The Secret Garden — Chapter 7

About This Passage

This is the moment Mary realizes the robin has actually chosen to follow her. Copy it carefully and notice how Burnett slows the scene down with three verbs in a row — hopping, pretending, peck — before naming what Mary feels. The reader is meant to see the bird's small theater of innocence before the child's joy breaks through.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 7 in order, from Mary waking to see the blue sky over Misselthwaite, through Martha's day-out walk home, the talk with Ben Weatherstaff about springtime and the old rose-tree garden, the robin's visit, and the finding of the buried key.

Discussion Questions

1. When Martha asks Mary, 'How does tha' like thysel'?' at the start of the chapter at Misselthwaite, Mary pauses and finally admits, 'Not at all — really. But I never thought of that before.' What does it mean that Mary has never asked herself that question before, and why is it Martha, rather than Mrs. Medlock or her Ayah, who brings her to it?
2. Ben Weatherstaff gives a long, patient answer about the earth getting ready to grow crocuses and snowdrops, and then grows surly the moment Mary asks about the garden where the old rose-trees live. What is Burnett showing about Ben Weatherstaff by contrasting his two answers so sharply on the same morning?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide