The Secret Garden — Chapter 9

About This Passage

Burnett makes the roses themselves tell the story of what ten years of neglect can look like. The climbing roses have 'run all over' the trees, dropped their tendrils into 'light swaying curtains,' and fallen from their 'fastenings' into a 'hazy mantle' covering walls, trees, and grass. Copying slowly lets a Trailblazer notice how a garden left alone does not die — it simply covers everything.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 9 in order, keeping the chain of discoveries clear. Begin with Mary standing inside the garden and naming the stillness; then her kneeling and finding the tiny green points in the alcove; then her digging and weeding so they can breathe; then her dinner conversation with Martha about bulbs, a spade, and Dickon; then the letter to Dickon; and end with Mary hearing the far-off crying again in the corridor, this time with no wind to blame.

Discussion Questions

1. Mary whispers, 'I am the first person who has spoken in here for ten years,' and walks as if afraid of 'awakening some one.' What does her whispering and her careful walking tell you about how Mary understands what the garden is?
2. When Mary finds the 'sharp little pale green points' pushing up through the black earth, she cries out softly, 'It isn't a quite dead garden! Even if the roses are dead, there are other things alive.' How does Burnett use this moment to begin changing what kind of child Mary is becoming?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide