Son Of The Secret Gardener

Author : Frances Hodgson Burnett
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781793082275
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (822 download)

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Download or read book The Secret Garden (Annotated) written by Frances Hodgson Burnett and published by . This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Secret Garden opens by introducing us to Mary Lennox, a sickly, foultempered,unsightly little girl who loves no one and whom no one loves. At theoutset of the story, she is living in India with her parents--a dashing armycaptain and his frivolous, beautiful wife--but is rarely permitted to see them.They have placed her under the constant care of a number of native servants, asthey find her too hideous and tiresome to look after. Mary's circumstances arecast into complete upheaval when an outbreak of cholera devastates the Lennoxhousehold, leaving no one alive but herself.She is found by a group of soldiers and, after briefly living with an Englishclergyman and his family, Mary is sent to live in Yorkshire with her maternaluncle, Archibald Craven. Misselthwaite Manor is a sprawling old estate withover one hundred rooms, all of which have been shut up by Archibald Craven. Aman whom everyone describes as "a miserable hunchback," Master Craven hasbeen in a state of inconsolable grief ever since the death of his wife ten yearsbefore the novel begins. Shortly after arriving at Misselthwaite, Mary hearsabout a secret garden from Martha Sowerby, her good-natured Yorkshiremaidservant. This garden belonged to the late Mistress Craven; after her death,Archibald locked the garden door and buried the key beneath the earth.Mary becomes intensely curious about the secret garden, and determines to findit. This curiosity, along with the vigorous exercise she takes on the moor, beginsto have an extremely positive effect upon Mary. She almost immediately becomesless sickly, more engaged with the world, and less foul-tempered. This change isaided by Ben Weatherstaff, a brusque but kindly old gardener, and a robinredbreast who lives in the secret garden. She begins to count these two "people,"along with Martha, Dickon Sowerby, and Susan Sowerby, as the friends she hashad in her life. Her curiosity is whetted when she hears strange, far-off criescoming from one of the manor's distant rooms.However, Mrs. Medlock, the head of the servants at Misselthwaite, absolutelyforbids her to seek out the source of the cries. She is distracted from this mysterywhen she discovers, with the robin's help, the key to the secret garden. Sheimmediately sets about working there, so that the neglected plants might thrive.Dickon, who brings her a set of gardening tools and promises to help her bringthe secret garden back to life, vastly aids her in her endeavor. Dickon is a boywho can charm the animals of the moor "the way snake charmers charm snakesin India." He is only a common moor boy, but he is filled with so much uncannywisdom that Mary comes to refer to him as "the Yorkshire angel."One night, Mary hears the distant cries and, flagrantly disobeying Mrs.Medlock's prohibition, goes off in search of their source. She finds Colin Craven,Master Craven's invalid son, shut up in an opulent bedchamber. Colin was bornshortly before his mother's death, and his father cannot bear to look at himbecause the boy painfully reminds him of his late wife. Colin has been bedriddensince his birth, and it is believed that he will become a hunchback and die anearly death. His servants have been commanded to obey his every whim, andColin has become fantastically spoiled and imperious as a result. Colin andMary strike up a friendship, but Colin becomes furious when she fails to visithim because she prefers to garden with Dickon. That night, Colin throws one ofthe infamous tantrums. Mary rushes to his room in a fury and commands him tostop crying. He tells her that his back is beginning to show a hunch; when Maryexamines him, she finds nothing whatever the matter with him. Henceforth, shewill maintain that Colin's illness is only in his mind: he will be well if only hemakes up his mind to be.