The Secret Garden

Do you think Mary being a girl is important to the story? How might the story have been different if she had been a boy?

Does the author treat boys and girls differently in the story? Give examples.

Take one or more of the other stories from the Further Reading section of this study guide and compare/contrast its themes and ideas with those of The Secret Garden.

How does magic fit into the story? Colin talks about nature, life, and the world as made of magic. What does he mean by that? Is he right? Why or why not?

Why do you think Mr. Craven locks the door into his wife’s garden?

The story is dark in many ways. Mary is an orphan, Colin is almost an orphan, and Colin’s father has been grieving his wife’s death for ten years. Do you think this makes the story unsuitable for younger readers? Why or why not?

List the ways in which Martha and Dickon’s mother is different from Mary’s mother. Is Martha and Dickon’s mother the reason they turned out so differently from Mary? Do you think Colin’s mother Lilias is part of the garden, and does she act as a mother to both Mary and Colin or just Colin?

What you think about the omniscient narrator? Is it the author speaking directly to the reader, or does it seem like a separate person the author has created to tell the story?