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About This Passage
The passage hinges on Dickon's answer — 'It'll work same as th' seeds do when th' sun shines on 'em.' That is the entire theological proposition of Burnett's novel, tucked inside Yorkshire dialect: Colin's recovery and a crocus's bloom are the same act of Magic, not analogous and not superior. Notice also the cross-cultural freight: Colin borrows 'fakirs' from the Indian ascetics Mary would have seen as a child in Bombay, and 'temple' from his English storybooks, then fuses them under a Yorkshire plum-tree. Burnett lets him combine traditions without apology, as children do when they have only just discovered religion.
“Do you think the experiment will work?” Colin asked him, wondering what he was thinking. He so often wondered what Dickon was thinking when he saw him looking at him or at one of his “creatures” with...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 23 as an argument — Colin's argument that he is the subject of an observable force he chooses to call Magic. Begin with Dr. Craven's fearful warning, then move through Mary's unexpected criticism ('It is always having your own way that has made you so queer'), Colin's resolution to stop being queer, his scientific oration under the plum-tree, the circle of 'priests and devotees' he arranges, the chant he invents on the spot, his walk around the garden holding Dickon's shoulder, and his closing insistence that this must be 'the biggest secret of all.' Pay attention to the moment Colin stops being the Rajah and becomes the Scientific Discoverer.
Discussion Questions
- Colin tells his circle, 'I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us—like electricity and horses and steam.' What does it reveal about Colin's mind that he reaches for the Industrial Revolution's great technologies as analogies for a spiritual force — and is Burnett endorsing Colin's claim, or exposing it as a category confusion?
- Mary's sharp line, 'It is always having your own way that has made you so queer,' is answered not by anger but by a long pause and a smile — Colin agrees. Compare this to the Colin of Chapter 13, who broke into hysterics at any contradiction. What has Mary specifically given Colin that the doctors, the nurse, and Mrs. Medlock never could — and why might it have had to come from another child?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A skilled and formal public speaker, especially one who addresses a crowd on serious matters; Burnett calls Colin 'the orator' when he launches into his scientific speech about Magic, lending the moment the dignity of ancient rhetoric even though the speaker is ten years old
Item 2
Possessing the dignified grandeur associated with royalty or divine ceremony; 'It all seemed most majestic and mysterious when they sat down in their circle,' Burnett writes — not mocking the children's gravity but affirming that children at ceremony actually do participate in majesty
Item 3
Held so spellbound by something beautiful or wondrous that ordinary movement and thought cease; Mary watches Colin chant 'entranced,' which makes her part of the Magic-circuit rather than a spectator — Burnett's grammar closes the distance between watcher and watched
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Critical Thinking
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