How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You are going to be sent home," Basil said to her, "at the end of the week. And we're glad of it."
"I am glad of it, too," answered Mary. "Where is home?"
"She doesn't know where home is!" said Basil, with seven-year-old scorn. "It's England, of course. Our grandmama lives there and our sister Mabel was sent to her last year. You are not going to your grandmama. You have none. You are going to your uncle. His name is Mr. Archibald Craven." (2.8-10)
"Home" is a strange way for bratty Basil to talk about England, a place that neither he nor Mary have ever seen. Basil has grown up in India just like Mary has, but for him, England is still the place where he imagines he belongs. And in fact, Mary does finally start growing up into a better kid when she is "back" in England. So Frances Hodgson Burnett appears to agree that, somehow, because Mary's parents were British, that Mary truly "belongs" in England.
What do you think of this idea? How do the concepts of "home" and "country" overlap in this book?
Quote #2
"She is such a plain child," Mrs. Crawford said pityingly, afterward. "And her mother was such a pretty creature. She had a very pretty manner, too, and Mary has the most unattractive ways I ever saw in a child. The children call her 'Mistress Mary Quite Contrary,' and though it's naughty of them, one can't help understanding it."
"Perhaps if her mother had carried her pretty face and her pretty manners oftener into the nursery Mary might have learned some pretty ways too. It is very sad, now the poor beautiful thing is gone, to remember that many people never even knew that she had a child at all." (2.15-16)
We know that Mary starts out The Secret Garden as a selfish little brat. But the book is also careful to link Mary's horrible behavior at the beginning of the novel to neglect. Mary's mother may have been pretty to look at, but she spent almost no time with her daughter at all—she was clearly prettier on the outside than on the inside. It's only once Mary finds a new, warmer, more sociable home that she starts to take an interest in the world around her.
Quote #3
"It's th' air of th' moor that's givin' thee stomach for tha' victuals," answered Martha. "It's lucky for thee that tha's got victuals as well as appetite. There's been twelve in our cottage as had th' stomach an' nothin' to put in it. You go on playin' you out o' doors every day an' you'll get some flesh on your bones an' you won't be so yeller." (5.5)
The Secret Garden presents a big contrast between Mary's life and Martha's. Mary never has to worry about the basics like food, water, or shelter, and when her parents die, she has a super-rich (though pretty weird) uncle to take her in. But Martha's family is poor. They do have to worry—all the time—about finding food. Yet, the fact that they all have to work together to survive actually bonds them together: Martha's family may be poor, but they are happy in a way that Mary has to learn.
What do you think Burnett is trying to say about what makes people happy? Why do you think that she includes Martha as a point of contrast with Mary? Martha's name is even a variation on Mary's.