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 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Mary asks Martha to tell Colin that she can’t come to him the next day because she is busy in the garden. When she returns in the evening, she is excited to tell Colin all about Dickon and the garden, so she is annoyed when Martha tells her that Colin threw a tantrum when he learned Mary wasn’t coming to see him.
She marches into his room and demands to know why he hasn’t gotten out of bed. Colin threatens to send Dickon away if Mary leaves him alone again. Mary counters that if he does, she will never speak or look at him again. Colin tells her she is selfish. She retorts that “selfish people always say that. Anyone is selfish who doesn’t do what they want” (110). Colin tries to get her sympathy by reminding her that he is going to die. Mary shocks him by saying, “You’re not!” and adding that he is too nasty to die. Mary marches out, determined never to go back.
Returning to her room, Mary finds that her uncle has sent her a collection of games and books—including some on gardening—and a writing case. Mary had not expected him to remember that she existed, so she’s deeply touched by the gift. She would have liked to show the books to Colin and play some of the games if they were still friends. She remembers him telling her that when he is alone and tired, he sometimes thinks about his fear of having a crooked back, which makes him hysterical. She wonders if those worries had made him cross earlier. She decides that in the morning, she will find out if he wants to see her again.
Chapter 17 Summary
Mary awakens in the middle of the night to the sounds of crying and screaming and people running up and down the halls. The sobbing screams are so horrible and terrifying that they make Mary angry. Colin’s nurse bursts into Mary’s room and asks her to go to Colin; he is hysterical, and nobody else can soothe him. Mary flings herself into his room and shouts at him to stop screaming. She says that everyone hates him, and she wishes he would scream himself to death. She shouts that there is nothing wrong with him but hysterics, and she repeats the word hysterics several times, stomping her feet as she does.
Colin is shocked out of his screams. He sobs that he felt a lump on his back and will become “a hunchback” and die. Mary tells him he felt no such thing and demands that the nurse come and show her Colin’s back. Mary inspects him closely and finally pronounces, “There’s not a lump as big as a pin” (116).
This is exactly what Colin needed to hear; he has never had anyone to talk to about his fears. The fact that Mary is angry and not trying to comfort or console him convinces him that she is telling the truth. The nurse says that she didn’t know Colin thought he had a lump. Colin cries quietly with relief. He asks the nurse if she thinks he could live to grow up, and she tells him he probably will if he stops having temper tantrums and gets out in the fresh air. Colin takes Mary’s hand and tells her he will go out with her and won’t hate the fresh air if they can find the garden.
Mary offers to sing him the lullaby she learned from her Ayah. Colin asks her to tell him again everything she imagines about the garden, so she describes the garden, all the growing things, and the robin, who has found a mate and is building a nest. Colin falls asleep.
Chapter 18 Summary
The next morning, Colin is tired, feverish, and worn out by his tantrum the night before. He asks very nicely for Mary to come to him. She has plans to spend the morning with Dickon, but she goes first to Colin and promises to bring him a surprise later. Shortly after that, she is with Dickon in their garden. He has brought more of his animal friends—the fox and the crow, his pony, and two tame squirrels, Nut and Shell. As Mary tells him about Colin, she sees that he feels sorrier for Colin than Mary does. They agree that they must find a way to bring Colin out to the garden.
When she returns to visit Colin in the afternoon, he remarks that she smells of flowers and fresh air. Mary has been learning the Yorkshire dialect, so she answers in her broadest Yorkshire that he is smelling the sunshine and the wind from the moor. Colin is fascinated by the dialect. Mary tells him that Dickon will come to see him in the morning and bring his animal friends, and soon they will take him out into the garden. Mary finally confesses that she has already found the door and been inside: “There is a door into the garden. It is under the ivy on the wall” (123). Colin clutches her hands, saying, “Shall I get into it? Shall I live to get into it?” (123)
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
Because she is selfish herself, Mary understands Colin’s motive for throwing tantrums and making people miserable and why he finds it difficult to change. When used destructively, emotions can lead to bullying and other forms of harm, but even “bad” emotions can also be a source of strength. In the past, Mary’s selfishness made her unpleasant and unhappy, but selfishness also gives her the backbone to stand up to Colin’s tantrum. Mary refuses to give up her interests and friendships. It would not be good for Colin if she did. Everyone has always given him what he wanted, which has only made him miserable.
By refusing to give in to him, Mary forces Colin to find another way to make himself feel better. Next, he tries to make her pity him, which doesn’t work either. Instead of staying and trying to soothe Colin, Mary walks away. Colin has to choose between being alone or respecting that Mary has her own life. Since Colin can’t force Mary to manage his feelings for him, he has to fall back on his own resources and manage himself.
Now that Mary has shown Colin that he can’t bully her, she feels sympathy and understanding for Colin’s bad temper. Thinking about his fear of having a hunched back, she considers giving him a second chance. The gift from her uncle prompts her change of heart. Because someone cares enough to think about her happiness and remember that she is interested in gardening, Mary immediately turns around and applies the same sympathy to the person nearest to her.
Mary is fascinated by the word “hysterical” and repeats it several times. “Hysteria” refers to a state of uncontrolled emotion, a term that doctors especially apply to women. Through its repetition, the author emphasizes that Colin fits the negative stereotypes often applied to women and girls; Colin is shown to be emotional and prone to fits of crying and anger. He is also described as delicate and frail, often needing to be coddled and shielded from anything that could make him ill.
At one time, the same stereotypes applied to Mary. Early in the story, she is described as thin and sickly. She grows physically stronger and healthier as her mind becomes stronger too. As she outgrows those negative stereotypes, she could be described as more “masculine.” By giving Colin some stereotypically feminine traits and showing Mary growing into some stereotypically masculine traits, the author shows that good and bad qualities belong equally to both sexes.
Colin has many secrets in his life; the nurse and the household staff never knew that Colin feared having a lump on his back or that he had overheard them saying he would never grow up. If Colin had ever had someone to talk to about his fears, they could have reassured him. Before Mary arrived, all of Colin’s secrets were based on fears. Mary brings him a new, beautiful secret. Now that Mary has exposed the dark secret, Colin promises to exchange it for the bright one.
Colin asks Mary to tell him about the garden rather than singing the nursery song, even though it is known and safe. All children need to have a place that is safe and familiar. However, to grow up, they need to go out in the world, take risks and discover new things; for Colin and Mary, it is the garden.
In Chapter 18, the author specifically refers to the garden as “their” garden–meaning both Mary and Dickon. Burnett carefully shows that although Mary discovered the garden and showed it to Dickon, it belongs to them equally. Mary and Dickon embody the Mother Goddess and the Nature God. They are masculine and feminine manifestations of nature, and they are equally important.
Colin has been trapped in the underworld of his sickroom all his life. The words “there is a door into the garden” (123) offer a promise of resurrection, but Mary offers only the door. Doors symbolize crossing over into a different world, and Colin must choose to cross that threshold on his own. Once he has made the decision, Mary and Dickon can help him, but it must be his active choice. Colin shows his willingness by reaching out to Mary and taking her hands. The words “Shall I live?” (123) tell the reader that the door stands between death and life. When Colin finally steps through the door, he will be stepping out of the underworld and into the world of the living.
Now that Mary has fully brought Colin into the secret of the garden, she also shares with him the Yorkshire dialect that, to her, represents everything earthy and growing about her new life. Colin has never heard broad Yorkshire despite having lived there all his life, but the dialect represents life and nature, and Colin has never experienced either.
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By Frances Hodgson Burnett
