The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a classic children novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. First published in 1911, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and seen as a classic of English children's literature. While The Secret Garden is currently catalogued as children's literature, it was originally serialized in a magazine for adults before being published in its entirety in 1911.[1] It was originally marketed for the young and adult readers.
Plot
When an orphan named Mary, a child who is sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven in England when her parents die during a cholera epidemic in India, is left to explore a gothic mansion, she discovers a mysterious walled garden that has been locked for over a decade. Mr. Craven, her uncle, is largely absent and his household is run by his housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, who picks up Mary in London and conveys her to her new home. With the help of a robin and a good-natured Yorkshire boy, she uncovers why the garden has been locked away, and how to bring it—and herself—back to life.[2]
Controversy
This book is racist in some parts, especially to Indians. Indians are othered to an extreme degree, from beginning to end. Indians are referred to as "natives" and "blacks," and Mary is angry and insulted when she's compared to them.[3] In one scene, after Martha tells Mary that she’d expected her to be an Indian child, she was furious.
Mary sat up in bed furious.
“What!” she said. “What! You thought I was a native. You—you daughter of a pig!”
Martha stared and looked hot.
“Who are you callin’ names?” she said. “You needn’t be so vexed. That’s not th’ way for a young lady to talk. I’ve nothin’ against th’ blacks. When you read about ’em in tracts they’re always very religious. You always read as a black’s a man an’ a brother. I’ve never seen a black an’ I was fair pleased to think I was goin’ to see one close. When I come in to light your fire this mornin’ I crep’ up to your bed an’ pulled th’ cover back careful to look at you. An’ there you was,” disappointedly, “no more black than me—for all you’re so yeller.”
Mary did not even try to control her rage and humiliation.
“You thought I was a native! You dared! You don’t know anything about natives! They are not people—they’re servants who must salaam to you. You know nothing about India. You know nothing about anything!”