BookTalk.org

The Secret Garden: Chapters 13, 14 and 15

Please use this thread for discussing Chapters 13, 14 and 15 of "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. You may also create your own threads if you'd like to make comments that don't necessarily pertain to specific chapters.

Chapter 13 http://www.online-literature.com/burnet ... garden/13/

Chapter 14 http://www.online-literature.com/burnet ... garden/14/

Chapter 15 http://www.online-literature.com/burnet ... garden/15/

I've read up to chapter 14. It's a pleasant book.
I don't really have any comments, as everything seems so transparent, so I'll just write a few remarks.

Mr Craven is a stereotype, one of those many absentee upper-class British fathers and uncles in literature.
Martha and her family are almost too nice to be true. It seems that the good people in the book really Are good. Is this typical of children's literature?
You could almost say the author idealizes the poor: happy loving family, living in a very clean cottage. The daughter, Martha, is delighted to spend her one free day per month helping her mother with the washing and baking.
By the way, did servants really only have one day off per month? That's not what I remember from other books.
Anyway, it's not overdone, it doen't become irritating, and of course it's necessary for Mary's development.

happy loving family, living in a very clean cottage.

I noticed a few times the emphasis on cleaniness . Martha's mom keeps a clean house, and Dickon is a clean boy. Goodness and cleaniness, neatness and tidiness. And Dickon is so good and the family is so happy despite having 14 of them living in one house. I've read this book before, my kids loved it, and I'll admit it does make me smile, but it also gets a little dull. There are no surprises here. Maybe I am becoming irritated, but it might be because reading it is bringing back memories of reading to my kids and making me miss them. Maybe it is just the day today.

realiz wrote:I noticed a few times the emphasis on cleaniness . Martha's mom keeps a clean house, and Dickon is a clean boy. Goodness and cleaniness, neatness and tidiness. And Dickon is so good and the family is so happy despite having 14 of them living in one house. I've read this book before, my kids loved it, and I'll admit it does make me smile, but it also gets a little dull. There are no surprises here. Maybe I am becoming irritated, but it might be because reading it is bringing back memories of reading to my kids and making me miss them. Maybe it is just the day today.

The book is not a narrative drama, with goodies and baddies, but an idealised didactic parable about natural theology. It is intrinsically dull, because it does not use the convention of the novel requiring dramatic plot. Rather, the unfolding drama is the connection between people and the cosmos. In pointing to this magical unity, Burnett is defining a path of salvation. She weaves these complex ideas into a pleasant tale of human redemption, seen in a rather Buddhist fashion of analysing and detaching from personal delusion, and using the knowledge gained to recognise freedom to create the future in accord with the natural law of love.

[quote="Robert TulipThe book is not a narrative drama, with goodies and baddies, but an idealised didactic parable about natural theology. [/quote]

So, if I choose to read this book as a narrative drama designed for the 9-12 year old reader (according to Indigo books), does this mean that I have missed the point of the book? who decides what that "point" is? perhaps my "point" is to entertain my kids ?

The whole time I've been listening, Jeff has said 'it was a movie . . . it was a movie'.

And it was when I got the first image of Dickin, Colin and Mary in the garden that I remembered . . . oh yes . . . it was a movie.

Ha ha!

It's such a good story.

giselle wrote:So, if I choose to read this book as a narrative drama designed for the 9-12 year old reader (according to Indigo books), does this mean that I have missed the point of the book? who decides what that "point" is? perhaps my "point" is to entertain my kids ?

Hi Giselle, yes, I think that is right. Briefly, the 'narrative drama' barely scratches the surface of the purpose of the book, although kids can read it at this superficial level. I think many will find it dull if they are after excitement, as it has no protagonist/antagonist like in Harry Potter, but is intended to convey a message that human psychology separates us from nature and that we can bridge this chasm. Robert

although kids can read it at this superficial level. I think many will find it dull if they are after excitement

All my kids loved this book and I think that they get more out of it than the superficial level you speak of here even if they cannot define what it makes them feel. It is what makes good children's literature good, the different levels that can be introduced and begun to be understood by kids even before they have the ability to completely grasp these concepts.

Well, that's what kids need - a point blank simple demonstration that good wins over bad.

Always be a good person . . . that's what the book is saying.

The uncle, the housekeeper . . . we start out seeing them as being possible 'bads'. But they're just people really.

The uncle is doing what he thinks he has to do . . . the housekeeper is doing what she thinks she has to do.

The kids will lead them into the light, I'm sure.

My granddaughter is going to be 9 soon . . . already, she's an avid reader.

She reads books at a grade 8 level.

I'm wondering if this would be a good book for her.