By: Abeeha Shahid
With a movie adaptation coming out in August 2020, it's only fair to revisit the children’s classic The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson. Written in 1911, it is a book about friendship, death, self-healing, disability and gardening.
Though this is not the only time the story will be brought to screen as it has been adapted for screen, television and stage. The British Broadcasting Corporation aired three popular television adaptations (1952, 1960, and 1975). The most notable film versions were produced in 1946 and in 1993 and the story was performed as a Broadway musical (1991- 1993).
Mary Lennox is a spoiled and cranky child living in India, whom her wealthy parents are more than happy to leave in the care of her nanny. But when a cholera epidemic claims the lives of her mother and father, Mary is sent to live in her uncle's 600-year-old gloomy and secretive estate in Yorkshire, England.
Stuck in a mansion with nothing to do other than talking to her chamber maid Martha, she swiftly becomes even more disagreeable. Her mood, however, brightens as Martha tells her a story about a secret garden hidden in the grounds, locked for ten years, ever since Mary’s aunt passed away. Her grieving uncle hid the key and forbade anyone to enter, ever again.
Driven by curiosity and boredom, Mary finds the key and discovers that it opens the lock of an ivy-covered door, which swings open to a new secret world. Along the way Mary finds friends in her cousin, Colin who is left bedridden due to his sickness and the animal-whisperer Dickon.
Mary and Colin both are introduced as unpleasant children but it’s fascinating to see how their character blossoms from them being sullen to sweet and kind hearted. The physical and spiritual healing that Mary and Colin experience in the garden is mirrored in the seasons ; it’s winter when Mary first discovers the garden , it's spring when they begin working on it and it’s summer when it’s fully recovered and they bloom with the flowers.
There are various themes intricately woven into the prose, one of them being abandonment. Mary and Colin are both left alone to themselves by their parents during important periods of their childhood and the effect of this isolation is portrayed in their sour personalities.
Another theme is that the way to finding happiness is not to wait for it but rather trying to find it yourself. Mary learns that for her to find a way out of her misery she must look for her own adventures and must be willing to be happy in order to find joy. Furthermore, the book contains the idea that imagination and positive thinking have the real and tangible power to transform life.
However it does include some racist ideas about class and Indian people. Indians are referred to as “natives” and Mary expresses anger at being compared to them. She takes an unkind and superior attitude towards her servants and loses her temper and slaps her Ayah.
Overall, The Secret Garden is a book full of beautiful imagery and descriptions. The description of the time Mary discovered the secret garden and looks at it for the first time leaves a lasting impact and paints a vivid image. It's a good read for people looking to enjoy a wholesome book about nature and friendship.
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