The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson
Burnett describes Mary Lennox who lives in India. She is a miserable and unattractive
girl. Cared for by servants because her mother ignores her, Mary is a bossy,
self-centered and wretched nine-year old.
Mary's life
drastically changes when cholera breaks out. Her parents and many in the household die.
Few people know of her existence, so she fends for herself until she is found; she stays
with an English "clergyman" and his family (and she isn't nice to them). Eventually she
is sent to live in England.
Mary arrives at gloomy
Misselthwaite Manor. When she tries to order one of the servants, Martha Sowerby, Mary
has met her match: Martha will not give in to Mary's whims. She is amazed that Mary
can't even dress herself—but Martha will not do it for her. Martha believes that Mary
can learn to take care of herself and become more independent. Soon Mary and Martha come
to an understanding.
It is from Martha that Mary learns of
the secret garden that no one enters. It was here that Mary's uncle, Archibald Craven,
once spent long hours with his wife. However, it has been shut for ten years, and with
this mystery, Mary begins to search. In searching for the garden, she will come to find
herself. Through Martha, Mary meets Dickon (Martha's brother), a boy who loves
animals. Mary begins to thrive.
Mary runs into the
gardener, Ben Weatherstaff, who though initially unfriendly, finds Mary acceptable when
a robin in the garden takes a liking to her. He is reticent to speak of the garden, but
admits that Mrs. Craven even cared for her flowers. When a tree
branch broke, she fell and soon died; and although Ben promised to care for the garden,
Craven refuses. The door is locked, the key buried and no one speaks of it. Craven is
destroyed by his wife's death.
Mary searches for the
garden. At night she hears a voice crying, but is told it's "the wind." Spring comes and
Mary is out in the gardens each day. The robin leads Mary to find a key, and when ivy
moves with the wind, a door is revealed: the key opens the door and Mary enters the
secret garden. The garden is a mess, but Ben, unaware of her discovery, tells her how to
care for roses. She finally meets her uncle who gives her permission to garden anywhere
she chooses.
That night, during a storm, she hears a crying
child. Mary finds Colin, her cousin, bedridden and lonely. He acts as Mary did when
she arrived. His father will not visit him because he looks so much
like his mother. The doctor, Craven's cousin, will inherit if Colin dies, so he does
little to help Colin, but a London doctor says Colin is fine. Mary tells Colin about a
secret garden and Dickon, and Colin begins to improve. When Mary learns that Colin fears
an early death, she convinces him that he can walk and be well if he will try. Mary and
Dickon take Colin to the garden. Over time, Colin walks, and the children become great
friends. They keep the garden a secret—when Ben finds them, Colin orders him to do the
same.
One day, in a foreign place, Colin's father dreams of
Lilias, his dead wife, who says she is in the garden. His heart lightens. Dickon's mom
(who knows their secret) writes and urges Craven to come home. When he does, he visits
the garden first, and as the door opens, a healthy boy runs into him: both Colin and his
dad are amazed to see how each has changed. Colin welcomes his father into the garden as
they rediscover each other—in the garden the children have
resurrected.
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