The Secret Garden mainly tells the transformation of two children in Misselthwaite Manor。 The main character is a girl called Mary Lennox。 Mary is a selfish, disagreeable, bad-tempered and unhealthy girl。 After becoming an orphan girl, Mary is sent to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven at Misselthwaite Manor。 The bird in gardens shows Mary the key to the secret garden and also the door hidden under thick ivy。 Then Mary and her new friend Dickon stay in the secret garden every day and want to bring it back to life。 Mary finds her body becomes stronger and stronger and her face is fatter and more beautiful than before by working in the garden。

Colin Craven is Mary’s cousin, a weak and lonely boy being worried about being hunchback。 Mary tells her changes these days and describes the views in the secret garden, which attracts Colin very much。 With the help of Dickon, Colin goes into the secret garden by a wheel chair。 In the secret garden, Colin learns to walk and plant on his own。 Colin is healthier and more optimistic than before and he is even as strong as Dickon。 At the end of this novel, Mr。 Craven comes back and he goes to the secret garden where he finds his tall and handsome boy running happily。 Finally, all of them stay in the secret garden with laugh。

By telling the process of children’s recovery in the secret garden, this novel has great influence on how we understand nature。 Frances Hodgson Burnett presents the relationship between children and nature and expresses her ecological consciousness in The Secret Garden。 Burnett expresses her love to gardens by describing the recovery of children step by step。 And this is what CheryII Glotfelty claims that human beings should build up the harmonious relationship with nature。 Burnett reveals this idea by showing how children get the healthy growth in the secret garden。 

1。2 Literature Reviews on The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden has always been acknowledged as one of the classics of children’s literature。 Telling a story of children’s transformation, The Secret Garden represents the educational function of children’s literature and embodies the art of novel writing by women writers in the first half of the twentieth century。 This novel is widely considered Burnett’s greatest work and a major contribution to the canon of children’s literature。 The Secret Garden has been popular over three generations because of its appealing plot, lifelike characterization, simple language and profound themes。 文献综述

Few children’s novels have been analyzed as much as The Secret Garden。 Scholars and critics from home and abroad have interpreted this novel broadly and exhaustively。 Essays and theses for the analysis of the novel differ in their perspectives and purposes。

 In foreign countries, The Secret Garden was analyzed from the perspectives of the educational function to children, the theme of nature, feminism and so on。

Kathy Hargrove in the article “From the Classroom: A Secret Haven” (2007) considered the education of adolescents and pointed out the influence of a secret haven in adolescence life。 She combined the intention of the secret garden with the private haven in children’s mind and tried to promote the teaching method of helping children to find their own private haven, overcome difficult emotions, and explore their thoughts and world around them。 Anne Lundin also examined the book’s inspiration for children’s education in the article “Secret Gardens: The Literature of Childhood” (1991)。 Both of them regarded the novel as an excellent textbook in children’s education。

Some critics had interpreted the garden itself as a nurturing space that cares for the children。 Anna Krugovoy Silver in her article “Domesticating Bronte's Moors: Motherhood in The Secret Garden” (1997) focused on the domesticity and mothering and she said this novel showed the motherless Mary and Colin restored to health, which was so warm and full of love。 Jane Darcy also identified the garden as a mother who nurtured the children instead of their absent parents in the book The Edwardian Child in the Garden: Childhood in the Fiction of Frances Hodgson Burnett (2009)。 Similarly, Gwyneth Evans in her article “The Girl in the Garden: Variations on a Feminine Pastoral” (1994) argued that the garden acted as a spiritual mother to Mary。