Her Secret Garden SPOILERS- The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is a story of change in maturity in various young children. It all starts with Mary Lennox who is described many times as disagreeable and contrary. She is a 10 year old wealthy girl who lived in India, and never got much attention from her parents. This led to her becoming a spoiled, uninterested little girl who everyone takes an instant disliking to.

The transition in Mary comes from the magic of the moor, as the book suggests. She is moved to England after her parents died of cholera, and she must readjust to life in a mansion with much too many empty rooms and no caretaker. So she explores the outdoors, and in time learns what it means to be kind. I believe this change comes both from the fresh air of the gardens and from the people she is surrounded by, who don't bow down to her for the first time in her life. She is forced to really become a person with an identity, like any other, and in time makes friends with others like her.

Dickon is the boy who can charm animals simply by talking to them. He does the same with Mary. Though she was charmed just by hearing stories of him, she is only truly impacted when she meets him and sees just how kind people can be. Dickon is quite different than Mary. He isn't contrary in the least, and in fact doesn't even seem to know the meaning to the word dislike. He is partially what causes the change in Mary, along with her garden. Her garden is something that she finally has responsibility for. It can't dislike or leave her, and it won't survive without her nurturing and care. This causes another change in the maturity of Mary. 

This all happens rather quickly within the book, and doesn't really come to play until she meets Colin. Colin is the exact mirror of who Mary was two weeks before. He's spoiled, rude and plain stuck up. She doesn't quite come to this conclusion, but she does help him make the transition that she did. She tells him stories, introduces him to Dickon who he is charmed by as well, and shows him her secret garden. And he makes the change that she did, but it's much more significant for him. It may have literally saved his life. He was ill, and the company and fresh air helps him get better, and like Mary, become a better person.

With The Secret Garden, I can't help but think that the moral is that fresh air is the cure to anything, but maybe it's deeper than that. Maybe instead the moral is that everyone needs friends, even the unlikeliest ones. People to talk to and relate to is truly the cure to anything, whether it's disinterest in the world, or a possibly fatal illness.