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Can you provide a character analysis of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett?
Quick answer:
In The Secret Garden, Mary Lennox and Colin Craven are central characters who transform through love and nature. Initially, Mary is bitter due to neglect, but she changes as she connects with the garden and friends. Colin, believing he is destined for illness, discovers with Mary's help that he can walk, symbolizing hope and change. Dickon, a symbol of self-sufficiency, aids in their transformation, ultimately inspiring Colin's father to reconnect with the world.
The Secret Garden is largely concerned with two dynamic characters
who undergo incredible transformations through the power of love and nurturing.
Mary and Colin represent profound change through connection. At the beginning
of the story, Mary is a bitter and spiteful young girl, having been subjected
to horrible neglect throughout her entire life. As she begins to play in the
gardens and make new friends, however, her spirits begin to lift.
The power of love is shown when Mary channels the affection she has received toward Colin. Colin has been sad and sickly throughout his entire life, believing that he is destined to be ill forever and simply spend his life waiting to die. However, with the help of Mary and her friends, Colin realizes he can walk after all. At the end of the story, it is implied that Colin will use the love that Mary showed him to...
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help heal his father's sadness, continuing the cycle of sharing love.
My favorite childhood book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a book about hope and the healing power of nature and love. The three main characters, Mary, Colin and Dickon illustrate what the author believes. Mary, an orphan sent to live with her uncle, and Colin, the uncle's sickly son, are both lonely children. Mary begins to come alive when the robin helps her discover the hidden garden. Restoring nature helps her to restore herself and her belief that people can change and be positive. She discovers Colin and convinces him that his illness is only because he hides himself from his father and his loneliness in his bed. She and Dickon, the housemaid's younger brother who has helped her in transforming the garden and herself, begin the task of transforming Colin. Dickon is a self sufficient young man convinced that he can do anything and feeds that confidence to both Mary and Colin. The transformation of the children and the garden leads the uncle to end his isolation also and rejoin the world.