English 2F - Children's Lit
Response #5 - The Secret Garden

Purpose: To analyze the elements of traditional fiction, to identify the potential responses of children to the book, to interpret a work according to the principles of historical and sociocultural theory

Directions: 

Note: The responses are intended to be a way for you to explore ideas that you might later wish to refine in a paper or a discussion.  I will not censor these responses in any way, nor will I grade them on content or grammar (though, like the seminars, they must be coherent and display some measure of critical thinking about the question at hand). You do not have to answer all the questions, nor do you have to confine yourself to these questions.  You can write as much as you want, as long as you meet the minimum length requirements for the assignment

1. Read Frances Hodgson Burnett 's The Secret Garden

2. Review the material on Historical and Sociocultural Theory from Module 5. 

3. Write at least a page analzying the political messages in the text.  Questions to think about:

1.  Gender Roles : How are males and females portrayed in the book?  Are there certain expectations associated with each role?  If so, who fulfills those expectations, and who subverts them? What is the overall effect of Burnett's interpretation of what is male and what is female? What messages do you think young children of the day would have received about gender roles? How might the children of the 21st century respond differently to those messages than Burnett's original audience?
2. Class Distinction :  How are the different classes portrayed in the book?  Are rich people shown in a certain light? What about poor folks? Does Burnett seem to be making any statements about class divisions in this book? If so, how might a young reader respond to those statements? How might a modern audience respond, as opposed to the original audience?
3. Race Interactions and Colonialism: How does the book portray people who are members of the non-dominant race? What does the author suggest about the nature of race relationships (at the time of the book's publication), and about the power imbalances that arise when one culture dominates another, as the English did when they colonized the Indian subcontinent? Does Burnett directly confront questions of race and colonialism, or are the messages more implicit?
3. Authority: How is authority portrayed in the book? How do the children react to authority figures (both in the adult world, among peers, and in the wider world, including the spiritual world) and does Burnett give clues as to how she herself feels about authority figures? Does she seem to suggest that there are some ways of using power that are 'good' and that some are 'bad'?
4. Burnett's life and times: How, specifically, do you think the events of Hodgson's life, and the times in which she lived, influenced the writing of this book? How does Hodgson respond to the events and cultural climate of her times in the book? Be very specific when giving examples of how you see her life's influence in the book.

3. Include at least three quotes from the book to illustrate your ideas.

4. Submit your response to the assignments chamber.

5. Extra Credit Option: Post your response to the extra credit forums, "Response #5 - The Secret Garden ".  You will receive extra credit if you post your response and/or respond to at least one other student's posting.