Symbolism Of Gardening In British Imperialism

One of the most prominent symbol in the novel is gardens. Gardens play a huge role in the main character, Mary’s, life. Since the beginning of the novel we see that Mary has always been very interested in gardening. In India she made makeshift gardens all the time as a way to pass the time. Mary’s interest in gardening reflects the late Victorian society’s attitude toward gardening at the time. Gardens were very important to Late Victorian society. Gardening became a very popular hobby very quickly. Many scholars attribute the emergence of gardening to the industrial revolution. The new technologies resulted in unparalleled prosperity which meant rising living standards. Former luxuries were more common, electricity was available in most households

Along with the emergence of gardening came the rise of British imperialism. This played a huge role in the new gardening tend. This is because colonizers not only brought their passion for gardening to new countries by building gardens there but they also brought native plants back to England. According to Gyorgy Toth, “not only did their exotic and lavish gardens constantly remind visitors and owners that they were a part of a vast and glorious kingdom, but they were also a vehicle which fundamentally influenced their thinking about their relationship to life and the world.” Throughout the novel Frances Hodgson Burnett uses the symbol of the garden to comment on British Imperialism. Burnett uses the gardens to show how it is better to stay in Britain and stay out of other countries. In the novel, Mary only improves once she leaves India and starts living in Britain and that exactly what Burnett is trying to say about imperialism. Britain can only get better once they out of other countries. The first time we see gardens used in the novel to express this idea is when Mary tries to make a garden in

The next time we see this idea being expressed, it is with the symbol of the secret garden. The secret garden is the most important garden in Mary’s life. It completely turns her life around. She went from being an angry and ill girl to a happy and healthy one. She then uses what she learned from the garden to help her cousin. She found the garden abandoned and neglected and helped nurse it back to life. The garden represents a place of pure English values that are protected from outside influences by the walls. According to Brittany Griffin, these walls are significant because “Victorian walled gardens were places where gardeners grew young plants safe away from the winds and other harsh outside elements.” The garden keeps the British in and the Indian out, which is exactly what Mary and Britain need to do. Mary learns about her own culture and values and learns to act how British children should act. Burnett uses this to show how Britain should preserve its own culture which will also preserve India’s culture. Before Mary enters the garden she meets a robin who has a nest