The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Susan Sowerby?
Susan Sowerby is a Yorkshire mother of twelve who occupies one of the most paradoxical positions in The Secret Garden: she serves as the novel's moral centre yet remains mostly offstage. Robust, plain-spoken, and devoid of sentimentality, she embodies the working-class North of England at its most vibrant — a woman who has raised a large family on modest means and emerges from that experience enriched rather than depleted. Burnett frames her less as a character to be observed and more as a force to be felt. Her sole attributed quotation — "Two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way — or always to have it" — encapsulates her entire philosophy in a single breath: balance, earned through experience, delivered without apology.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Susan Sowerby's arc and motivation?
Susan has no arc in the traditional sense because she does not require one. In contrast to Mary Lennox, who transitions from sour passivity to joyful engagement, and Colin Craven, who shifts from hysterical self-pity to robust confidence, Susan begins and ends the novel in complete possession of herself. Her motivation is not growth but generosity — an instinctive extension of her maternal capacity to children she barely knows. She monitors Mary's and Colin's progress through the reports her children bring home, assessing what each child needs and deploying her resources accordingly. The skipping rope she sends Mary near the novel's beginning is a small, practical gesture that initiates the entire healing process. Later, her letter to the wandering Archibald Craven represents a bolder intervention — a woman of her social class writing unsolicited to the manor's master requires significant nerve — and it is precisely crafted to penetrate grief that years of self-imposed isolation could not dissolve.
03·Key moments
What are Susan Sowerby's key moments?
The skipping rope. Before Susan appears in person, she acts through Martha, instructing her daughter to use part of her wages to buy a rope for Mary. This quiet directive transforms the grey moorland from a landscape of exile into a space of play and ultimately strength.
The garden visit. Susan's only physical appearance occurs in the garden near the novel's conclusion when Mary and Colin are deeply engaged in their secret world of growth and experimentation. She neither marvels nor lectures. Instead, she observes Colin — assessing him like a farmer evaluates new growth — and plainly tells him that he resembles his mother. This remark serves not only as comfort but also reconnects Colin to a maternal lineage he had been denied, granting him permission to exist fully rather than merely as a footnote to Archibald's grief.
The letter to Archibald. Acting solely on conscience, Susan writes to Archibald while he wanders through Europe. Her words align eerily with his dream of Lilias's voice calling him home, suggesting that practical human love and spiritual longing are, within Burnett's universe, the same current flowing through different channels.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Susan Sowerby's most important relationships?
Susan's relationships are best conceived as a web of surrogacy. Through Martha, she delivers warmth and Yorkshire common sense to Misselthwaite daily, well before her own arrival; Martha serves as her living message. Dickon embodies her values most completely — his rapport with animals and his selfless care for Mary and Colin directly reflect Susan's influence. The children trust Dickon because Susan has made trust instinctive.
With Mary, Susan maintains a watchful, non-intrusive care. She sends the rope, follows reports, and ultimately visits — never crowding the child yet always available. As a result, Mary absorbs maternal love without recognizing its administration. For Colin, Susan provides something more urgent: she is the first adult to recognize his health rather than his fragility, his potential rather than his pathos. Her simple validation carries more weight than any physician's report because it is given freely, without professional obligation.
Her relationship with Archibald forms the novel's most audacious bridge. Susan knew Lilias and holds that memory in reverence; in writing to Archibald, she simultaneously speaks for Lilias and herself, collapsing the boundary between living maternal love and the spirit of the deceased.
05·Connected characters
How is Susan Sowerby connected to the other characters?
The evidence06
06·Key quotes
What are Susan Sowerby’s most famous quotes?
“Two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way—or always to have it.”
Susan Sowerby · to Colin Craven (and Mary Lennox)
Why it matters
This insightful comment comes from Susan Sowerby, the warm and practical mother from Yorkshire to Dickon and Martha, in Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1911). She shares it during one of her trips to Misselthwaite Manor, speaking to Colin and, in a way, to the reader as well. This remark captures the novel's key idea about finding balance in parenting: both complete lack of autonomy and excessive pampering can be detrimental. Colin Craven has experienced the latter — he was spoiled and overprotected out of concern for his supposed illness — while Mary Lennox faced a form of the former due to neglect. Susan Sowerby embodies down-to-earth wisdom, standing in stark contrast to the manor's dark atmosphere. Her words are thematically significant because the entire journey of both children's growth hinges on discovering a middle ground: they find their independence through the secret garden, while being supported by nature, friendship, and genuine love. The quote also subtly critiques the extremes of Victorian parenting, making it one of the novel's most lasting and broadly relevant insights.
Study07–08
07·Questions
Questions readers ask about Susan Sowerby
How many children does Susan Sowerby have in The Secret Garden?
Susan Sowerby is a mother of twelve children, living a modest working-class life on the Yorkshire moors. Burnett uses this detail pointedly: Susan's large, thriving family — raised on limited means — stands as an implicit rebuke to the emotional poverty and self-pity that cripple the wealthy Cravens at Misselthwaite Manor.
What is Susan Sowerby's most famous quote?
Susan Sowerby's most quoted line is: "Two worst things as can happen to a child is never to have his own way — or always to have it." This single sentence distills her entire philosophy — that healthy development depends on balance — delivered with the plain-spoken authority of a woman whose wisdom comes from lived experience rather than theory.
What does Susan Sowerby do for Mary Lennox before the two ever meet?
Susan instructs her daughter Martha to use part of her wages to buy Mary a skipping rope — a small, practical act of kindness that proves transformative. The rope draws Mary outdoors onto the moor, converts the bleak landscape into a space of play and vitality, and sets her entire healing journey in motion long before Susan makes any personal appearance.
How does Susan Sowerby help Colin Craven during her visit to the garden?
When Susan visits Misselthwaite near the novel's end, she speaks to Colin with straightforward, heartfelt tenderness, recognizing his restored health rather than his fragility. She also tells him he resembles his mother, reconnecting him to a maternal lineage he had been denied. This validation gives Colin the confidence he needs to face his father, Archibald, and allow a genuine reunion.
Why does Susan Sowerby write a letter to Archibald Craven?
Susan writes to Archibald — who is wandering grief-stricken through Europe — to urge him to come home, acting purely on conscience despite the social boldness such an unsolicited letter required of a working-class woman. Her words align uncannily with Archibald's dream of his late wife Lilias calling him back, and the letter directly precipitates the father-son reunion that closes the novel.
What is Susan Sowerby's relationship to Dickon and Martha?
Dickon and Martha are Susan's children, and each serves as her living emissary at Misselthwaite. Martha delivers her mother's warmth and Yorkshire common sense to Mary daily, while Dickon — with his selfless care for Mary and Colin and his instinctive rapport with animals — most completely embodies the values Susan has instilled in him. Together they extend her maternal influence deep into the story without her needing to be physically present.
Did Susan Sowerby know Colin's mother, Lilias?
Yes — Susan knew Lilias Craven in life and holds her memory in reverence. This connection shapes Susan's letter to Archibald: her words echo the dream-voice of Lilias calling him home, collapsing the boundary between Susan's living maternal love and the spiritual influence of Colin's deceased mother, suggesting Burnett sees both as the same healing force.
Is Susan Sowerby a major or minor character in The Secret Garden?
Susan is technically a minor character by page presence — she makes only one physical appearance, in the garden scene near the novel's end — yet she functions as its moral and spiritual centre. Burnett constructs her influence entirely through proxies: the skipping rope, Martha's daily warmth, Dickon's nurturing, and the letter to Archibald, making Susan one of the most consequential offstage presences in the story.
08·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles
Susan as implicit critique of class and privilege: How does Burnett utilize Susan's working-class abundance
Susan and Lilias as complementary maternal archetypes: Compare the living mother and the deceased one