The secret garden

The secret garden The Secret Garden The mysterious things always draw my attention. The reason why I choose this book is the name of it. ‘The Secret Garden’, it lets me feel interested and curious. I like reading books that are adventurous and beautiful and peaceful. When I finished the book I felt everything is possible and life need us to explore. Whether magic exists or not, I just can say ‘if you believe, you do.’ The book was written by an American writer. This book is suited for children, but also adults. It is not a long novel. There are just twenty seven chapters here; it is easy to finish it in several days. And I have finished it. I divide it to three parts: 1, bad Mary. 2, transformation of Mary. 3, Mary’s influence. And I pretend to write about how Mary’s characters forming, the reason why it be that and the influence between people, the nature’s influence to people. In the book, there are just several roles and Mary is the main person. We follow her and will find everything. Mary was a child who had a rich family but no love from her parents. Her father just did his job and her mother just went out to take part in serious parties. Servants were around her to serve her and just did what she asked. All of this kind of condition created her characteristics, selfish, disagreeable and bad-tempered. So when the disease came, Mary just hid herself in her bedroom and nobody noticed her until the two men came. She had not felt sad when she learned that her parents were dead. Then she was send to an English family. Here, she just lived the same life like before, no one cared her. Then she got to know she would come to live with her uncle who she did not know before. Her new life started. Martha, the servant, was the first one who took care of Mary from a normal level, told her truth about how to live a life. She was a simple, kind, friendly, broad-minded, positive and having faith in life person. She ignored Mary’s poignant words, just regarding her as a naughty child and trying to help her. Martha delivered positive attitude the Mary; ‘that’s because you do not like it, you will like it. I love it. It’s lovely in spring and summer where there are flowers. It always smells so sweet, the air’s so fresh, and the birds sing so beautiful. I never want to leave the moor.’ Thought at the beginning, Mary presented not to listen, but Martha always became kind and friendly to talk about her families and stories happened besides her to Mary. Mary heard these interesting things so that become interested in the life in the moor and started to go out. Then she met the robin, Ben Weatherstaff. The robin leaded Mary to have a good relationship with Ben and help Mary find the key and the door of the secret garden. Mary owned herself a garden, the garden no one knows it in the ten years. Dickon was a boy who neared to nature. He could talk with animals and liked to help Mary and Colin. He was a happy boy, just like a sun. Mr. Craven lived a bed life in the last life. He could not forget his young wife and hated everything else, including his son, Colin. Colin was a strange boy, created by the unusual situation, mom dead, father did not like him and nobody help him, afraid to be crooked and dead. But Mary came in his life and brought the light to his dark life, got him out of the dark hell. Mary gave him the hope and interests to life. Then in the secret garden, they all became happier and healthier. And because of the influence of these children, Mr. Craven becomes happier again. They just like the fresh air, the green shoots, spring. There is no ending, but from the whole passage you can image the future how beauty is it. There are many truth there, some easy to be ignore but exist every where in our daily life, like the parents’ responsibility. We can research much knowledge from the content. Little marry was just a child who needed adults to teach, to guild. But in her childhood living with her parents, no one wanted to teach her or did not know how to guide. So she just did what she wanted and thought. So the reason why Mary became a ‘bad’ child is her parents had not done their duty that taught their child. Then, when Mary met Martha who was just a servant, Mary began to change. Martha played a role of mother, she taught Mary how to live a life and how to become a normal child according the experience that learned from her mother and brother and other people who lived around her. Mary changed little by little in the guide of Martha’s words. And when she recognized the robin and Ben Weatherstaff, she had become a natural child and knew how to communicate with others. That is a turning point. Then the content described the process that how Mary started to change others, from Colin to Ben Weatherstaff to Mr. Craven. She used what she learned from nature and Martha to teach Colin and pull Colin out of his black life. Ben Weatherstaff was changed by the result of what Mary did, from a dissocial man to a normal man. And I thought the man liked Colin’s mother, so when she died he became an unhappy man who just did what he should do and no bright in his heart. In this story, Colin’s mother’s death brought shadow to all the people in the town, Mary let brought bright into their world. All of these proved that people influence each other and happy can deliver to the people around. Thought there is no a direct ending, but we can image the beatific life in their future. Just like these children thought the garden has magic. 黄峥慧