The Secret Garden and its Creation
The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a beloved children's tale about growing into maturity and restoring the past and giving it new life. I first read this novel in fifth grade and fell in love with the magic and whimsicality of this story as it developed in my young imagination. With doing research on the real inspiration for the garden portrayed in the novel, seeing images of the actual place was very rejuvenating for my inner child to connect imagination to reality.
I completely see a lot of restoration in the novels we have read so far this semester, both attempts and failures. What comes most prominently to mind is in The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West in Kitty and Margarets attempts to restore war veteran Chris' mind to it's normal state rather than being stuck in his amnesia. I find a lot of similarity with Mary and Chris dealing with internal brokenness and loss and the challenges that come from trying to repair the mental "house" and repairing that damage that comes with grief. But something so beautiful about bringing the mental back to life is that it builds and becomes stronger with care and from love and dedication.
I also see a lot of similar traits between the first part of the novel and Withering Heights by Emily Bronte. The first chunk of the novel follows a very rich, spoiled and egotistical version of Mary, much like the Earnshaw's of Thrushcross Grange. Mary was dependent on people waiting on her hand and foot and consistently perceived herself as superior to those who were of a different race to her (Indian in the novel, but similar to the treatment of Heathcliff) and people not of her status (again being Heathcliff) like Cathy, Edgar, etc..
The location that inspired Burnett to create her fantastical secret and healing garden was a garden she tended to at Maytham Hall during her 10 year residence there. She took great fondness in botany and recovering overgrown and abandoned plants, much like Mary in her book. The garden at Maytham Hall is blooming and quite large in its expansive home to many blends of plants and verdure. There are extensive pathways overflowing with lively vegetation which can be explored by visitors of the estate. During the 10 years that Burnett stayed at the hall and moving forward in her life, she found great pleasure in tending to the plant life and the ability to recover something from a poor and lifeless state into being healthy and beautiful and she showed a great fondness in this regard to young Mary who developed the same passion as the writer who brought her to life.Learning how much Burnett cared for the garden herself and made such a personal connection to the main character, Mary, in restoring the garden to its potential beauty was very impactful for me to discover.
Reconnecting with this novel after so many years was very enjoyable for me. I was struggling to find a unique "house" to research and present about until I rediscovered this story and I decided to use it and reminisce of what this story meant to me, while also trying to find connections to the pieces we have been reading in class. The similar details that I was able to trace between diverse characters from separate novels was very telling and intriguing as they all have some key feature of a house or a primary location in which the story builds from. With characters from very different novels sharing similar traits, emotions, themes, etc. really makes me think critically about how stories can be taken in so many different directions with a foundation similar to other successful novels: a character falling or attempting to reach grace, a disrupted home, a personal challenge, and others. So many books I gravitate toward are so similar in that regard but are also entirely differently curated to accommodate the story the author wishes to describe. I find that very fascinating to ponder I suppose.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Secret-Garden
https://www.gardenhistorygirl.co.uk/post/great-maytham-hall-s-real-secret-garden
https://gardenandgun.com/articles/the-southern-secrets-of-the-secret-garden/
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