The Secret Garden essays

The Secret Garden essays The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett takes place in a dreary Misselthwaite manor in England during the Victorian era. The protagonist is Mary Lennox a selfish and spoilt 11 year old. The other major characters are Master Colin Craven her sickly cousin, Dickon Sowerby the animal charmer, Master Archibald Craven her reclusive uncle, Martha Sowerby a hearty housekeeper, a dour gardener, a cheerful robin and the secret garden. The tone is melodramatic and is told in the third person omniscient. The message about life to be learned from the story is that its never too late to change, no matter how terrible, you can make the best of things. Face the problems instead of cowering from them because if your dont theyll never go away. Have a positive attitude, live life and share it with the people around. Alienating yourself is not the solution. Mary, Colin and Archibald Craven are examples of this. Mary didnt care for anything, she was so spoilt that nothing and no one meant anything to he; she was so used to everybody hating her. Colin is also spoilt and filled with ideas that hes going to die. Archibald is the coward that cant face reality or the hope for a better tomorrow. The one thing they all have in common is negatively, you get the sense that they would rather be dead and in reality its like they are because they dont care about anything. Mary is tossed around like a rag doll nobody wants; Colin is expecting to die and Master Craven runs from the possibilities of getting to know his son. In The Secret Garden there is person vs. society and person vs. her/himself. In person vs. society Mary is unloved by her parents and by most of those who she encounters. Her parents ignore her existence and leave her to the care of a hateful ayah. After her parents die she moves to live with her uncle and is greeted by Mrs. Medlock who finds her a d ...