapter 12: “Might I Have a Bit of Earth?” Mary tells Martha her feelings for Dickon. Mrs. Sowerby scolds Archibald for neglecting Mary, so he sends for her at once. They meet and instantly like each other. Mary tells her uncle that she would like a bit of earth to make her happy. He tells her she can have any piece of earth on the manor grounds. Dickon promises to return to the garden. Chapter 14: “A Young Rajah” Mary tells Martha about Colin who is worried that she may be fired for letting anyone near the ill son. Mary returns to Colin and they talk about positive thinking. When Master Craven and Mrs. Medlock enter the room, Colin tells them that he will see Mary any time he likes because she makes him feel well.

Chapter 15: “Nest Building” Mary talks to Colin about taking him to see the garden. Upon returning to the garden, she notices that spring has arrived and the flowers are blooming. Dickon declares that Colin will never get better as long as he only thinks of sickness and death. Chapter 16: “‘I Won’t!’ Said Mary” Martha tells Mary that Colin will be angry and throw a tantrum if she decides to see Dickon instead of visiting him in his room. Mary confronts Colin about his health saying that he isn’t dying—he’s only feeling sorry for himself. He tells her that he will banish Dickon if it happens again. Chapter 17: “A Tantrum” Mary awakens to hear Colin screaming and throwing a tantrum from inside his room. She is summoned to his room and scolds him for screaming. She tells him that she hates him and he should go on screaming forever. She then looks at his back claiming that there is nothing wrong with it. Colin realizes for the first time that his affliction is largely in his head. Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden NEXT Character Analysis Mary Lennox is a Grade-A, no-holds-barred brat.

And the thing about this analysis of Mary's character is that it doesn't take a lot of reading between the lines. We're not throwing out some wild theory about who Mary Lennox is at the beginning of The Secret Garden. Nope, Frances Hodgson Burnett comes right out and tells us in the first paragraph of the novel that Mary is: […] as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived. (1.1) It's a rare main character that the narrator of the book seems to dislike as much or more than we, the readers, do. But there you have it: Mary Lennox is the most selfish pig that has ever lived, according to her creator. So why are we reading about her? We're reading about Mary to see what might make her a less tyrannical and selfish little pig. After all, that first paragraph doesn't just tell us that Mary is so terrible to her governesses that none of them stick around for longer than three months. It also tells us that Mary's mother hadn't wanted kids, and that she basically handed baby Mary over to a string of bullied servants with the instruction to "keep the child [Mary] out of sight as much as possible" (1.1).

In other words, Mary wasn't born a self-centered monster; she became one through her neglected upbringing. So The Secret Garden is at least partly the story of a lonely, selfish girl meeting friends—Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff, the robin, and even Colin Craven—and taking care of a garden. As she gets to know other people—people who haven't been paid by her mother to keep her quiet and out of sight—she becomes less of a pig and more of an actual, generous human being. On the one hand, sure, Mary's care for the Secret Garden and especially for Colin Craven totally transforms her into a much nicer kind of character. But oddly enough, it also lessens her place in the novel overall. Mary is definitely the main character in the first thirteen chapters of The Secret Garden, before Colin makes his surprise entrance. But the second half of the book focuses primarily on Colin's efforts to learn to walk, to investigate Magic, and to reunite with his absent father. In short, once Mary stops misbehaving, the book pretty much stops paying attention to her. Maybe she should have kept those tantrums going for a little while longer.

Mistress Mary Quite Contrary Before she makes it over to Yorkshire, Mary gets a nasty nickname from another English kid living in India: Mistress Mary Quite Contrary. We chat about the specific meaning of the nursery rhyme on which this name is based in our section on " Allusions ." Check it out if you want to learn more about Queen "Bloody" Mary and her intensely morbid "garden." For now, we're just going to focus on what Mary Lennox's nickname says about her character. We've already talked (a lot, we know) about Mary's contrariness—the fact that she always seems at odds with other people, and she seems to argue a lot just to get her way. But what about the Mistress part? This implies something else super-important about Mary's character: She comes from a rich family, and she's used to being able to boss her servants around. The novel implies that, if she had grown up as part of a poor family (like the Sowerbys), she would never have been able to act out the way she does at the beginning of the novel. But Mary doesn't only come from a rich family—she comes from a rich Anglo-Indian family.

That is, her parents are British people living high and mighty in colonial India. Frances Hodgson Burnett emphasizes the fact that a lot of Mary's insults have a specifically racist edge, since she is used to throwing them at her oppressed servants. For example, Mary wants to call her nanny, "Pig! Pig! Daughter of Pigs!" because "to call a native a pig is the worst insult of all" (1.6). So Mary is doubly spoiled: she thinks she can treat people however she wants because she has lots of money and because she is a white English girl in British India. Now the novel is not at all on Mary's side in her awful behavior to her Indian servants. But the novel still demonstrates some definite prejudices about India of its own. For more on The Secret Garden and its attitudes towards India, go check out our "Themes" section. In the Words of One Direction: You Don't Know You're Beautiful. (Oh oh!) That's What Makes You Beautiful. Mary Lennox starts out the novel "the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen" (1.1), and then she ends the book "like a blush rose" (26.56).

Obviously, the thing that makes the difference in Mary's appearance—awful at the start of the book and pretty at the end of it—is all of her outdoorsy exercise. As Mary puts in physical work, she looks healthier and healthier, which does her looks a world of good. But here's the key thing: As Mary starts to get prettier, she doesn't really notice. We're told: Mary had not had time to pay much attention to her changing face. (26.58) So Mary isn't only better looking, she's also better overall. It's an important sign of how much she is improving as a person that, even though she's getting prettier, she also isn't obsessed with how she looks. Unlike Mary's mother, who was vain and shallow, Mary's prettiness comes second to who Mary is on the inside (at least, by the end of the book). For more on Mary's beautiful (but self-absorbed) mother, be sure to read up on Mrs. Lennox elsewhere in this section.

Question: Mary Lennox, Colin and Dickon are all characters in which children’s novel?
Answer: The Secret Garden