Prompt Test Readiness: analyze what motivates the main character's behavior
Introduction to the Secret Garden
The Secret Garden has to do with the life of a stubborn and miserable little girl called Mary Lennox. She lives in a large building with her parents, Ayah, and servants in the country of India. After a few days she realizes that her Ayah has died because of a rare disease. This diseases spreads and suddenly everyone in the building dies and poor little Mary Lennox is left alone. A group of officers discover her and they sent Mary to live with her uncle in London, England. She arrives in Misselthwaite Manor and she realizes that her servants aren't that obedient. Her head servant Martha tells Mary that once Mr. Craven's wife (Mary's uncle) had a garden that grew marvelous roses. Once Mrs. Craven sat on top of a tree branch she fell and died. Mr.Craven locked the garden, hid the key, and he makes sure that door will never be open. Later in the story Mary discovers the key and opens the garden which has rose roots growing out of the earth.
What truly motivated Mary's behavior?
In the beginning of the book Mary has such a rude behavior that some of the servants actually wanted to die. In my opinion I think that Mary acted this way because her parents ignored poor little Mistress Mary and her mother only thought about her beauty. At first Mary explains that she hated everything and everyone was because of the hot humid air of India. This terrible air caused her headaches which made her miserable and once she even slapped her Ayah. She hated life and she proved this by stepping on beauty blooming flowers during the beautiful daylight. I think that Mary hated life was because no one payed attention to her. The hot air might have not caused Mary's hatred, I think that the amount of food that Mary ate truly caused her pain. The book mentions that Mary barely ate and when she did she always complained about everything. The last thing that Mary hates is being with other people.
How did the Garden truly change Mary?
I mention in my last sentence that Mary hates being with people and the reason is because of a group of little children. At one point in the story Mary had to live with a miller and his family. The kids in this family used to annoy her by singing "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary" and truly made Mary contrary. When Mary arrived in the Manor the gardens in the house changed her because all she needed was cool clean air. After two months in the manor Mary cared more about people and she lived her life to the fullest. She enjoyed life and the person who inspired Mary was Martha's brother Dickson. Dickson is like an animal charmer and he made sure that Mary enjoyed life instead hating it. She mentions that she cares about Martha, Dickson, Martha's Mother, Ben Weatherstaff, and the beautiful robin. Martha told Mary that if she keeps hating life she'll end up like her uncle Mr. Craven. Those are the people that motivated Mary's behavior.
I put a picture of a red-chest robin because this little guy was the first friend that Mary ever made. This bird almost acts humans because he starts conversations with his chirping. He also lightens up people's day by landing on their shoulder or simply occupying them to their next destination. This bird even lighten up the day of poor cranky Ben Weatherstaff.
This week I will comment on Maria, Stanley, and Jesus's Blogs.
You wrote a very descriptive blog most, like always. It's a great thing. I don't really like this Mary character. Even though she is upset of what has happened, she should be the good person and treat the servants right. She didn't have to be nice to them, but at least treat them with respect. Nice job,
ReplyDeleteThis book really shows the impact of nature! I loved reading and picturing her garden in my head.
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