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Copywork
About This Passage
Burnett gives us Mary’s first view of Colin with the careful pace of a portrait painter. The furniture, the firelight, the brocade, and then the boy himself — each detail arrives slowly so the reader feels exactly what Mary feels: uncertain whether the whole scene is real.
It was a big room with ancient, handsome furniture in it. There was a low fire glowing faintly on the hearth and a night light burning by the side of a carved four-posted bed hung with brocade, and on...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the chapter in three short paragraphs. In the first, tell how Mary finds Colin in the middle of the stormy night. In the second, tell what Colin reveals about himself and his father. In the third, tell how the two children discover that the secret garden might belong to them both.
Discussion Questions
- Burnett writes that Mary was in a ‘rebellious mood’ when she left her room to follow the crying. What does the chapter show about the difference between Mary’s old selfish rebelliousness in India and the new kind of courage she shows here at Misselthwaite? Point to at least two story details to support your answer.
- When Colin and Mary meet, they each wonder if the other is a ghost or a dream. What is Burnett showing you about how lonely both of these children have been before this night? How is their loneliness different, and how is it the same?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Feeling like you want to push back against rules or against someone who tells you what to do
Item 2
A heavy woven cloth, usually with pictures on it, hung on a wall or over a door
Item 3
Very, very large — larger than you would expect
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Critical Thinking
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