An Analysis Of The Secret Garden Based On Spatial Narratology

Frances Hodgson Burnett was a children's literature writer who was well-known for her children' literature works in the world.The publication of The Secret Garden in 1911 made her one of the most important writers in the 20 th century.The Secret Garden has always been considered as a classic of children's literature.It is not only appreciated by children all over the world but also by many adults.The Secret Garden was one of the most famous literary works of Burnett.Besides the numerous translation versions into foreign languages,it was also adapted to plays and films.The influence and the academic significance contained in the book have been widely accepted by the researchers and scholars across the world.They have made profound academic achievements.The Secret Garden tells us a story in which a little girl who is called Mary grows healthily together with her cousin,Colin.At the beginning,both Mary and Colin were weak not only in the bodies but also in the minds.Neither of them was adorable.However,one day Mary found a secret garden by chance.Later on,through the labor in the secret garden and the connection with others,Mary and Colin became healthy adolescents.As one of the heated topics in today's world,space theory has been favored by scholars both from abroad and home.It has become a new perspective to analyze related questions.And it also stirs new thoughts about literary researches because it offers a new approach to rethink and analyze the questions in literary field.In traditional narratology studies,the element of space has been neglected.In The Secret Garden,there exist both temporal and spatial dimensions,but in traditional studies,people have neglected the latter.Since Frank Joseph came up with the concept of space form,many scholars have made a lot of researches to enrich and develop the space theory.This process reflects that people begin to pay much attention to space theory,which caters to the need to make progress in today's society.At the same time,from the perspective of narratology,the spatial turn in it is another important transformation.In this thesis,the author will elaborate the spatial narrative in The Secret Garden from the perspectives of physical space,social space and psychological space on the basis of previous researches.The thesis is composed of three parts,namely,introduction,body and conclusion.The main contents of this thesis are listed below:First,the introduction of the paper.This part mainly introduces Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Secret Garden briefly,together with the status and the value of the novel in related fields.And then the author introduces the current researching situation of the book and the purpose and significance of the thesis.Second,the body part of the thesis.This part is composed of four chapters.The first chapter introduces the theoretical foundation that is applied to compose this thesis and points out the guiding significance of applying space theory to analyze The Secret Garden.The second chapter analyzes three physical spaces in this novel,namely,Misselthwaite Manor,the deserted and locked secret garden and the final alive secret garden and analyzes the influences of these three space in the protagonists' growth.The third chapter mainly deals with social spaces.There are three social spaces in The Secret Garden,namely,Mary's family in India,the English clergyman's family and Mr.Craven's family.This chapter points out the significance of social spaces in impulsing the development of the story.And the last chapter of this part generalizes Burnett's ideal world based on the analysis made in the former three chapters..Last,conclusion of the thesis.This part is conclusion,summarizing the whole thesis and pointing out the limits of this thesis.