The Secret Garden was a novel full of happiness, mystery, and a tinge of sadness, written in 1911 by Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett. She wrote about thirty five books, but was best known for Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden. The story took place in England, during the time where they didn’t have medicine. The book was about the life of Mary Lennox and Colin Craven, the main characters. Mary was a sickly, fretful, ugly girl, who lost a lot at nine years, and was sent to her uncle and had to grow up. There, she made her first friend, a common Yorkshire maid named Martha. Martha told her about a garden that no one had been in for ten years, and Mary found it and called it the secret garden. Then she met Dickon, a common moorland Yorkshire boy who was an animal charmer and also Martha’s brother, and she told him about the secret garden. After that, she found the source of a wailing in the corridors that she had heard three times already, and met Colin, a sickly, thin, and ill- tempered boy who Mary stopped him from dwelling on death and misery and darkness. They both bloomed along with the secret garden in spring. When Mary had first arrived at Misselthwaite Manor, it had been hard, but she became used to life there and even improved and thrived.
In chapter three, “Across the Moor”, Mary crossed an immense amount of land and arrived at Mistlethwaite Manor. When Mary woke up, there was food, and her companion, Mrs. Medlock, also ate, and fell asleep herself. Eventually, Mary fell asleep again, this time to the sound of rain. It was quite dark when she woke up, and the train had stopped at a station. Mary tried to stay awake while Mrs. Medlock collected her parcels, and didn’t help because in India, native servants always carried things, and it seemed proper that other people should wait on one. No one but herself and Mrs. Medlock seemed to be getting off. There was a carriage and a footman next to the platform. When the footman closed the door, Mary decided she was not going to sleep more. She looked out the window and suddenly asked Mrs. Medlock what a moor was. She replied to look out the window in ten minutes. Mary waited. Finally, Mrs. Medlock told her they arrived at the moor. There were great expanses of darkness outside. They drove on and on. Mary felt as if the ride would never end. Finally, they reached their destination. When Mary looked around at her room, she felt more contrary than she ever had in her life. Eventually, she settled in, and made more than one friend. In chapter 25, “The Curtain”, the robin and his mate cared for their eggs, and Colin and Mary explored the house. After his mate laid eggs, the robin watched Colin and Mary anxiously. He knew he didn’t need to watch Dickon, because he was like a robin without feathers and a beak. But Colin came into the garden in a thing with wheels and animal skins draped over him, and when he began to walk, the others needed to help him. Finally, he started walking by himself. But even then, he walked slowly like a cat preparing to pounce, and only walked short distances then stopped. This terrified the robin’s mate, and so the robin stopped telling her about it, thinking it might be harmful to the eggs. Then the robin remembered when he moved like Colin when learning to fly, and his mate was greatly relieved. She became interested in watching Colin, and felt dull on rainy days, because the children were not in the garden. But Colin and Mary were not dull on rainy days. One rainy morning, when Colin was bored and needed to move around, Mary told him about the hundred rooms no one went into. He immediately ordered to be brought to his chair. When they arrived at the rooms, they explored and amused themselves and looked at pictures and did their muscle exercises. When they went back to Colin’s room they were so hungry they sent polished plates downstairs, which raised much discussion. Mary noticed that a change had happened in Colin’s room. The change was that the curtain covering the picture of Colin’s mother laughing was drawn aside. Colin said he drew it aside because he felt that she was laughing because she was happy for Colin. Mary replied that he looked a lot like his mother now. Colin was happy, because that meant his father would be fond of him. The Secret Garden is a congenial novel with developed characters. As Mary changed from ugly, bored, and inactive to pretty, curious, and energetic, the reader would be unable to put the book down, and with much descriptive words helping to visualize each moment, The Secret Garden is a wonderful book. The Secret Garden is a good book for children who like happiness and mystery.
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