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The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1987 David R. Godine edition) Illustrations by Graham Rust

pretty endpapers 9/?

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Illustration by Graham Rust for The Secret Garden

Secret Garden Flatlay (11 editions)

One of my favorite illustrations from one of my favorite books. Mary discovering the secret garden, illustrated by Graham Rust.

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Of Ayahs and Missie Sahibs: Racist? Or simply a product of their time?

In other words: Rereading Frances Hodgson Burnett's works from the perspective of an Indian

From top to bottom:

1. Little Lord Fauntleroy (paperback without illustrations)

2. A Little Princess (paperback without illustrations)

3. The Secret Garden (paperback without illustrations)

4. A Little Princess (hardcover, illustrated in colour by Ethel Franklin Betts)

5. The Secret Garden (paperback, illustrated in colour by Inga Moore) This is a gorgeous edition

6. Little Lord Fauntleroy (harcover, illustrated in colour and B/W by Graham Rust) Beautiful edition, but is out of print

7. A Little Princess (hardcover, illustrated in colour and B/W by Graham Rust) Another lovely edition

Let me begin by telling you that 'The Secret Garden' has been a childhood favourite, so if I say anything against it, 'tis not because I hate it and I want others to dislike it too, quite the opposite. Now that we're done with that, onto business.

I first read 'The Secret Garden' when I was 7 or 8. It was this forest green paperback, printed on thin yellowish paper and tightly bound. There weren't any illustrations and the font was extremely small. Needless to say, it didn't deter me from finishing the book in 2 to 3 hours (I was a fast reader, still am, but only when it comes to reading stories), and because I enjoyed FHB's writing a lot, I decided to look for other books that she had authored, which led me to find 'A Little Princess' and 'Little Lord Fauntleroy'. Both of which I enjoyed quite a lot, although I thought that Fauntleroy was a bit too sweet, not because of his helpful nature, but because of how saccharinely innocent he was portrayed to be, but given that he was 7, I can look past it. A Little Princess was a class apart, I felt that Secret Garden didn't hold a candle to it, Sara was mature, but innocent. Thoughtful, but had a temper. And finally, had a beautifully vast imagination which was the life of the book.

What of the elephant in the room? The Secret Garden starts off in India, Mary Lennox is the daughter of a British officer posted in India and his young and beautiful wife. It's the pre-independence period, and as such, Indians are treated as second class citizens, and such is displayed in the book. Mary calling an Indian woman, 'a daughter of pigs', (Good heavens, that made me cringe so hard. I knew that Mary was the protagonist, but a protagonist without basic human decency? ) Cut to everyone dying of Cholera, Mary's parents, everyone else that lived in that house. Mary is sent to England after this, and that's where the story truly begins. Other than a few racist remarks about Indians, there isn't any mention of them in the book after that. So my question is, instead of being so overtly racist against Indians, couldn't Frances Hodgson Burnett just show that the story took place in British India? And yes, I do know that Mary was a horrible child in the beginning, and her behaviour was supposed to cement that. There were many other ways of showing such, for example, perhaps Burnett could've simply said that Mary flew in cold rages, complemented by an equally bad temper or yelled at the people taking care of her. But I'm not Burnett, so what can I say? Another issue, which bothers me is Mary's character arc, I agree that she helped Colin, and became friends with Dickon and was a better person for that. But Burnett could've also added a scene wherein she feels some sort of guilt or sorrow for how she treated her Indian companions. Instead, we get a scene wherein she talks about an Indian rajah (prince, that is) whose clothing was decorated with pearls and diamonds and other gem stones. Although, the part where she sings Colin to sleep with an Indian lullaby was very very sweet, I really liked that. Frances, my dear, couldn't you have added other similar scenes? :/

'A Little Princess', whose protagonist is the total opposite of Mary. Sara Crewe would've been happy to live in India with her father forever. But he sends her to a school in London, as it was said that Indian weather wasn't good for children (People believed a lot of strange things then, one of them being that skin colour made them superior to the other. Weird.) He sends her there and dies without a penny after 4 years, which leads to the headmistress turning Sara into a servant, and her struggles are depicted beautifully, her pain, her polite defiance, it's all magnificent. Coming back to the point of race, One one of the evenings in the attic that she was banished to live after her father died, as she watched a beautiful sunset, and Indian man with a monkey opens the window right opposite to her room, and the monkey escapes, that's when Sara speaks to him in 'Hindustani' which is most probably Hindi, I mean, how hard is it to know the names of Indian languages when you're writing about a girl that lived in India? But thankfully, there isn't any racism other than that, well, unless you count how Burnett described the Indian Lascar as a poor fellow. But I guess that was just a description of how miserable he felt because of the gloomy british weather, so we'll ignore that.

As for Little Lord Fauntleroy, there is no mention of India at all. Only of the US. The Earl, Cedric's Grandfather is described as a classist, (most probably racist) man who believes that everyone is out after his money. But that's a plot device and a character flaw. I wouldn't say there's any overt racism in this book.

So, what's the conclusion? 'The Little Princess' and 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' are good reads, even in present day, and the minor racism in TLP can be excused as a product of its time. On the other hand, The Secret Garden's first few chapters are overflowing with overt racism, and if children are reading it, they shouldn't be allowed to feel that Mary's actions and words are excusable by any means. That's all I've got to say, CHEERS!