On The Gothic Elements In The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is one of the masterpieces as well as the most popular novel of Frances Hodgson Burnett--a famous American writer for children.Extolling the greatness of nature and the importance of humane care during the process of children's growth,the novel has received wide attention from critics both at home and abroad,in which scholars have studied the novel from the perspectives of feminism,the theme of growth,mysticism and so on.This thesis intends to interpret The Secret Garden,one of the classics of children's literature,by applying the gothic features.This thesis falls into three chapters besides an introduction and a conclusion.Introduction presents author's brief biography,brief introduction of The Secret Garden,the Literature Review and thesis structure.Chapter One is meant to study the gothic elements in the background environment description.This chapter has conducted the research and the detailed analysis of the novel from two aspects of environment description and atmosphere rendering.Chapter Two aims to analyze the Gothic elements in characters.Based on the analysis of three typical characters(Mary,Colin and Mr.Craven),this thesis respectively pointed out their different gothic features.Chapter three further analyzes the Gothic elements in the plot-making.Rapid advance of narrative rhythm,a reasonable set of lots of suspense,terror incidents under mysterious atmosphere,ubiquitous magic,those plot setting technique with Gothic color,greatly aroused the curiosity of readers;enhance the attractiveness and readability of the article.Conclusion summarizes what has been studied in the chapters above,analyzes the use of Gothic elements and its unique functions,so as to pointed out that it is wrong to think of Children's Literature and Gothic literature as completely distinct paradigms.On the contrary,the combination of the two literatures and reasonable use can get good effect.This part also points out the limitations of the research,and advances a possible angle for further study.