Line #105 Characters/TheSecretGarden


1	Here are the characters for the book ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'':
2
3	See [[Characters/HimitsuNoHanazono here]] for characters from the anime adaptation.
4	----
5	!!Mary Lennox
6
7	A child born to British elites in India. Her parents foisted her off on servants with orders to keep her quiet and out of the way. As a result, she quite quickly learned how to get her way in everything, and has become quite the SpoiledBrat. She was sent to live at her uncle Archibald's estate in England after everyone else died in a cholera outbreak.
8	------
9	* BrutalHonesty: This was the reason she was able to snap Colin out of his temper tantrum - she was just as spoiled and mean as he was, and refused to give him ''any'' pity or comfort about his "bad back", instead telling him straight out what a horrible person he's being and how he's only imagining that there's lumps on his back.
10	* CallingParentsByTheirName: She refers to her parents as 'Mr. and Mrs. Lennox', showing how [[ParentalNeglect detached]] she is from them.
11	* CaringGardener: As the story progresses, Mary becomes this.
12	* FriendlessBackground: She's an only child and grew up without any friends her age. Of course, her attitude played a large part in that.
13	* JerkAss: When the book started, she was a spoiled and selfish twit who would throw tantrums at the drop of a hat. She grows out of it.
14	* MirrorCharacter: Mary and Colin are both ill-tempered spoiled brats who have no idea how to deal with other people and have been doted on their entire lives, but Mary finds Colin ''so'' off-putting she starts getting better, and her stubbornness and lack of patience with him eventually wins out over his.
15	* NiceToTheWaiter: Not at first, as the servants never standing up to her when she was young meant that she found it perfectly okay to fly into a tantrum and hit them when they didn't give her exactly what she wanted. When she gets some CharacterDevelopment, however, she grows out of that belief and befriends her maid Martha.
16	** The 1975 BBC miniseries adds a footman named John who slyly teaches Mary to say "please" and "thank you" by telling her it's customary to do so in England (just as, apparently, it's okay to treat servants imperiously in Mary's version of India). Mary remains consistently polite to John throughout; this spills over to others, except Medlock.
17	* ParentalSubstitute: When she was growing up, her biggest mother figure was the Indian servant that Mary calls the 'Ayah'.
18	* SheCleansUpNicely: Once she starts getting more exercise, wearing white clothes, and [[WhenSheSmiles smiling]], she looks far nicer than she did at the beginning of the book.
19	* SpoiledBrat: Very much so. It started because the servants would give way to her to avoid her crying (which might disturb her mother). She very quickly learned what this means, and it's mentioned that she doesn't have much schooling because every governess who was sent in to teach her very quickly got sick of her.
20
21	!!Mary's parents
22
23	The parents of Mary Lennox, who never wanted a child. Mr. Lennox was never there and Mrs. Lennox's handing Mary off to servants so that she could be a socialite resulted in Mary being the SpoiledBrat she is. They die of cholera in the first chapter, resulting in Mary being sent off to her uncle's estate, Misselthwaite Manor.
24	-------
25	* TheBeautifulElite: Mary's mother is described as being quite beautiful.
26	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Nope. They were horrible parents even when they were alive.
27	* ParentalNeglect: The main thing we know about them. We don't know much about Mr. Lennox, but we do know that Mary's [[SpoiledBrat nature]] is because Mrs. Lennox didn't want to be disturbed by Mary crying.
28	* PlotTriggeringDeath: After their death, Mary is sent to live with Mr. Craven at Misselthwaite. Once there, she discovers the Secret Garden and starts along the path towards becoming a better person.
29	* TooDumbToLive: They might have avoided dying of cholera had Mrs. Lennox not stayed to go to a dinner party. She even calls herself a fool for it.
30
31	!!Archibald Craven
32
33	Mary's uncle by marriage. He's a hunchback, and he very much loved his wife Lillias, but when she died, he just shut down. He spends most of his time traveling.
34	------
35
36	* DespairEventHorizon: He took it hard when Lillias died.
37	* DisappearedDad: He avoids Misselthwaite for long periods of time because he cannot abide the lack of Lillias' presence.
38	* HappilyMarried: With Lillias, until she died.
39	* InformedFlaw: Rumours about Lord Craven describe him as quite hideous and deformed, but when Mary meets him, she notices that, aside from crooked shoulders, he looks surprisingly normal.
40	* TheMourningAfter: He's still in it.
41	* ParentsAsPeople: He loves Colin, yet [[ParentalNeglect can barely stand to see him]] since Colin reminds him of Lillias. This changes by the ending.
42
43	!!Lillias Craven
44
45	Mary's paternal aunt and the wife of Archibald Craven. She died a long time ago, but the influence she left still lingers- the 'secret garden' of the title was hers.
46	------
47	* DeathByChildbirth: While bearing Colin. Of course, falling out of a tree the day before didn't help.
48	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: She's the only one to play this trope straight.
49	* GreenThumb: She really did love her garden.
50	* HappilyMarried: With Archibald, before she died.
51	* UglyGuyHotWife: Not only was Lillias much better looking than Archibald, there was an age gap that is implied to have been significant. They deeply loved one another anyway.
52
53	!!Colin Craven
54
55	The son of Archibald and Lillias Craven. His existence is at first kept secret from Mary, but she eventually finds out while exploring the house. He's very hypochondriac and confined to bed due to his firm belief that he has lumps on his back. After he throws a crying fit about it, Mary wastes no words disabusing him of this notion.
56	------
57	* DelicateAndSickly: Subverted -- all of his symptoms that aren't due to being stuck in bed his whole life are psychosomatic.
58	* DontYouDarePityMe: The reason Colin initially hates people looking at him is that he always thinks they've ComeToGawk at the little crippled freak.
59	* FriendlessBackground: Lived all his life pretty much alone at Misselthwaite, although it didn't help that he threw tantrums when taken out.
60	* MirrorCharacter: Mary and Colin are both ill-tempered spoiled brats who have no idea how to deal with other people and have been doted on their entire lives, but Mary finds Colin ''so'' off-putting she starts getting better, and her stubbornness and lack of patience with him eventually wins out over his.
61	* SourOutsideSadInside: Colin throws monstrous hissy fits and is rude and ornery to his servants, mostly because he knows they wouldn't dare scold him. Of course, how else do you expect a child to act when they've always been told that he will either die young or grow up to be disfigured? Never mind that his father is neglectful and depressed.
62	* SpoiledBrat: Like Mary. The servants are so worried about the 'sick boy' throwing a tantrum that they do whatever he asks and feed his delusion of being hunchbacked.
63	* WhatBeautifulEyes: Big, sparkly, grey ones, like his mother's.
64
65	!!Mrs. Medlock
66
67	The keeper of Misselthwaite Manor and its steward while Lord Craven is away.
68	------
69	* CreepyHousekeeper: Not really creepy, but she is quite austere and can be unkind to Mary.
70	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Medlock's job is to take care of Colin, and that is exactly what she does. She had no way of knowing that her actions were impeding the boy's chances of improvement any more than the other residents of Misselthwaite.
71
72	!!Dickon Sowerby
73
74	Martha's younger brother. He's the one who helps teach Mary gardening.
75	------
76	* FriendToAllLivingThings: He has a lot of animal friends, and he even manages to befriend [[SpoiledBrat Mary and Colin]].
77	* GreenThumb: He's Mary's gardening tutor.
78	* InHarmonyWithNature: Very much so. Did you read his other tropes?
79	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Male version to Mary and Colin.
80	* RedHeadedHero: Has red hair.
81
82	!!Martha Sowerby
83
84	An underservant in the Craven manor who's assigned to be Mary's personal maid. She is friendly and good at her job, but she's also blunt and very unaware of (or unimpressed by) the customs regarding tending to rich kids.
85	------
86	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mary doesn't hit her for being impertinent (as she might have with Indian servants) because she thinks that Martha might hit back.
87	* BrutalHonesty: Does not mince her opinions about anything.
88	* CoolBigSis: She has a lot of younger siblings, and she eventually grows into this role with Mary.
89	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Downplayed since it was something Mary really needed to hear, but she openly mocks rich kids being led around and coddled by nurses in front of Mary, who's spent her whole life being treated like that and expects it from all servants.
90	** She's also this because at first, she assumes Mary will be a native Indian and says this to her face. Mary does ''not'' take it well.
91
92	!!Susan Sowerby
93
94	Mother of the Sowerby clan, which includes Dickon and Martha. She lives out in the countryside and is rather poor, but generous enough to use her own money to buy Mary a jump rope, since Mary really wouldn't have anything else to do.
95
96	* {{Good Parent\|s}}: Probably the only example in the story, unless you count [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest deceased]] Lillias Craven. Everyone who knows Susan deeply respects her, and they treat her child-rearing advice as indisputable.
97	* TeamMom: Downplayed, but yes. If she's not a direct mother figure, she's providing motherly advice to others who directly care for kids like Colin and Mary. Uniquely, in the 1975 miniseries, Susan gets to meet our two main children. She treats them as kindly and firmly as one would expect.
98
99	!!Ben Weatherstaff
100
101	The crusty old gardener at the Craven Manor.
102
103	------
104	* CaringGardener: Is a role model to Mary in this.
105	* CoolOldGuy: After a fashion, especially when [[spoiler: he agrees to keep secret that Mary and Colin have gotten into the garden.]]
106	* CrustyCaretaker: To the gardens.
107	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Not only is he a gifted gardener, but he also talks to and dotes on a robin central to the story.
108	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Ben and Mary get off to a rocky start, as both are cantankerous loners, but eventually those very similarities bring about a mutual understanding.
109	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler:Despite Lord Craven's orders to leave Lilias's garden to die after her death, Ben continued to care for it in secret over the years. He knew Lilias would have wanted him to.]]

Context Characters / TheSecretGarden