From Folktales to Fiction: Orphan Characters in Children's Literature

Library Trends, Wntr, 1999 by Melanie A. Kimball

Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden was first published in 1911 and has remained a beloved fixture of children's literature ever since. It has been published many times over and has been the subject of numerous movie, television, and stage versions. The story of orphaned Mary Lennox is familiar to many readers, and it is a good representative example of the type of orphan story popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which makes it ideal for the purpose of comparison with the folktales in the study.

CHARACTERS

The central character in The Secret Garden is Mary Lennox. Mary's psychic isolation is mirrored in her actual physical isolation from her parents even while she lives with them. From the time of her birth she is "kept out of the way," taken care of by Indian servants. She develops into a tyrant, loved by no one, isolated physically and psychically because she is so unpleasant. She is, in essence, an untouchable. When her parents die, her isolation is made quite literal:

   It was in that strange and sudden way that Mary found out that she had
   neither father nor mother left; that they had died and been carried away in
   the night, and that the few native servants who had not died also had left
   the house as quickly as they could get out of it, none of them even
   remembering that there was a Missie Sahib. That was why the place was so
   quiet. It was true that there was no one in the bungalow but herself and
   the little rustling snake. (p. 9)

The other character who could be considered an orphan is Colin Craven, Mary's cousin. Although he does not fit the definition imposed on the folktales in this study, he does fit the dictionary definition of an orphan. Colin's mother died at his birth, but his father is still alive. His father is seldom home and rarely visits the bedridden Colin. Colin parallels Mary in his physical isolation from everyone in the house. His fear of death and deformity causes self-inflicted separation from other people. His selfish spoiled nature further isolates him. Colin is also the Enchanted Prince,(2) under a spell until he is freed by Mary and the helper figures in the story.

There is a third character in The Secret Garden who, although not an orphan, is just as isolated as Mary and Colin. Mr. Craven is devastated by his wife's death. He blames his son for causing her death and can barely stand to be in the same room with him. He is constantly away from home, seeking diversion by moving restlessly from place to place. He mirrors Colin in the role of Enchanted Prince. His anguish has made him just as much a prisoner as if he were locked away physically:

   He had not been courageous; he had never tried to put any other thoughts in
   the place of the dark ones.... A terrible sorrow had fallen upon him when
   he had been happy and he had let his soul fill itself with blackness and
   had refused obstinately to allow any rift of light to pierce through ...
   darkness so brooded over him that the sight of him was a wrong done to
   other people because it was as if he poisoned the air about him with gloom.
   (p. 356)