How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Do you understand everything birds say?" said Mary.
Dickon's grin spread until he seemed all wide, red, curving mouth, and he rubbed his rough head.
"I think I do, and they think I do," he said. "I've lived on th' moor with 'em so long. I've watched 'em break shell an' come out an' fledge an' learn to fly an' begin to sing, till I think I'm one of 'em. Sometimes I think p'raps I'm a bird, or a fox, or a rabbit, or a squirrel, or even a beetle, an' I don't know it." (9.83-85)
Dickon loves animals so much that he feels like he is one. Still, his animal-like traits—his innocence, and his love of being outside all the time—also means that he doesn't seem that easy to talk to about human stuff. For example, we doubt that Mary has spent a lot of time chatting with him about her history in India, or about her parents. All of their dialogue in this novel focuses primarily on nature and the life cycles of living things.
It's hard to imagine what Dickon would be like at school or at a job or as an adult more generally. Of course, that may be part of the point: this book is like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Peter Pan in that it sets up a separate, special, protected world just for kids.
Quote #8
"I'm sure you wouldn't mind [Dickon]," said Mary.
"The birds don't and other animals," he said, still thinking it over, "perhaps that's why I shouldn't. He's a sort of animal charmer and I am a boy animal."
Then he laughed and she laughed too; in fact it ended in their both laughing a great deal and finding the idea of a boy animal hiding in his hole very funny indeed. (15.16-18)
This description Colin uses for himself—that he's a "boy animal"—is pretty far from his previous pose as a king of all of the lowly servants around him. Colin's willingness to be charmed by Dickon, the same way Dickon's bird and pony and lamb have been, shows that he's starting to let go of some of his more stuck-up and entitled ideas. At least, he's willing to make an exception for Dickon, He's still pretty bossy and unpleasant to Martha and his nurse and the other Misselthwaite Manor servants.
Quote #9
"Tha's doin' Magic thysel'," [Dickon] said. "It's same Magic as made these 'ere work out o' th' earth," and he touched with his thick boot a clump of crocuses in the grass.
Colin looked down at them.
"Aye," he said slowly, "there couldna' be bigger Magic than that there—there couldna' be." (22.10-12)
When Colin first stands up, he thinks that Dickon's doing magic. But no, reassures Dickon, the magic is all Colin's—he's doing the same magic that makes plants grow out of the ground.
We talk about Colin's cure in the "Characters" section, so here we plan to chat about the plant half of this passage. We just want to say: Nature isn't all fun plants growing out of the ground. Plants are tough guys, and they have all kinds of natural defense systems to fight back against animals and insects that might eat or destroy them. Sure, we're not saying that your lawn is about to rise up and attack you, but Frances Hodgson Burnett's view of nature lacks any sense of the struggle that plants (and animals) have to go through to survive and thrive.