Sometime in college
By Dray Breezy
- Introduction
- Female Protagonists and Gender Roles
- It starts at the top!
- The Secret Garden
- Beauty in the Supernatural
- Use Your Imagination
- Mythological Faun Reincarnate
- Exploration can Heal
- Conclusion
Introduction
The Victorian period represents an interesting chapter in the British Imperialism project. The Victorian period altered many of the views and opinions concerning the role of the child and whether or not that role is influenced from literature. Previous to this period, children were more likely to thought of as “little adults” and they were treated as such…hence modern child labor laws. The Victorian era began to reshape this idea and that reshaping is seen in the certain texts written during this time. Consciously or not, authors were imbuing their work with very progressive notions of how children can grow and how they should behave. Authors George MacDonald and Frances Hodgson Burnett, who respectively wrote, The Princess and the Goblin and The Secret Garden represent just two of those many artists. These authors ushered a changing culture regarding children by incorporating groundbreaking concepts into their work. Both of these novels, feature young girl protagonists that find their identity through physical exploration, using that mechanism to solidify their respective messages.
Female Protagonists and Gender Roles
Previous to, and during the Victorian period, Imperial Great Britain was heavily active in not only colonizing the world, but documenting those escapades in the literary canon. Both authors show an intense focus towards the effects, both negative and positive, of the realm of exploration in childhood. The authors specifically chose female protagonists, because that realm was generally unavailable to most women. Gender roles were much more strictly enforced. This growing sphere of female perspective is also noticed in Zahra and H.V.F Winstone’s Explorers of Arabia: from the Renaissance to the end of the Victorian Era which briefly describes the travels of an English woman, Lady Anne, in the Middle East. In this text, the narrator states, “She (Lady Anne) was totally unsentimental, in strong contrast to the popular idea of the Victorian lady at home who was supposed to be incapable of facing the harsher realities of life.” (Winstone, 272) Lady Anne represents one of the many women who were breaking out of the role of domesticity and taking a leading role in the direction of their lives. This included exploration, both foreign and domestic. This change was bound to influence the roles and mindset of children, both MacDonald and Burnett use their novels to explicate how these changing mindsets transformed society overall. The three main themes that are most striking are the two novel’s adult tension with child exploration, the beauty and benevolence of exploration, and the effects exploration has on the external and internal self.
While both of these novels generally allow child protagonists to explore at their will, these adventures often cause conflicts with restrictive adults. In The Princess and the Goblin, the main character Princess Irene, encounters many difficulties while exploring the outside world and the castle where she co-habitates with her nanny/maid Lootie. After Irene sneaks away and visits her great-great-great-great grandmother, which for space’s sake I shall just call her grandmother, she is confronted by Lootie who remarks, “It’s very unkind of you to hide away so long. I began to be afraid…here she checked herself.” (MacDonald, 12) The importance of this quote lies behind the fact that until this point, Irene is completely oblivious to the fact that another species of humans exists which only come out at night. They are called goblins and they are generally feared by most of the population, especially within the royal castle. Goblins are a symbol for the “unknown” or “yet to be explored”. In exempting to tell this information to Irene, Lootie confirms her own fear, projecting the huge tension she and other adults feel towards the unexplored. Instead of relaying the necessary information to Irene about the goblins and allowing her to make her own informed decisions, Lootie chooses to keep Irene in a dangerous but ignorant bliss. Of course this eventually puts Irene directly in harms way.
It starts at the top!
Later in the text, because of Lootie’s incompetence, Irene’s father, the king, discovers Princess Irene was almost kidnapped by goblins. The narrator states, “When in the evening he rode away upon his great white horse, he left six of his attendants behind him, with orders that three of them should watch outside the house every night, walking round and round it from sunset to sunrise. It was clear he was not quite comfortable about the princess.” (35) A king, in any country, embodies the ideologies and values of the people he rules over. Under this premise, if the king has a certain belief that coincides with the people, it most certainly validates that belief. In attaching extra guards around Irene, although she would be much safer if simply informed about the goblins, the king confirms the adult tension his people feel about the goblins. The goblins are unknown so they are to be protected against. Whether or not Irene’s guardians were just being safe or overprotective is for you to decide.
The adult characters in this novel resist child exploration to a point where it affects their emotional composure. After sneaking off and visiting her grandmother a second time, Irene is discovered by Lootie who reiterates, ” We’ve all been crying our eyes out, and searching the house from top to bottom for you.” (50) Once again the author highlights the fear the adults have towards Irene exploring, getting lost or worst, overrides all sense of practicality about the situation. Most young children like to explore, it’s a natural curiosity and what Irene had her mind set on doing.
We see a similar situation in Winstone’s novel. Lady Anne is confronted by the natives of the region she resides, during which she is captured, interrogated, and eventually released. These interactions further cement my thesis that there is a certain tension within ALL adults when it comes to exploration, and that tension transfer more acutely to children because they are deemed as more innocent and in need of more guidance.
The Secret Garden
Burnett takes a more relaxed approach towards adult tension the protagonist Mary receives as it relates to exploration. While in transition from India to England, Mrs. Medlock, the head houseservant comments about Mary, “She’ll have to alter a good deal,” answered Mrs.Medlock. “And, there’s nothing likely to improve children at Misselwaite– if you ask me!” (Burnett, 10) Although there are many exploratory options that Mary can indulge due to the very large estate, Mrs. Medlock does not view those as beneficial to a child. Various times throughout the novel she expresses her wish for Mary to receive a governess whom would tutor her and essentially limit her from copious amounts of time exploring the outdoors. Mrs. Medlock is symbolic of the same adult tension to child exploration as Lootie.
However, exploration is not entirely discouraged by Mary’s adult counterparts. One of the biggest paradox of the novel is when Mary first meets the owner of the house, Mr.Craven, who until this point has been described as only the biggest grouch in England. Mary tells Mr.Craven of all the things she likes to do, all focusing around exploration and gardening, to which Mr.Craven surprisingly remarks, “It’s a big place and you may go where you like and amuse yourself as you like.” (60) An explorer himself, Mr.Craven seems to know the benefits exploration can have upon a child, especially a child as unmolded and raw as Mary.
Beauty in the Supernatural
MacDonalds’s presentation of the beauty of benevolence that exploration can bring a child ultimately manifests itself with the supernatural elements in Irene and Curdie’s journey. When Curdie first enters the goblin’s den, which is composed of sub-surface caves and passages, he finally reaches the “palace hall” in which the Goblin King is rallying the goblins through a speech. Curdie marvels at the architecture, the narration states, “It rose to a tremendous height, but the roof was composed of such shining materials…The walls themselves were, in many parts, of gloriously shining substances, some of them gorgeously coloured besides, which powerfully contrasted with the shadows” (MacDonald, 30). Goblins aside, Curdie is able to appreciate the magnificence of the goblin infrastructure, which he wouldn’t have been able to see had he not indulged his explorative whim.
Use your Imagination
Winstone’s recording of Lady Anne’s diaries show similar conclusions about the beauty of landscape and culture during her Hajj through the Middle East. Anne remarks, “We have been all day in the Nafud, which is interesting beyond our hopes, and charming into the bargain… the view in front of us was beautiful beyond description…the violet-coloured mountains… a wonderful boulder perched like a rocking stone” ( Winstone, 279). This Victorian fascination with the discovery of new worlds through exploration would not doubt influence MacDonalds’s work. While MacDonald is commenting on how child exploration can lead one to see many of the beauties in the world, throughout the novel he subtly implies that it also takes one’s imagination and will to believe in order to see some of the less obvious gems of the world.
Later on in the novel when Irene is speaking to her grandmother about the magical light that illuminates the room, the grandmother claims, ” I will tell you a secret — if that light were to go out you would fancy yourself lying in a bare garret, on a heap of old straw, and would not see one of the pleasant things round about you all the time” (38). The “light” that the grandmother references is Irene’s imagination, and more broadly, a child’s imagination. That imagination allows children to see the hidden beauty in the world. Perhaps children have the ability to manipulate the plain in life and make it beautiful as Irene does with the secret room.
While some children possess this innate imagination, some have to learn, as with Curdie. When Irene first tried to introduce Curdie to her grandmother, Curdie does not seem to see what she sees; when asked what he sees, he retorts, “I see a tub, a heap of musty straw, and a withered apple, and a ray of sunlight coming through a hold in the middle of the roof and shining on your head, and making all the plac look a curious dusky brown. I think you had better drop it, princess, and go down to the nursery, like a good girl” (102). Although Curdie later gains the ability to imagine like Irene, his initial reaction leads the audience to believe that Irene is merely leading them down a hall of lies. However, MacDonald is simply showing the readers the relativity of beauty, and that sometimes it takes a little mental push or shove to see all the beauty that exists in the world. As Irene’s grandmother says, “It is a gift born with you. And one day I hope everybody will have it” (49).
The Secret Garden focuses on how imagination and exploration combine to allow Mary to see the benevolence and beauty of the English land. Coming from a place as fascinating and cultured as India, the reader would jump to conclude that England would provide nothing as new or stimulating as what Mary had encountered in India. However as the novel develops, that summation is quickly contradicted. As the narrator states, “having nothing whatever to do to amuse herself, had set her inactive brain to working and was actually awakening her imagination”, and furthermore, “In India, she had always been too hot and languid and weak to care much about anything, but in this place she was beginning to care and to want to do new things” (Burnett, 46). Under an objective eye, one would say that there is far more to do in India than humanely possible in England, yet for Mary, England catalyses her mind, and more specifically her imagination.
Mythological Faun Reincarnate
It was through her imagination that she began to see all the limitless possibilities for growth, and establish the things she personally viewed as beautiful. The object that was perhaps the pinnacle of her affection was mythological faun reincarnate, a boy known as Dickon. When Martha, Dickon’s brother asks why Mary like him she exclaims, “I think– I think he’s beautiful!” (60) Under analysis one could see why Mary had this response. Dickon, in a sense, represents all things natural, he can supposedly speak to animals, he is very knowledgeable in growing plants and vegetables, and he is generally admired by everyone in town. Dickon becomes a model/symbol for Mary to relate to and adore. Through Dickon, Burnett is allowing Mary to acknowledge the beauty in nature and relish in all its simplicity.
Exploration can Heal
A very strong theme seen in both these novels, which can be traced directly to Victorian principles, is the message that child exploration can lead to both external and internal growth and healing. In The Princess and the Goblin the readers can see how exploration and lack thereof has implicit and almost immediate physical and internal effects upon the protagonist. Before Irene learns of the existence of goblins, Lootie is dragging Irene down the mountainside, falsely believing they’re being pursued by goblins. Irene falls and becomes physically injured. The author did not add this minor detail by mistake. The internal fear that Lootie has of exploration has manifested itself externally upon Irene because Irene is unaware of the threat of the goblins. This sequence of events metaphorically represents the damage that a lack of exploration and growth can have upon a young child.
Many readers would argue that the grandmother is also a symbol for exploration. Various elements of the novel support this claim. When Irene is injured again, she goes to her grandmother, who gives her an ointment. Irene notices that, “The swelling had all gone down; the prick of the blood had vanished.” (MacDonald, 43) As a symbol for exploration, the grandmother literally represents the power to relieve pain. The author takes a literal approach regarding the beneficial reasons for exploration.
MacDonald also focused upon the internal results of child exploration, towards the end of the novel, Irene becomes lost on the mountainside once again, but the magic ring her grandmother gave her guided her to home safely. Once in the comfort of her grandmother’s room Irene notes, “Oh what a lovely haven to reach from the darkness and fear through which she had come” (50). While on the surface it seems Irene is relieved to be home, her statement has a much deeper meaning in regards to child exploration. If her grandmother’s room represents the realm of comfortable exploration, her alluding to the room as a “haven” implies the author’s underlying message. That message is that exploration brings one from “fear” and “darkness” and ignorance, and brings one into the light and truth of the world. The readers can see this idea further compounded when Irene frees Curdie from goblin imprisonment with the help of her grandmother’s magic ring. On a deeper level, Curdie’s imprisonment was also internal, and through Irene freeing him, she broke the barriers between her social class and his, and allowed for understanding, truth and imagination to shine. Curdie’s release from captivity was physical and mental, with Irene first breaking the chain of his mental captivity, and catalyzing his ability to imagine. The introduction of Explorers of Arabia: From the Renaissance to the end of the Victorian Era sums the properties of exploration most accurately, stating, “the Nafud set the traveller a grueling test of physical and emotional stamina” (Winstone, 276). While Lady Anne was challenged both physically and emotionally, her exploration resulted in being a wiser and more mature woman.
Burnett follows similar patterns as MacDonald in relation to the effects child exploration has on the internal and external self. As Mary first begins exploring the outdoors she comments, “But the big breaths of rough fresh air blown over the heather filled her lungs with something which was good for her whole thin, body and whipped some red color into her cheeks and brightened her dull eyes when she did not know anything about it” (Burnett, 20). Immediately the audience is told that Mary’s exploration outdoors is physically beneficial to her. However, in this novel Burnett often seems to imply that exploration has supernatural healing effects, at least physically. As Colin, first established as Mary’s foil, begins to heal, the narrator states, “Each day he grew stronger and could walk more steadily and cover more ground. And each day his belief in magic grew stronger” (90). Burnett is implicitly stating that there are supernatural elements of child exploration that lead to physical healing. Later in the novel, during a conversation between Mary and Dickon, Dickon tells her that he has never been sick or even had a cold. As stated earlier, Dickon is the pinnacle of nature and child exploration, and the author wants the reader to connect Dickon’s inability to get sick with his adventurous, explorative nature.
Colin, who throughout his life had been bed-ridden, also undergoes drastic changes due to his immersion in exploration with Mary and Dickon. Through his journey from being unable to walk and a general displeasure to everyone around him, including his father, to being almost as amiable and gregarious as Dickon. Through Dickon, Burnett makes his strongest argument in favor of the importance of child exploration.
Mary and Colin’s exploration seems to also better them physically while making drastic changes to their personalities. Pre-England Mary was very similar to Colin, and as a result she was generally shunned by society. However, as she began to explore the garden and engage with nature, her personality and appearance improved exponentially. Even she states when first meeting Colin, “I should have detested you before I saw the robin and Dickon” (74). This statement signifies the transition from Old Mary to New Mary. The transition occurred from exploration. Burnett is sending a message to all the children reading her novel, telling them no matter what struggle, physically or emotionally, a little bit of exploration could do a world of good.
Conclusion
It’s clear that both of these authors have strong and unique messages that they wished to send to the children reading their novels. These themes focused upon the positive and negative effects that adults have upon children while trying to shield them from exploration, how exploration can allow children to see the beauty of the world, and how exploration can be beneficial to a child’s inner and outer psyche. These two pieces of work do a superb job of introducing these concepts to both the child and adult reader yet not producing a guide for adults to raise their children. The fact that they indirectly address both children and adults opens at dialogue between both of these groups. Winstone’s work accompanies these two works quite perfectly because while these stories introduce a child’s perspective on issues regarding exploration, Lady Anne’s narrative provides the background for these ideas.
The Victorian belief system drastically differed from modern beliefs about children. Winstone’s work highlights these differences. While all these works accomplish their respective goals efficiently, we must not forget why we read these books to younger generations. The main reason is because these books have great entertainment value , and are entertaining and engaging to both children and adults. I hope they can be appreciated and respected for years to come.