How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Does tha' think," said Colin with dreamy carefulness, "as happen it was made loike this 'ere all o' purpose for me?"
"My word!" cried Mary admiringly, "that there is a bit o' good Yorkshire. Tha'rt shapin' first-rate—that tha' art." (21.6)
Colin is actually from Yorkshire—after all, he was born in Misselthwaite Manor—but he doesn't talk like he's from Yorkshire because his social class is higher than that of, say, the Sowerbys. He talks like an educated (and isolated) English kid.
So when Colin decides to talk in a Yorkshire accent, it seems to symbolize his new closeness to nature and to the land where he was born. He is literally going back to his roots: it's only when Colin first goes to the Secret Garden that he uses a Yorkshire accent to ask if the beautiful day and the lovely scenery "was made loike this 'ere all o' purpose for" him. Still, we've gotta say—it's a little self-centered of Colin to think this beautiful land has been made on purpose just for him.
Quote #8
When I was going to try to stand that first time Mary kept saying to herself as fast as she could, 'You can do it! You can do it!' and I did. I had to try myself at the same time, of course, but her Magic helped me—and so did Dickon's. Every morning and evening and as often in the daytime as I can remember I am going to say, 'Magic is in me! Magic is making me well! I am going to be as strong as Dickon, as strong as Dickon!' And you must all do it, too. That is my experiment Will you help, Ben Weatherstaff?" (23.41)
After his abandonment by Dr. Craven, Mrs. Medlock, and all of the servants at the Manor (partly thanks to his own over-the-top tantrums), Colin gets really sick. Now that Mary has introduced Colin to the Secret Garden, he has the chance to form new ties with Mary, Dickon, and Ben Weatherstaff. If isolation and abandonment can literally make you sick in this book, it makes sense that friendship can do just as much to make you better.
Quote #9
"I won't have people whispering and asking questions and I won't let my father hear about it until the experiment has quite succeeded. Then sometime when he comes back to Misselthwaite I shall just walk into his study and say 'Here I am; I am like any other boy. I am quite well and I shall live to be a man. It has been done by a scientific experiment.'"
"He will think he is in a dream," cried Mary. "He won't believe his eyes."
Colin flushed triumphantly. He had made himself believe that he was going to get well, which was really more than half the battle, if he had been aware of it. And the thought which stimulated him more than any other was this imagining what his father would look like when he saw that he had a son who was as straight and strong as other fathers' sons. (23.85-87)
We sympathize with Colin's sense of drama here. When you've been working really hard on something, it's natural to imagine exactly how you'll reveal your big surprise to the people whose opinions matter most to you.