The Thorns in the Secret Garden

 by Carol Webb

Libraries are knowledge-making spaces and must contain a range of ideas so that each generation can experience and examine them in the light of their own values, beliefs and ethics to create new understanding and knowledge.  Storing and supplying this literature for people to engage with is vital to the social, political and economic life of society.  Recently, Professor Trentman reviewed an analysis made by historians of the British Government’s publication, Life in the United Kingdom: a guide for new residents.  Historians compared the differences between the new and old edition and subsequently wrote a letter to said Government about misrepresenting the history of slavery and decolonization. The work of these historians, reveals that the Government’s omissions of previously published material and with the changing of certain adjectives, slavery is reduced to ‘an “overseas industry”, as if British society were not affected’ and so the malignant is made benign.  Reading the whole article makes one feel a deep appreciation for historians whose work challenges the re-interpretations of history.  Work that could not be carried out if libraries did not keep comprehensive repositories.  There is a desire to edit racist content found in classic literature, both adult and children’s books to reflect anti-racist values but the librarian and educator in me sees this as problematic and not without danger. If the ugly words of racism are removed from a literary text, we hide them.  It is as if that writer never wrote those ugly words.  Their work will not be examined in full and the writer will no longer be held to account.  If we do not see and acknowledge the existence of racism, we will not understand its insidious nature.  How should we approach racist content in the English literary canon?

The school library’s education role is to facilitate engagement with resources, support reading and research.  A Chartered Librarian abides by an explicit Code of Ethics which includes the principle of opposing censorship.  In a school library, this principle is accompanied by a duty of care to younger pupils.  We exercise this by mediating between materials and readers, categorising and labelling those intended for older pupils; discussing content, creating awareness and encouraging critique.  As a writer, one is aware that there is no control over how one’s work will affect readers or what impact it may have, indeed if any!  

There are many topics that require sensitive handling and experience of them can be crucial for an individual’s intellectual and emotional development.  Young pupils often self-censor and return a book unfinished; they know when content is too confusing or makes them feel uncomfortable.  Parents make judgements when their child is ready to handle particular story experiences.  They read together, or shadow in order to discuss aspects of the topic which concern them.  Josna Rege describes how she does this in her blog, judging when to skip sections or discuss them with her son, Nikhil.  In this entry they were reading Burnett’s The Secret Garden, which was published in 1911.  It did not sell successfully until the 1940s when literary scholarship began to talk of it as a classic.  I wonder if it gained its popularity because in the era of World War II, a story of nature as a source of healing, presented in the innocence of childhood offered a panacea?

Rege identifies part of the problematic nature of this text as ‘the assumption that Indians are inherently cringing, servile and undemocratic’.  She compares Mary’s abuse of the Ayah, her servant in India, with the robustness shown by Martha, her servant in Yorkshire when dealing with Mary.  Burnett gives Martha her own identity and a sense of parity with Mary by giving her dialogue, a clear family network and the opportunity to display her values in response to events. The Ayah has no voice, name, physical description or any dialogue; we see her only through Mary’s eyes as one with no power, whose only role is to serve in obeisance.  Mary describes her abuse of the Ayah as a deliberate act, knowing that her use of the word ‘pig’ would cause the greatest offence, the deepest hurt.  From whom does this nine year old child learn that this is ‘the worst insult of all’?  We are told her father is too busy and her mother too engrossed in society to spend time with the girl, behaviours that today we would refer to as neglect.  Yet clearly Mary hears their language, absorbs their values and indeed, we share with her the overhearing of a conversation about cholera between the mother and a soldier; the signal for the tragedy that ensues.  Mary’s character appears as a child who is lonely and full of anger, whose only parent model has been one of imperious command.  Burnett shows her character using the word ‘natives’ in its pejorative sense, to indicate a hierarchy in relation to non-Westerners, thereby inferring otherness.

This year during a debate between contemporary children’s authors which focussed on white authors creating black characters, Peter Kalu gave this criteria for identifying when characters are being deployed as a stereotype:

1. Did the character have agency?

2. Were they part of a network, i.e. family, friends, work

3. Who speaks? Do they have their own dialogue?

This is similar to the Bechdel-Wallace test and confirms the view that the Ayah and her fellow Indian servants are depicted as stereotypes. The use of the stereotype conveniently simplifies the story's introduction but in Rege's view this form of character use is "undemocratic" and we can see the false impression it gives us of Indian people as voiceless and without power or identity. At the time of Burnett writing this book, Indian nationalism and the fight for independence were engaged in large-scale protests in response to the partition of Bengal, which took place in 1905. These eventually succeeded in forcing the British government to reunite the region in 1911. As an intelligent woman who made her living from writing novels and plays for adults, Burnett would have been aware of the cultural and political issues of the time. History itself therefore cannot be used as an alibi for the use of racial stereotyping. It might be said that Burnett is not afraid to show the ugly truth about a character but there is no record of her views on this matter.

When Rege mentions skipping over parts that were particularly offensive, one of these must be Mary and Martha's first meeting. This is where Martha talks of 'blacks' in a disparaging way, contrasting them to 'respectable white people'. Mary in a rage at being thought 'black' responds 'They are not people - they're servants who must salaam to you". By dehumanising the servants, they are made other and we, the adult reader, recognise this identification of difference as laying the ground for racist belief. The story goes on to illustrate Mary's transformation from a selfish, angry child to one who shows care for others under the influence of the 'magic' in the secret garden. Sadly, the transformation does not include reflections on her previous behaviour in India or racist comments. Could it be that the author was so entrenched in her own veil of white privilege that she could not see the need? Or did Burnett hold racist beliefs?

Burnett reveals in a biography of herself as a child that she read Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and with the use of her dolls she frequently acted out parts of the story. This anecdote included the need to acquire a black doll whom she named Topsy, especially for the purpose of whipping. Uncle Tom's Cabin was seen as a pro-abolition text and sold well when it became known for its engaging and sentimental tale; later, it attracted criticism for its stereotypical portrayal of Tom and other slaves which potentially reinforced views of black inferiority and submissiveness. There is evidence that Stowe supported "colonisation", the return of black people to countries in Africa, rather than the cause of equality. So perhaps the young Burnett absorbed the values that really underpin the story? The relationship between literature and doll play, particularly the acting out of racial and racist fantasies, is examined in Bernstein's work where the 19th century industry producing black dolls for this purpose is described in some detail. Bernstein observes that children, like Burnett, were encouraged to be tender with white dolls and violent with black dolls. These links between literature, culture and the commodification of book characters influenced children to engage in representational play, reinforcing racist attitudes and behaviours. Burnett is very much viewed in this article as co-producer, not a reflector, of racist values because of the influence that her description of this exerted over her young white audience. It leaves us with the question that if the racist views are left unedited in The Secret Garden, will they be reproduced by contemporary child readers?

Offensive material, critique, study, censorship: this issue is not without complexity. It is being hotly debated in the school library world and within our own PGS Library team. We have a proposal to share with our colleagues. It was revealed this week in the PGS Literary Society where it was discussed by Sixth Form pupils and their teachers (see video above). In our role as librarians and educators, we intend to approach this issue by developing a bookplate that will encourage the reader to question as they read. Discussing racist content with young people raises awareness of what prejudice looks and sounds like, enabling a better understanding of self, one's emotions and interactions with others.