History Literature / TheSecretGarden

* TooDumbToLive: Mary's mother might have survived the cholera outbreak if she hadn't delayed her escape to attend a dinner party. {{Lampshaded}} by the young officer that reminds her that she should have fled ''over two weeks ago.'' She even calls herself a fool for it.

!!Other adaptations contain examples of the following tropes:

* AdaptationExpansion: The anime series runs through 39 episodes, so it has to stretch the story quite a bit: more emphasis is put on Mary's initial difficulties to adapt herself to the mansion (i.e she has a ''very'' tearful HeroicBSOD after meeting Archibald and mistakenly believing he doesn't care about her person), the rest of the Sowerby family is given more spotlight, Colin ''is'' actually ill rather than spoiled and hypochondriac, some {{canon foreigner}}s join the cast and turn out to be ''vital'' to the last parts of the story, etc.
* AgeLift: The 1987 movie BookEnds the story with grown-up versions of Mary and Colin.
* AngstySurvivingTwin: The 2020 film makes this the cause of Mary's ParentalNeglect. Her mother lost her sister to a terminal illness and was always too depressed to be around Mary, who reminded her of said sister.
* BreakTheCutie: In the anime version, [[spoiler: Camilla and Max Hawkins]] were horribly broken in their backstories, which also [[spoiler: influences Max in his revenge quest against Archibald.]] Not to mention, we get to see ''exactly'' how badly [[spoiler: Lillias's DeathByChildbirth broke Mr. Craven himself...]]
* CastingGag: Creator/ColinFirth played adult Colin in the 1987 movie and went on to play Archibald Craven (Colin's father) in the 2020 version.
* CuteKitten: In the anime, Mary has a kitten named Patty, the only thing Mary treats with a shred of kindness prior to her CharacterDevelopment.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Dickon]], in the 1987 film version. [[spoiler: He and Colin both enlisted in the British Army for WWI, while Mary joined the Nurse Corps. Dickon was killed in action in the Argonne Forest while Colin comes home with a wound that gives him a limp.]]
* DelicateAndSickly: In the anime series, Colin ''is'' actually ill and crippled. [[spoiler: And ''he almost dies'' at some point.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: In the anime, [[spoiler: when it seems [[ImpoverishedPatrician he's about to lose the manor to Hawkins and be economically ruined]], Archibald Craven makes arrangements for Mary's and Colin's caretaking and gets ready to blow his brains off with a gun while staring at a picture of his dear Lillias. He backs off at the last moment.]]
* FramingDevice: The 1987 movie begins with Mary as a young woman returning to the manor and encountering Ben. The story is then told in flashbacks before returning to the present, where an equally grown-up Colin joins her and proposes to her.
* IronicNurseryTune: "Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary" is briefly used in the anime, where a boy taunts Mary with it in the first episode.
* KissingCousins: Averted in the 1987 version, which changes Mr. Craven from Mary's uncle to an old family friend who agreed to take her in.
* LoveHurts: In the anime, and how. Not only did Archibald cross the DespairEventHorizon when his dear Lillias died, but [[spoiler: Camilla and Max Hawkins become StarCrossedLovers as well.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: In the anime series Lillias was ''much'' younger than Archibald (she looked no older than 25 while the younger Archibald looked almost exactly like his present and older self save for his still not white hair), [[HappilyMarried yet they still clearly adored each other.]] It would explain a lot about how hard he took her death.
* MissingMom: While both Mary's parents are dead, she tends to think of her mother more often than her father.
** Also ''very'' cranked up in the anime series, where Colin's mom Lillias is painted as MessianicArchetype and [[FromBadToWorse things got horrible in the manor]] [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth immediately after she died]]. Also, at the start, Mary is seen singing a song and then thinking of both her mother and her nanny but not about her dad.
* {{Motifs}}: The 1987 film particularly likes FlowerMotifs.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Mary, rather jarringly, has a [[DeepSouth Texan]] American accent in the 1987 version. Occasionally she can be heard trying for a British accent, but it just doesn't work. There's also that one scene where she attempts a Yorkshire accent...
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: In the Broadway Recording, you can tell that the actors tried really hard with their Yorkshire and RP accents, but they're still pretty cringeworthy.
%%ZCE * RainRainGoAway
* RelationshipUpgrade: Mary and Colin get engaged at the conclusion of the 1987 movie.
* SettingUpdate: The 2020 version is set in 1947 as opposed to the customary Edwardian setting. The filmmakers believed that the original time period was too remote for modern kids but also noted that it couldn't take place in the present day because the story relies on [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist social services not existing]]. And since 1947 was the last year in which UsefulNotes/TheRaj existed, keeping Mary's original backstory was probably also a factor.
* SingleMindedTwins: Dickon and Martha's youngest siblings in the anime series.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth:
** The 1987 Hallmark adaptation invoked this ''[[spoiler: by killing off Dickon]]!''
** Lillias, in the anime series.
* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: The 1987 version made the Cravens old family friends of Mary's parents, in order for Colin to be PromotedToLoveInterest while avoiding KissingCousins.
* WhyDidntIThinkOfThat: Mary has a moment of this when thinking why nobody likes her. Martha suggests that Mary does not like herself very much and indeed she does not; Mary says that she had never thought of that before.

[[DerivativeWorks/TheSecretGarden See here]] for HomePage/DerivativeWorks.

!!The various adaptations have included:
* ''The Secret Garden'' (1919), starring Lila Lee. Very little is known about this film, as it's thought to be lost.
* ''The Secret Garden'' (1949), starring Margaret [=O'Brien=] and a very young Creator/DeanStockwell. This film was done mostly in black-and-white, but made use of Technicolor for the garden segments, in a move similar to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
* ''The Secret Garden'' (1975), a [=TV=] series starring Sarah Hollis Andrews. This series remained extremely faithful to the source material and kept most of the characters and plot threads that other adaptations tend to excise, most prominently Susan Sowerby and her children.
* ''[[https://youtu.be/DBa7CcfdbHQ The Secret Garden]]'' (1987), an episode of the Series/HallmarkHallOfFame [=TV=] series starring Gennie James. Notorious because a certain someone undergoes a DeathByAdaptation.
* ''The Secret Garden'' (1991), a musical version that premiered on Broadway. This version placed more emphasis on the adults, with much of the plot being narrated by a ghostly chorus of "Dreamers". It also expands the plot considerably, up to adding in a primary conflict in the form of Archibald Craven's brother Dr. Neville Craven, who was in a love triangle with his own brother and Lillias, and is charged with both keeping Colin healthy and keeping the estate in order while Archibald is away.
* ''Anime/HimitsuNoHanazono'' (1992-1993), an anime series starring Creator/MinaTominaga as Mary as well as several other well-known seiyuu. Like the musical version, it expands the story quite a bit, focusing a lot on four elements: the Sowerby family (and not only Susan, but also her youngest kids); Lillias Craven's personality and her influence around those who surrounded her; Colin's notoriously frailer-than-in-other-adaptations health, and his long and difficult way to physical recovery with Dickon and Mary's help; and the {{Canon Foreigner}}s Camilla (a UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} young woman who acts as Mary's CoolBigSis), and Maximilian "Max" Hawkins (an accountant who used to work for the Cravens). Not to be confused with ''Series/HimitsuNoHanazono'', a Japanese comedy.
* ''Film/TheSecretGarden1993'', starring Kate Maberly and directed by Agnieszka Holland. This is probably the most well-known of the films. The film features excellent cinematography, a haunting mood, and Creator/MaggieSmith in the role of Mrs. Medlock.
* ''The Secret Garden'' (2017), an OELManga published by Seven Seas Entertainment.
* ''The Secret Garden'' (2020), starring Dixie Egerickx and directed by Marc Munden. It also features Creator/JulieWalters as Mrs. Medlock and Creator/ColinFirth as Archibald Craven. The time period is changed from the original Edwardian setting to 1947, with the beginning now taking place in the context of UsefulNotes/ThePartitionOfIndia.
* ''The Secret Garden''/''Le jardin secret'' (2021), A French ComicBookAdaptation published by Creator/{{Dargaud}} and in English by Creator/EuropeComics.
* ''The Secret Garden'' (2021), A GraphicNovel published by Andrews [=McMeel=] Publishing
----

* AdaptationExpansion: The 1987 film version adds an epilogue where the characters are adult and Colin proposes to Mary (in which them being cousins was changed to not being related) and [[DeathByAdaptation Dickon apparently died in the war.]]
* AdaptationalJerkass: Mrs. Medlock is portrayed as even meaner in the 1993 film version than the book. In the book, Mrs. Medlock is happy and accepting of the influence that Mary has on Colin. In the 1993 film, she remains sceptical and crass towards Mary, refuses to believe Colin is getting any better, and at one point attempts to lock Mary in her room and forbid her from even seeing Colin. There's even a scene where she lashes out and slaps Martha. As in the book, however, she does get better at the end and is happy when she realises Colin truly did get better.

* ArcWords: "The Magic" and "I shall live for ever and ever!"

* BerserkButton:
** Colin hates it when people look at him.
** He also has one connected to finding lumps on his back [[spoiler: until Mary tells him in no uncertain terms that he doesn't have any.]]

* BigFancyHouse: Misselthwaite Manor.

* TheCaretaker: Mrs. Medlock.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Despite the general demeanor of the story's two leads, it still manages to play this one straight.
* ComingOfAgeStory: For both Colin and Mary.
* CoolBigSis: Martha, to Mary as well as literally for Dickon.
* CreepyChild: Most adults see the very still, quiet, and sour Mary as this before her CharacterDevelopment.
* CrustyCaretaker: Ben Weatherstaff.

* DeathByChildbirth: Oh, Lillias. Falling out of a tree when pregnant didn't really help, either.
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Averted with Mary's parents. While they weren't horrible people, the book doesn't gloss over how they neglected her. Played straight with Colin's mother.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Mary.
* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Colin, before his CharacterDevelopment.

* FreeRangeChildren: Martha's family runs on this.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Dickon.
* FriendlessBackground: Both Mary and Colin.
* FunetikAksent: The Yorkshire accents, which Mary thinks is a different language at first. By the end of the story, she becomes so fond of Martha's family that she tries to speak with this accent herself.

** Ben Weatherstaff, who believes that he and Mary are not so different.
** Mary and Colin themselves. The difference is that they don't end the book that way.
* LonelyRichKid: Mary and Colin, full stop.
* LonersAreFreaks: Mary and Archibald Craven are regarded as this at the beginning, the former because she prefers to play by herself and the latter for living alone in a huge mansion with no visitors and the doors all shut up.
* TheLostLenore: Lilias, the deceased owner of the titular garden, was lost through DeathByChildbirth.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Dickon serves as a ''male'' version of this for both Mary and Colin. Until he shows up, his sister Martha is a good ManicPixieDreamGirl for Mary.

** Playing outdoors and hearty food is what nurses Mary and Colin to health, and the only mention of Magic is easily chalked up to the children's imagination. However, it is implied, especially in the final chapter when Archibald Craven is overcome by a need to return to Misselthwaite, that Lilias's spirit is working to reunite her husband and son and bring life back to the manor.
** The robin who leads Mary to the garden and finding the key opens the gate. Was it just coincidence or is the robin the reincarnation of Lilias, guiding Mary to the garden itself?

** Archibald Craven is a weak, sickly hunchback.

** Lilias Craven, victim of DeathByChildbirth.

* OddFriendship: Mary's friendship with Dickon.

* ThePowerOfFriendship

* ShipTease: Mary and Dickon briefly get this in the 1993 movie. Colin asks them to sit on a swing so he can take a picture of them, which results in Mary and Dickon sharing a HeldGaze. Colin even becomes jealous at the sight and yells at them to avert their attention.
* ShroudedInMyth: Archibald is reputed to be a dreadful-looking hunchback, but when Mary meets him in person he's revealed to be normal-looking, with high and crooked shoulders. Colin is reputed to be a hunchback as well, and unable to walk due to malformed legs, when actually he's just a sickly boy who is so spoiled the servants never try to get him walking.

* TeamMom: Mrs. Susan Sowerby, so very much.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Physical or otherwise. Good thing they [[HappyEnding don't need them]]. Not that Colin wanted them around anyway.

* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: Ben Weatherstaff. Mary is shocked by how much nicer he looks just by smiling.

* ''Himitsu no Hanazono'' (1992-1993), an anime series starring Creator/MinaTominaga as Mary as well as several other well-known seiyuu. Like the musical version, it expands the story quite a bit, focusing a lot on four elements: the Sowerby family (and not only Susan, but also her youngest kids); Lillias Craven's personality and her influence around those who surrounded her; Colin's notoriously frailer-than-in-other-adaptations health, and his long and difficult way to physical recovery with Dickon and Mary's help; and the {{Canon Foreigner}}s Camilla (a UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} young woman who acts as Mary's CoolBigSis), and Maximilian "Max" Hawkins (an accountant who used to work for the Cravens). Not to be confused with ''Series/HimitsuNoHanazono'', a Japanese comedy.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Playing outdoors and hearty food is what nurses Mary and Colin to health, and the only mention of Magic is easily chalked up to the children's imagination. However, it is implied, especially in the final chapter when Archibald Craven is overcome by a need to return to Misselthwaite, that Lilias's spirit is working to reunite her husband and son and bring life back to the manor.

** Colin hates when people look at him.
** He also has one connected to finding lumps on his back [[spoiler:until Mary tells him in no uncertain terms that he doesn't have any.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: Dr. Craven stands to inherit Misselthwaite if Colin dies. He apparently does have hopes in this direction, and Colin thinks the Doctor wants him dead. Nevertheless, we see that's he's honestly doing his best to treat the boy to the best of his abilities.

* HopeSproutsEternal: Mary's efforts to bring the long-neglected secret garden back to life leads to her own redemption and character growth.
* ImStandingRightHere: Mary's caretaker and Mrs Medlock openly discuss how plain and ugly Mary is, and how unlikely she is to improve, while she's within earshot. Mary doesn't care.

* LonersAreFreaks: Mary and Archibald Craven are regarded as this at the beginning. The former because she prefers to play by herself, and the latter for living alone in a huge mansion with no visitors and the doors all shut up.
* TheLostLenore: Lilias, the deceased owner of the titular garden, lost through DeathByChildbirth.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Playing outdoors and hearty food is what nurses Mary and Colin to health, and the only mention of Magic is easily chalked up to the children's imagination. However, it is implied, especially in the final chapter when Archibald Craven is overcome by a need to return to Misselthwaite, that Lilias' spirit is working to reunite her husband and son, and bring life back to the manor.

* NiceToTheWaiter: Averted by Mary, who used to hit her servants. Since they only wanted to keep her quiet and out of her mother's way, she learned to manipulate them young. In a way, this is symbolic of Mary's CharacterDevelopment. At the end, Mary is a much better person and obviously considers her maid, Martha, to be a friend.
* NoAntagonist: The novel has no villains, only people with differing priorities who need to learn to get along with each other. At one point Colin accuses Dr Craven of plotting to do away with him since he stands to inherit the Craven estate if Colin dies, but the narrator makes clear that although Dr Craven wouldn't mind inheriting he takes his profession seriously and is genuinely trying his best to help Colin.

* OldRetainer: Ben Weatherstaff. Lillias charged him with taking care of the roses in her garden, [[spoiler:and he was so devoted to following her orders that, even after Archibald ordered the garden to be locked up, Ben continued to get in by climbing over the wall.]]
* ParentalNeglect: Mary's parents died from a deadly plague, but even before that they were distant and didn't care much about her. Many of her parents' acquaintances in India are unaware that they have a daughter at all. Colin is distanced from Archibald, and we all know what happened with Lillias.

* BreakTheCutie: In the anime version, [[spoiler:Camilla and Max Hawkins]] were horribly broken in their backstories, which also [[spoiler:influences Max in his revenge quest against Archibald.]] Not to mention, we get to see ''exactly'' how badly [[spoiler:Lillias's DeathByChildbirth broke Mr. Craven himself...]]

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Dickon]], in the 1987 film version. [[spoiler:He and Colin both enlisted in the British Army for WWI, while Mary joined the Nurse Corps. Dickon was killed in action in the Argonne Forest, while Colin comes home with a wound that gives him a limp.]]
* DelicateAndSickly: In the anime series, Colin ''is'' actually ill and crippled. [[spoiler:And ''he almost dies'' at some point.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: In the anime, [[spoiler:when it seems [[ImpoverishedPatrician he's about to lose the manor to Hawkins and be economically ruined]], Archibald Craven makes arrangements for Mary and Colin's caretaking and gets ready to blow his brains off with a gun while staring at a picture of his dear Lillias. He backs off at the last moment.]]

* LoveHurts: In the anime, and how. Not only did Archibald cross the DespairEventHorizon when his dear Lillias died, but [[spoiler:Camilla and Max Hawkins become StarCrossedLovers as well.]]

** Also ''very'' cranked up in the anime series, where Colin's mom Lillias is painted as MessianicArchetype and [[FromBadToWorse things got horrible in the manor]] [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth immediately after she died]]. Also, at the start Mary is seen singing a song and then thinking of both her mother and her nanny, but not about her dad.

** The 1987 Hallmark adaptation invoked this ''[[spoiler:by killing off Dickon]]!''

* WhyDidntIThinkOfThat: Mary has a moment of this, when thinking why nobody likes her. Martha suggests that Mary does not like herself very much, and indeed she does not; Mary says that she had never thought of that before.

* ''The Secret Garden'' (1949), starring Margaret [=O'Brien=]. This film was done mostly in black-and-white, but made use of Technicolor for the garden segments, in a move similar to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.

** Martha who is not used to working for the gentry, frequently tells Mary (who still expects help getting dressed at age nine) that Martha's four-year-old sister can look after herself better. She also compares wealthy kids, who are taken for walks by a nurse rather than playing on their own, to puppies.

The book is in the Public Domain and [[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/113 available for legal download]]. There is even a [[http://librivox.org/the-secret-garden-by-frances-hodgson-burnett/ free Audiobook available at Librivox]].

** He also has one connected to finding lumps on his back [[spoiler: until Mary tells him in no uncertain terms that he doesn't have any.]]

* BreakTheCutie: In the anime version, [[spoiler: Camilla and Max Hawkins]] were horribly broken in their backstories, which also [[spoiler: influences Max in his revenge quest against Archibald.]] Not to mention, we get to see ''exactly'' how badly [[spoiler: Lillias's DeathByChildbirth broke Mr. Craven himself...]]

* DelicateAndSickly: In the anime series, Colin ''is'' actually ill and crippled. [[spoiler: And ''he almost dies'' at some point.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: In the anime, [[spoiler: when it seems [[ImpoverishedPatrician he's about to lose the manor to Hawkins and be economically ruined]], Archibald Craven makes arrangements for Mary and Colin's caretaking and gets ready to blow his brains off with a gun while staring at a picture of his dear Lillias. He backs off at the last moment.]]

* LoveHurts: In the anime, and how. Not only did Archibald cross the DespairEventHorizon when his dear Lillias died, but [[spoiler: Camilla and Max Hawkins become StarCrossedLovers as well.]]

* IllBoy: In the anime series, Colin ''is'' actually ill and crippled. [[spoiler: And ''he almost dies'' at some point.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: How did the garden manage to last, even after having been locked away and untended for ten years? [[spoiler:It turns out that it ''hasn't'' been untended for all that time; Ben Weatherstaff has been climbing over the garden wall with his ladder carry out its upkeep.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: How did the garden manage to last, even after having been locked away for so many years? [[spoiler:It turns out Ben Weatherstaff has been climbing over the garden wall with his ladder to tend to it.]]

* IllBoy: Colin Craven, however there's nothing physically wrong with him, most of his illnesses are caused by hysterics and his own morbid thoughts.

First published in 1911,[[note]]in book form—it was actually first published as a magazine serial in autumn 1910, with installments continuing into 1911[[/note]] ''The Secret Garden'', by Creator/FrancesHodgsonBurnett, is a children's novel and has since been adapted into [[TheFilmOfTheBook several television and movie versions]], as well as a musical and an anime series.

* ''The Secret Garden'' (1975), a [=TV=] series starring Sarah Hollis Andrews. This series remained extremely faithful to the source material, and kept most of the characters and plot threads that other adaptations tend to excise, most prominently Susan Sowerby and her children.

* ''Himitsu no Hanazono'' (1992-1993), an anime series starring Creator/MinaTominaga as Mary as well as several other well known seiyuu. Like the musical version it expands the story quite a bit, focusing a lot on four elements: the Sowerby family (and not only Susan, but also her youngest kids); Lillias Craven's personality and her influence around those who surrounded her; Colin's notoriously frailer-than-in-other-adaptations health, and his long and difficult way to physical recovery with Dickon and Mary's help; and the {{Canon Foreigner}}s Camilla (a UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} young woman who acts as Mary's CoolBigSis), and Maximilian "Max" Hawkins (an accountant who used to work for the Cravens). Not to be confused with ''Series/HimitsuNoHanazono'', a Japanese comedy.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Martha gives off this vibe. Mary once considers slapping her like she did to her servants in India, but thinks better of it because Martha "seemed like she might slap back".

* CultureClash: Mary struggles with this when she first moves to England, since she's used to how things are done in India.

* DownerBeginning: The book opens with Mary's entire household ([[ParentalAbandonment including her parents]]) dying of the cholera.

* FunetikAksent: The Yorkshire accents, which Mary thinks is a different language at first. By the end of the story she becomes so fond of Martha's family that she tries to speak with this accent herself.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Playing outdoors and hearty food is what nurses Mary and Colin to health, and the only mention of Magic is easily chalked up to the children's imagination. However it is implied, especially in the final chapter when Archibald Craven is overcome by a need to return to Misselthwaite, that Lilias' spirit is working to reunite her husband and son, and bring life back to the manor.

* NoAntagonist: The novel has no villains, only people with differing priorities who need to learn to get along with each other. At one point Colin accuses Dr Craven of plotting to do away with him, since he stands to inherit the Craven estate if Colin dies, but the narrator makes clear that although Dr Craven wouldn't mind inheriting he takes his profession seriously and is genuinely trying his best to help Colin.

* AdaptationExpansion: The anime series runs through 39 episodes, so it has to stretch the story quite a bit: more emphasis is put on Mary's initial difficulties to adapt herself to the mansion (i.e she has a ''very'' tearful HeroicBSOD after meeting Archibald and mistakenly believing he doesn't care about her person), the rest of the Sowerby family is given more spotlight, Colin ''is'' actually ill rather than spoiled and hypocondriac, some {{canon foreigner}}s join the cast and turn out to be ''vital'' to the lasdt parts of ther story, etc.

* AngstySurvivingTwin: The 2020 film makes this the cause of Mary's ParentalNeglect. Her mother lost her sister to a terminal illness, and was always too depressed to be around Mary, whom reminded her of said sister.

* MayDecemberRomance: In the anime series Lillias was ''much'' younger than Archibald (she looked no older than 25 while past!Archibald looked almost exactly like his present and older self save for his still not white hair), [[HappilyMarried yet they still clearly adored each other.]] It would explain a lot about how hard he took her death.

* RainRainGoAway

* ''The Secret Garden'' (2021), A GraphicNovel published by Andrews McMeel Publishing

* OldRetainer: Ben Weatherstaff. Lillias charged him with taking care of the roses in her garden, and he was so devoted to following her orders that, even after Archibald ordered the garden to be locked up, Ben continued to get in by climbing over the wall.