Secret Garden

¶ … SECRET GARDEN (1911) is a beautiful story that is concerned with how human beings affect and influence each other and how their interaction with each other has profound impact on their lives, thinking, attitude and perspective on life. No human life is meant to exist in complete isolation because total solitude results in decaying of mind and spirit. Human beings are supposed to interact and develop relationships with each other, which can actually have a therapeutic impact on the persons involved.

Whether the impact is negative or positive depends on the type of relationship and personalities of people involved, but it is impossible to imagine people remaining unaffected by their interaction with others. The Secret Garden is a classic example of how people have a profound impact on each other when they interact and develop healthy relationship. Three important characters in this novel come into contact with each other and continue to affect and influence each other's lives throughout the novel. These characters are Mary, Colin and the gardener Dickon.

From the very beginning Mary is projected as a disagreeable child whom no one really likes or cares about. Because of her privileged upbringing, she had always found herself surrounded by servants who waited on her and provided her with everything she required. But all this had turned Mary into an unfriendly and narcissist brat. "She was not an affectionate child and had never cared much for anyone"(p.

7) However she loses her parents in a dreadful cholera epidemic and is forced to live with her only relative, an uncle in Yorkshire. This is the turning point of her life because this is where Mary meets Dickon and Colin who influence her life and whose lives are also affected by Mary's presence. Mary's main problem was her lack of interest in anything or anyone. But her curiously is awakened with mysterious crying sounds and Dickon's animal charming skills.

Mary's interest in Dickon is first aroused by Martha's stories and since Mary has never had a pet, she "began to feel a slight interest in Dickon, and as she had never before been interested in any one but herself, it was the dawning of a healthy sentiment" (p. 39) This was the first sign of transformation in her character. A ten-year-old who had lost interest in everything and everyone suddenly found herself drawn to Dickon because he appears at precisely the time when Mary is ready for a friend.

She had already begun questioning her temperament and disposition. This was the right time for Dickon to enter her life. He was an unspoiled person who could be trusted and a healthy relationship develops between the two. Mary confides in him and this is a sign of her trust in Dickon's ability to keep a secret: Mistress Mary did not mean to put out her hand and clutch his sleeve but she did it. I've stolen a garden," she said very fast. "It isn't mine. It isn't anybody's.

Nobody wants it, nobody cares for it, nobody ever goes into it. Perhaps everything is dead in it already; I don't know.".. she ended passionately, and she threw her arms over her face and burst out crying -- poor little Mistress Mary." (pp. 129) Dickon appeared at the right time to heal the wounded mind and spirit of young Mary and Mary passes the trust and friendship she has gained on to Colin, her cousin. Colin was the male counterpart of Mary. "But it was too late to be careful.

He was too much like herself. He had had nothing to think about and the idea of.