Book blog: The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
You’re unlikely to find this delightful, uplifting book in lists of Thrutopian fiction, but it deserves a place. Unlike most Thrutopian novels, which paint a detailed picture of an imagined future, The Secret Garden teaches us a vital skill, showing how carrying a positive vision can manifest a better future, whereas worried thoughts often just produce more worry.
Three of the main characters in this book are sour, lonely and despairing at the start of the story: Mary, whose parents have just died; her widowed uncle and guardian; and his invalid son, Colin.
The idea of magic is central to this book, here meaning the way that positive beliefs, and actively caring for Nature and other people, can transform a bleak life into a joyful one. The Secret Garden itself is a beautiful symbol and allegory for this process.
Frances Hodgson Burnett had a hard life, including poverty, bereavement, and depression, so we have to hope that the transformations to happiness that she gives us in this delightful book happened for her too.
Colin’s journey from a neurotic invalid to a cheerful, healthy boy is one of the delights of the story, and magic is key to this. With help from his young friends and the garden, he stops obsessing about his frailty, and starts asserting that he will be well.
As the author puts it:
“Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place.
Where you tend a rose, my lad,
A thistle cannot grow.”