Have you ever wondered about the secret messages’ authors are trying to convey to us, even in our favourite children’s books? Well, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett focuses on the healing of children’s physical disabilities and mental health by focusing on two children’s parental neglect, sickness and disability.
Mary Lennox is a child of a wealthy British family living in India when an epidemic kills her unloving, neglectful parents and her servants. Mary is then sent to live in England with her wealthy, hunchback Uncle who hides her from his sick son.
Mary has a sense of dislocation and loneliness while in India and when she first arrives in England as we see she feels dispossessed by everything and everyone she has ever known when she responds, “where is home?” to another child.
Mary experiences the feelings of not belonging to anywhere or anyone when her own mother is embarrassed of her ugliness and has no connection with her. This is highlighted when the clergyman tells her of her mothers’ parental neglect and that her mother “scarcely ever looked at her”.
Mary’s feeling of dispossession and loneliness is reinforced by her lack of knowledge of her mothers’ family living in England. The neglect, loneliness and lack of love Mary has received clearly has significantly affected her mental health. By the end of the novel, she appears to be a ‘new child’ who is happy and has built relationships once she and Colin have helped to heal one another.
When Mary meets her cousin, Colin Craven, he too is a sick, lonely, neglected and a self-absorbed child. Colin experiences parental neglect like Mary. Mr Craven cannot bear to look at him because Colin reminds him of his late wife and has ordered the servants not to speak of Colin. When Mary finds Colin, he is upset and pale as he never leaves his bedroom, and does not socialise with other children (until Mary).
It is quite clear from the conversations Mary and Colin have that Colin uses his sickness as a reason not to do anything, it is almost as if he lives in fear. Due to the religious era the book is set in, Colin only became ill because of the anxiety and chaos that accompanied his birth and early childhood. Everyone in the house fears Colin will die of a hunchback, alone in his bedroom before reaching adulthood.
The Law on your Mental Health
If you ever found yourself in a situation like Mary where you were the victim of parental neglect in Wales you have the right to be protected from violence, abuse and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Child requires countries like Wales to do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.
When Mary was sent to live in England with a side of her family she did not know, who left her to her own devices, she experienced a further sense of abandonment by her Uncle. If any child living in Wales or the UK could no longer live with their parents, the UNCRC protects them from being shipped away to an unloving stranger. Article 20 relates to children unable to live with their family and requires countries to give such children special protection and assistance. This includes making sure the child is provided with alternative care that is continuous and respects the child’s culture, language and religion.
The Law on your Disabilities
Colin believes he suffers from a hunchback and cannot walk, however if any of you with a disability living in Wales were subjected to staying in your bedroom without adequate treatment, support, and development, the UNCRC can help protect them. Under Article 6, the Welsh Government must do all they can to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential. It is clear that Colin was not able to develop to his full potential while being kept locked in his bedroom.
Secondly, Article 23 focuses on children with a disability and states a child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community. The Welsh Government must do all they can to support disabled children and their families. If Colin had been granted a certain amount of independence and dignity, he may not have lived in fear of his disability as he did.
Finally, Article 27 is about adequate standard of living for children which says every child has the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and social needs and support their development. Concluding, children in Wales would have support to meet their physical needs, rather than being forced to worsen in a bedroom like Colin.
Conclusion
Hodgson Burnett uses the characters of Mary and Colin to send us a message about parental neglect and how it can affect a child’s mental health and allow their physical disabilities to deteriorate.
About the Author: Meg Lewis
I am a final year Law Student and part-time Lifeguard with a passion for reading and swimming. One of my favourite things to do in my spare time is reading books at the beach! I loved writing this blog because in my early adolescent years, The Secret Garden was my favourite book.