What happens in Chapter 2 of The Secret Garden?
Chapter Two begins right after the cholera epidemic that has claimed the lives of Mary Lennox's parents and most of the household in India. Mary is found hiding alone in her bungalow — ignored, forgotten, and completely unacknowledged — by a pair of English officers clearing the area. She is sent between unfamiliar faces: first to the family of an English clergyman, where she bullies the children, and then onto a ship heading for England. The chapter follows her arrival at Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire moors, where she’s placed under the care of Mrs. Medlock, the housekeeper. Medlock is a stout, straightforward woman who sizes Mary up with no-nonsense efficiency during the train ride north. She outlines the essentials of Archibald Craven's estate — a hundred rooms, a master who prefers solitude, and grounds that stretch across the moor — while making it clear that Mary should keep to herself and refrain from asking questions. True to form, Mary listens without gratitude and observes Medlock with cold, calculating eyes. The chapter ends as the carriage rolls through the darkness onto the moor, with Mary gazing out at a vast, wind-swept emptiness she has never seen before.
Analysis
Burnett uses Chapter Two to deepen Mary's character as someone emotionally vacant before the garden begins to change her. The chapter's main craft technique is ironic detachment: the narrator describes Mary's isolation after the epidemic with a flatness that echoes Mary's own feelings—nobody mourns for her because she hasn't given anyone a reason to care. This choice in tone draws the reader into the same indifference experienced by the household, making Mary's eventual transformation feel even more impactful.
Mrs. Medlock serves as an effective narrative tool and a social reflection. Her blunt assessment—Mary is plain, disagreeable, and unwanted—removes any sentimental cushion, forcing the reader to see the child for who she is. However, Medlock's honesty also represents a kind of truth that the adults in India never provided for Mary, revealing a backhanded concern in her straightforwardness.
The moor is introduced as a contrasting landscape to India: while the subcontinent was hot, crowded, and vibrant, the moor is dark, cold, and vast. Burnett avoids romanticizing it, allowing its sheer size to feel more threatening than inviting. Mary's instinct to look—as she presses her face against the carriage window—sparks the first hint of curiosity, which becomes the novel's central theme. The nursery rhyme in the chapter's title ("Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary") lingers as an ironic epigraph: the "garden" that Mary will cultivate is already hinted at in the cultural associations tied to her name.
Key quotes from Chapter 2
“She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible.”
The narrator summarises Mary's infancy in India, establishing the foundational neglect that has shaped her entire character before the story's present action begins.
“"You are going to a queer place," Mrs. Medlock said. "I don't know whether you'll like it. Nobody does."”
Mrs. Medlock delivers her blunt verdict on Misselthwaite Manor during the train journey, her words functioning simultaneously as warning, invitation, and the novel's first hint of the estate's gothic atmosphere.
“She stared out of the window with her lips pinched together, and it did not matter to her that the moor was dark and wild and strange.”
As the carriage crosses the moor at night, Burnett captures Mary's emotional numbness — and quietly signals that something in the landscape is registering on her, whether she admits it or not.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 2
- contrary
- Stubbornly disagreeable and difficult to deal with; wilfully doing the opposite of what is wanted or expected.
- queer
- Strange, odd, or difficult to explain in the period sense; used throughout the novel to mean unusual or puzzling, without any modern connotation.
- sallow
- Having a pale, yellowish, unhealthy complexion, suggesting poor health or a life spent indoors away from fresh air and sunlight.