61 pages • 2 hours read
Frances Hodgson BurnettThe Secret Garden
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1910A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
In the middle of the night, Mary again hears crying. She follows the sound through the house’s dark corridors until she finds a gloomy room with heavy curtains over the windows. A boy about her age is crying fretfully in the bed. He is thin and pale with very large gray eyes. At first, because neither child knows about the existence of the other, they think they are dreaming. Eventually, they decide they are both awake and real. The boy explains that he is Colin Craven, the son of Uncle Archibald.
Mary learns that Colin has never traveled or been to school. People give him everything he wants because getting angry makes him ill. Mary tells him about her life in India and here at Misselthwaite Manor. Mary tells him everything about his mother’s garden except that she has found her way in. Colin is fascinated by Mary’s stories about the garden, the robin, Dickon, and Ben.
Colin tells Mary that no one told them about each other because Colin hates for anyone to see him or talk about him. He never leaves his room and rarely sees his father. He has overheard the servants saying that his father almost hates him. He has heard them say in his presence, when they thought he wasn’t listening, that his death would be the best thing for everyone. Mary asks if he wants to live, and Colin replies that he doesn’t want to live but doesn’t want to die either.
Colin asks Mary to draw back the curtains on the wall facing his bed, which reveals a painting of a beautiful young woman with a happy face and eyes exactly like Colin’s. The woman is his mother; he keeps her hidden because she seems happy when he is miserable, and he doesn’t want to share her with anyone else. Mary promises to return to visit Colin every day in secret. Before leaving, Mary sings him to sleep with a lullaby in Hindustani that she learned from her Ayah.
Chapter 14 Summary
The next day, Mary announces to Martha that she has discovered the source of the crying. At first, Martha is dismayed, afraid that Mrs. Medlock will blame her for Mary disturbing Colin and Martha will lose her job. Mary assures Martha that Colin wasn’t angry and that he wants to see her again. It is raining too hard for Mary to go into the garden, so she is happy when Colin asks for her to come to him.
Colin assures Martha that Mrs. Medlock can’t make Martha lose her job if she only does what Colin tells her. He promises Martha that he will take care of her. Mary tells Colin that he reminds her of a boy Rajah she once saw in India who ordered people around and expected to be obeyed instantly without question. She says he is nothing at all like Dickon. She tells him all about Dickon and his animals. After a time, Colin becomes peevish, complaining that he will never be able to meet Dickon or go out in the garden because he is going to die.
Mary is not sympathetic. She feels Colin is almost boasting about dying. Colin admits that one doctor said he could get better if he put his mind to it. Mary thinks if anything could make Colin want to get better, it would be hearing about Dickon and his family and the moor, so she tells Colin everything she knows about them. They have so much fun that they are surprised when Mrs. Medlock comes into the room with Doctor Craven, Colin’s uncle.
Mrs. Medlock and Doctor Craven are horrified to find Mary in the room. They are afraid Mary will make Colin ill. The doctor warns Colin to remember that he is sick. Colin assumes his boy Rajah character and tells them that Mary must be allowed to come to him whenever he wants her, and if they don’t let her, then he will make himself ill.
Chapter 15 Summary
The next week is rainy, and Mary spends hours every day with Colin. They look at pictures in books, read each other, and talk about the garden. Mary is not quite ready to trust him with the secret that she has already found the garden, but he is so charmed by the idea that Mary wonders if she can take him there. The garden has been good for her, and she thinks it might improve Colin’s health. Colin has told her that he hates having people look at him, but he thinks he wouldn’t mind Dickon seeing him: “He’s a sort of animal charmer and I am a boy animal.”
The next time the sun comes out, Mary wakes early and hurries to the garden where Dickon is already at work. She means to ask Dickon whether they might find a way to bring Colin to the garden, but he has thought of it before her. He thinks it might be just what Colin needs to get better.
Chapters 13-15 Analysis
Mary’s search for Colin is like a journey through the underworld. First, she finds her way through the dark labyrinth of the house, then finds Colin in a dark room where the windows are hidden behind heavy curtains, which are never opened. Colin represents death. He looks a little like a skeleton, thin and pale, with very large, hollow eyes. He also thinks all the time about dying and doesn’t believe he will live to grow up.
Colin doesn’t want to live. His existence in the underworld is miserable, but he also doesn’t want to die. Mary’s stories about the garden—which represents life—fascinate him. He wants to go there, where he might live and be a normal boy.
There are two mothers in this chapter. First, Mary acts like a mother to Colin by singing Colin to sleep with a lullaby. Mary also acts like a mother goddess when she searches for Colin and finds him in the underworld. Many myths show goddesses entering the underworld to rescue their children, like Isis/Osiris (Egyptian) or Demeter/Persephone (Greek). The biblical Virgin Mary has a son who dies and is resurrected.
The second mother is Colin’s mother, Lilias. She is always present in Colin’s life in the form of the portrait hidden behind the heavy curtain. Symbolically, she is in the underworld with him, watching over him, but there is always a veil (curtain) between them. At the same time, she is present in the garden she created, which represents life and rebirth.
Secrets play an important role in these chapters. Each of the children shares their most important secret with the other. Mary shares the garden with Colin, and Colin shares the hidden portrait of his mother with Mary. Sharing something personal and intimate allows them to trust each other and grow closer. Secrets are often seen as something precious, so by exchanging them, Colin and Mary show how much they value each other.
Colin’s boy Rajah act has two sides. On the one hand, he is bossy and demanding and pushes people around. On the other, when he promises to protect Martha from Mrs. Medlock’s anger, he demonstrates that he has the potential to be a good lord if he gets over his spoiled behavior. The author often uses language and imagery related to kings and rulers to describe Colin.
Everyone around Colin tries to keep him in the underworld. Doctor Craven encourages Colin to be fearful and constantly think about his illness. Mrs. Medlock and the servants think it would be better if he died. No one pushes him to do anything that might make him better. They don’t dare even say “no” to him for fear he will become hysterical with rage and make himself ill. All their efforts to shield him and keep him safe only make him worse.
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By Frances Hodgson Burnett
