Frances Burnett - The Secret Garden
The
story is about Mary Lennox, a British girl who had lived in India until her
parents died of cholera. She goes to her uncle, who lives in Yorkshire in a
great, gloomy castle far away from other people. Left to her own, Mary explores
house and garden. She finds the old garden of her uncle`s dead wife, a hidden
garden of roses, surrounded by great walls. With a lovely country boy she meets,
she cares about the plants and animals there. During a rain period she looks
around in the house, which is so big and has so few people linving in it. She
discovers Colin, the crippled son of her uncle, living alone in a dark room,
almost forgotten. They become friends, Colin increases his will to live and
starts to move his legs and arms, and soon they see, that he is in fact not
crippled but only weak. The three children play in the secret garden and nobody
knows about Colin being healthy. When his father comes back from a journey, both
secrets are lifted, and they all are very happy.
An
impressing detail of the story is the development of Mary’s and Colin’s
character. Both are introduced as selfish, bad-tempered, ugly and lonely and
become lovely children with time, who are happy to live together.
13.07.04
