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    • The Secret Garden | Frances Hodgson Burnett | Lit2Go ETC
      • The book tells the story of Mary Lennox, a spoiled, contrary, solitary child raised in India but sent to live in her uncle’s manor in Yorkshire after her parents' death. She is left to herself by her uncle, Mr. Craven, who travels often to escape the memory of his deceased wife. The only person who has time for Mary is her chambermaid, Martha.
      etc.usf.edu/lit2go/163/the-secret-garden/
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  2. Shortly after arriving at Misselthwaite, Mary hears about a secret garden from Martha Sowerby, her good-natured Yorkshire maidservant. This garden belonged to the late Mistress Craven; after her death, Archibald locked the garden door and buried the key beneath the earth.

    • Character List

      The Secret Garden characters include: Mary Lennox, Colin...

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    The Secret Garden, novel for children written by American author Frances Hodgson Burnett and published in book form in 1911 (having previously been serialized in The American Magazine). The pastoral story of self-healing became a classic of children’s literature and is considered to be among Burnett’s best work.

    The novel centres on Mary Lennox, who is living in India with her wealthy British family. She is a selfish and disagreeable 10-year-old girl who has been spoiled by her servants and neglected by her unloving parents. When a cholera epidemic kills her parents and the servants, Mary is orphaned. After a brief stay with the family of an English clergyman, she is sent to England to live with a widowed uncle, Archibald Craven, at his huge Yorkshire estate, Misselthwaite Manor. Her uncle is rarely at Misselthwaite, however. Mary is brought to the estate by the head housekeeper, the fastidious Mrs. Medlock, who shuts her into a room and tells her not to explore the house.

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    Mary is put off when she finds that the chambermaid, Martha, is not as servile as the servants in India. But she is intrigued by Martha’s stories about her own family, particularly those about her 12-year-old brother, Dickon, who has a nearly magical way with animals. When Martha mentions the late Mrs. Craven’s walled garden, which was locked 10 years earlier by the uncle upon his wife’s death, Mary is determined to find it. She spends the next few weeks wandering the grounds and talking to the elderly gardener, Ben Weatherstaff. One day, while following a friendly robin, Mary discovers an old key that she thinks may open the locked garden. Shortly thereafter, she spots the door in the garden wall, and she lets herself into the secret garden. She finds that it is overgrown with dormant rose bushes and vines (it is winter), but she spots some green shoots, and she begins clearing and weeding in that area.

    This tale of transformation is an exaltation of nature and its effects on the human spirit. The physical and spiritual healing that Mary and Colin experience in the garden is mirrored in the seasons: it is winter when Mary discovers the garden; they begin working in spring and fully recover in summer; and Archibald Craven returns to find his son and the garden both healthy in the fall. In addition, Burnett’s interest in the theories of Christian Science and theosophy are reflected in the way that the children are healed, not only through contact with nature and with each other but also through positive thinking.

    The Secret Garden was adapted for screen, television, and stage. The British Broadcasting Corporation aired three popular television adaptations (1952, 1960, and 1975). Notable film versions were produced in 1949 and in 1993 (with Maggie Smith as Mrs. Medlock), and the story was performed as a Broadway musical (1991–93).

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  3. Lilias Craven died after an accident in the garden ten years previously, and the devastated Archibald locked the garden and buried the key. Mary becomes interested in finding the secret hidden garden herself, and her ill manners begin to soften as a result.

  4. “The Secret Garden” is a classic novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett that was first published in 1911. The novel tells the story of Mary Lennox, a young girl who is sent to live with her uncle in England after her parents die in India.

  5. A cholera outbreak claims the lives of her parents, leaving Mary orphaned and sent to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven, in England. Upon her arrival at Misselthwaite Manor, Mary discovers a mysterious and neglected garden, locked away and forgotten.

  6. One day, Ben talks to Mary about roses he used to care for a young woman and tells Mary how to tell if roses are alive. Mary skips away and finds Dickon sitting in the woods. She reveals her secret garden to Dickon, who promises to keep the secret, and they weed and prune for several hours. After lunch, Mr. Craven summons Mary for the first time.

  7. Mar 18, 2013 · In the forgotten rose garden lovingly tended by his son and niece, Craven realises for the first time that Colin is neither crippled nor doomed to an early death. By showing a young female healer curing hysterical males, Burnett inverted the gender politics of the rest cure.

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