The Secret Garden Chapter 23

1)What was Colin’s chief peculiarity according to Mary?

A: Mary said that Colin’s chief peculiarity was that he didn’t know how rude he was.

2)What was Colin’s scientific experiment?

A:Colin’s experiment was to see if he could tell ‘magic’ what to do.

3) How did Colin distinguish between right and wrong magic?

A:The right magic is magic for good things, the opposite for wrong.

4)What did Colin do to keep his experiment a secret?

A: Colin didn’t tell anyone besides Mary and Dickon about his experiment.

Thought Questions:

1) Why was it helpful for the children to think of what happened in the garden was magic?

A:I think that it was helpful because it was just easier to think about something that they knew.

2) How would you define what Colin calls magic?

A: Nature is what Colin calls magic.

3)Can you make nice things happen if you say they are going to happen?

A:I don’t think that we can, because God’s the only one that can do that.

4) This book was written in 1909, when scientists like Einstein and Pavlov were experimenting with physics and physiology. How do you think this growing interest in science might have influenced Burnett’s writing?

A:I think that since all of that was going on at the time it made sense for her to write about it.