The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Anyone else feeling nostalgic for a green copy with Mary on the front? I swear this makes it look like a guide to gardening rather than a children’s classic.

As is the case with many classics, The Secret Garden is hard reading.  In addition to the generally complex vocabulary by page nineteen, you’ve got characters speaking in a full Yorkshire accent, which is hard enough to follow are an adult.  Once I made the mistake of trying to read it aloud to my first grade class.  I found myself engaged in a crazy whirlwind of nearly simultaneous translation from Burnett to kidlet.  They were heart-broken when I stopped, but it simply wasn’t feasible to continue. Interestingly enough, I’ve never known of my students being upset by the amount of death and illness in this book.

Just in case you’re unfamiliar with the story, Mistress Mary Lennox has grown up in India, where she was much spoiled and ignored.  When her parents die in a cholera epidemic, she is sent to England to live in a country she has never seen, with an uncle she has never known.  She is ugly and poor tempered and not much disposed to liking anything.  Her world is completely changed, but it is not long before Mary changes as well.  All that fresh Yorkshire air and those hearty Yorkshire folk help transform her into a sturdy, spirited, industrious girl.  And once she has changed, she can’t help but to want to improve other things, like a certain garden she has discovered, or an incredibly spoiled hypochondriac she’s happened upon.

The Secret Garden held up well to my reading it as an adult, although after a bit it does sound a bit evangelical with all it’s talk of Magic and nature.  It seems part guide to child rearing and part religious statement on nature and God. I still believe it is appealing for children, but again, it’s a quite difficult book and for readers who struggle with the text it will be very boring indeed.  I would say an advanced fourth grader might manage it, but more likely a fifth or sixth grade reader.  Also, while most of the story kept my attention fairly well, because there is a fair amount of action even in the nature descriptions, as it gets towards the end, it’s less interesting.  This is in part due to Colin and Mary’s obsession with “Magic.”  But the actual end of the book is quite a let down.  There’s a mind-numbingly dull chapter about Mr. Archibald Craven and his travels and deep abiding sadness.  And then when he arrives home, the book talks only of his reunion with Colin.  It’s very disconcerting for the reader who has followed Mary faithfully from India to have her and Dickon (remember Dickon?) shoved out of the way with not a word about either.

General Considerations – Beginning in colonial India, the first chapters show the British being waited on by Indian servants. There are some descriptions of the servant’s “dark faces” or that they look “ashy and scared”. Once Mary’s in England she notes the difference between Indian servants and English servants, remember that the Indian servants were obsequious and servile and there was no need to be polite to them. Martha, a housemaid refers to Indians as “blacks”. Mary counters with the fact that they are “not people -they’re servants.” Others refer to the Indians as “heathen”.

There are also places in the book where male characters say that “girls don’t know anything” . Also, (and I’m sure most who read this as a child remember this) Archibald Craven is a “hunchback” a fact which seems to be part of why people say he’s awful. Mary’s looks are constantly condemned (often in front of her). Colin is referred to as a cripple.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A bird is accused of courting and told he is too forward. Mary says Dickon is beautiful.
Profanity – “dang me,” “danged,” “jackasses,”
Death, Violence and Gore – Illness (cholera) breaks out in India.  Many die, including Mary’s parents and her nurse.  The wailing of the grieving loved ones is heard. Archibald Craven’s wife died, evidently from a fall, which is a bit disconcerting, because it seems so unusual. Mary used to slap her Ayah when she was displeased with her. Mrs. Medlock threatens to box Mary’s ears. Mrs. Medlock’s husband died a long time ago. Colin hates his mother for dying sometimes. Mary believes a young Rajah she once saw would have had people killed if they disobeyed him.  Dickon finds a lamb beside its dead mother.  Someone suggests that “a good hiding” would improve Colin.  Someone tells Mary she deserves a hiding.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Mary drinks a glass of wine that she finds abandoned on the table, because she is thirsty and has no other options.  Ben mentions a man who is a “drunken brute” and who got “drunk as lord” and beat his wife.  Ben drinks from a beer mug.
Frightening or Intense Things – Mary is completely abandoned in India.  Her parents die and many servants leave without thinking of her.  She is alone in the house when discovered.  There’s sort of an ongoing situation where Colin believes he will die.