This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer.
Find all my work at MJMunoz.com.
Prepare yourself for some off the cuff book talk as I tackle another middle grade book
chapter by chapter.
So the Secret Garden Chapter 5 ends up playing out kind of like a gothic horror.
So at first we have this really interesting thing where Mary is really settled into and
adapted to the more and misaligned manner and going out on the more she is like invigorated
and she runs, she exercises, she ends up working up a healthy appetite and she ends up eating
and liking her porridge.
She this is an interesting concept that if you change your body you'll change like if
you change your body and change your health you will change like your actual mindset.
There is stuff about how your gut actually controls a lot of what goes on in your brain,
they call it the second brain because there are so many neural connections there I believe
is the idea.
Anyway it's interesting we see that as Mary begins acting more healthfully because in
India apparently she would just like lay about in the warmth and not do anything and not
play with anybody or anything or she would play with toys inside but that was about it
but now she is active, she is moving her body, she is eating porridge healthfully and you
know whatever dinners they give her I'm sure there is chicken and whatever.
She is eating these things and she is like becoming active and spending all day outside,
spending all day outside in the garden around nature, she is talking to Robin, it's talking
to her you know as a kid would understand and she has like this transformation to her
body and that transforms her mindset and her heart and it opens her heart to being receptive
to things, she is treating Martha with respect and Mary learned to love Mary and that's when
everything changed.
No she is treating Martha with respect and dignity and there is like a kinship growing
between them and she has been seeking out the secret garden and she is tracing this
wall and she can't find the door but she is confident that within this wall is the door
and she knows if her uncle buried the key, uncle Graven, if he buried a key that must
mean there was a door to open and anyway she begs and begs and Martha finally tells her
what the story is and it's rather interesting, it's a little spooky maybe, I don't know,
his wife dies, this garden, this is a wealth garden that he and his wife attended to themselves
and didn't allow any of the servants in there, they would talk and read and she had this
rose tree, this bent over tree that she would use as a seat and she had roses growing and
hanging from there, like a strain there and she was sitting there one day, the branch
broke and she fell and died, she became injured and then she eventually died, she didn't like
break her neck and die right away, I think is the idea.
It's a little unclear and it's also hearsay and Medlock told Martha that it's not servant's
business and Graven as well said this isn't servant's business, whatever and yet she's
telling her because that's the reality of the situation anyway.
So after hearing about this death of Graven's wife and how he receded and became so sad
and had the garden shut up and everything like that, then she learns what blothering
is, it's the wind blowing all around the house, etc. etc. making these strange noises coming
off the moor and then she hears a wailing and it sounds like the voice of a child crying,
the door opens up, the wailing picks up, the wind comes through their room that they're
in, the door opens, it gets popped open, the candle blows out and sure enough the wind
dies down, it stops blothering for a moment or two and she hears the clear cry of a child
then the door is slammed shut from down the hall and Martha's insisting that it's nothing,
it's no child, there's nobody, it's the wind, the wind can sound like a child but Mary's
confident that that's not the case and it gets this horror type of vibe and it's really
interesting because she's changed as a person, she's kind of transformed into who she needs
to be in order to go on this journey and we've gone along with her and that's been interesting
and now things can start, things can really begin, like I said she's gone through this
transformation in order to turn not into our protagonist but into an active, positive,
proactive maybe character who can now embark on figuring out what this mystery is and I
find that to be really intriguing and I think that's really cool.
Let me know what you think about Chapter 5 of Secret Garden or the book as a whole if
you like.
I hope you enjoyed that.
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Until next time, keep reading, be well and do good things.
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