The Secret Garden — Chapter 26

About This Passage

Four of this chapter’s pathfinder words — DAPPLING, ILLUSTRATION, AFFECTIONATE, and INTRUDER — all converge in Burnett’s introduction of Susan Sowerby. The door opens at the very moment the Doxology ends, the sunlight makes the scene look painted, and Burnett tells the reader directly that “not one of them felt that she was an intruder at all.” The passage is the novel’s visual annunciation of the mother-figure who has been offstage since Chapter 8, and every word has been chosen to make her arrival feel prepared rather than imposed.

Narration Prompt

Summarize Chapter 26 with attention to its three distinct movements: Colin’s morning lecture and his sudden standing-up realization, the Doxology scene with Ben Weatherstaff’s unexpected participation, and Susan Sowerby’s visit, including her closing words to Colin. Note the chapter title (“It’s Mother!”) and how Burnett has earned it by the final page.

Discussion Questions

1. Burnett writes that Colin’s realization came as “a sort of rapturous belief and realization” that “rushed all through him.” She has had Colin “hope it and feel it and think about it” for many chapters before this moment. What does the novel gain by having Colin’s knowledge of his own wellness arrive suddenly and bodily rather than through careful reasoning?
2. The Doxology scene stages three different voices joining one song: Dickon’s unaffected boy voice, Mary’s and Colin’s earnest attempt, and Ben Weatherstaff’s raspingly savage third-line entry. What in the description of each voice tells us what kind of faith each character is expressing?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide