The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was first published in 1910, tells a unique story about a 10 year old little girl Mary Lennox. The story goes through the transformation of main character Mary, Colin and the locked secret garden. Burnett uses many symbols during the process of these transformations. The power of nature is also presented as a magic in the story. The novel uses symbols to present different motifs like parallel lives of Mary and Colin, magic and secret.

The character Mary and Colin both have parallel lives. Both of the characters have many similarities: they are both ten years old,; they have both passed sickly, neglected childhoods and both have been neglected by the parents who should be raising them and looked after by servants. Both Mary and Colin have waxen and stoney skin because nobody take care for them since their birth. But this stony skin is not remained until the end of novel because they transfer into happy and healthy child in the last. In the beginning of the novel Mary looks ugly, ill-tempered, bored and wretched child. Her mind is full of disagreeable thoughts. During the quest in search of a garden that has been locked away for 10 years, after her Uncle Craven’s wife died there she transforms into a child who is kind and happy. Author says that “When her mind gradually filled itself with robins… with springtime and with secret gardens …. there was no room left for the disagreeable thoughts... [and so she became well and happy]”(Burnett 56). During this quest she becomes friend of Dickon and colin. Making new friends healed her body and helped her become a real child because she spend most of her time in playing with Colin and...

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...he robin become even more alike because both are cheerful, beautiful, and good-natured. This shows that the robin helped Mary feel happy, like a normal child, instead of strange and cross.

In the end the novel “The Secret Garden” is a children’s book with lots of magic and interesting ideas. The whole story is moving around the transformation of characters and garden. Burnett very intelligently use different symbols and magic to support the transformation of the story. It’s a combination of events with the help of different characters that bring this story to its conclusion. But it all starts with Mary’s arrival to the manor and her curiosity about the secret garden. Mary was used to being served and being alone, neglected by her parents she becomes bitter

Works Cited

Burnett,Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. United Kingdom: London. 1911. Print