The Secret Garden: Chapter 1  Summary & Analysis

At the time that Mary is sent to live with her uncle, Mr. Archibald Craven, everyone agrees that she's a sour, thin, and disagreeable child. Because she was born in India, she's constantly sick and has a yellow complexion. Mary's father suffers the same ailments, while Mary's mother is beautiful, likes going to parties, and never wanted a baby. Mary's mother gave newborn Mary to an Ayah, and for the next ten years, Mary is kept out of the way of the rest of the house and given her way in everything. By the age of six, she's a selfish terror, and governesses leave their posts after only a few weeks.

When Mary is nine, she wakes up one morning and is angry when she sees that the servant waiting to help her isn't her Ayah. The woman looks frightened and only tells Mary that her Ayah can't come. Throughout the day, Mary notices that all the servants seem scared or missing. She's left alone for the morning and tries to amuse herself by making a pretend garden, though she also mutters about the names she's going to call her Ayah. As Mary is absorbed in this, Mary's mother comes onto the verandah with a young officer. Mary's mother seems scared and upset. The officer tells her that she should've left weeks ago, and when a wail rises from the servants' quarters, the officer is horrified to learn that "it" has broken out among the servants.

Mary soon learns that cholera broke out, and the wailing meant that her Ayah died. Servants start dying one after the other, and those that don't die flee. On the second day of the outbreak, Mary hides herself in her room to cry and sleep. Everyone forgets about her. One evening she creeps out to find a partially finished meal on the table. She eats some fruit and drinks a full glass of wine, which makes her sleepy. She sleeps for hours. When she wakes up, the house is entirely silent. She wonders if she'll get a new Ayah and if the new one will know different stories, though she doesn't mourn her dead Ayah.

After a number of hours, Mary hears a rustling and sees a small snake slithering through her room and out under the door. The next moment, she hears men enter the house, talking about how they suppose the child—who they're not sure even exists—died too. They open the nursery door a minute later and see Mary, looking hungry and neglected. She demands to know why nobody is taking care of her, but the men only exclaim that everyone forgot her and tell her that there's nobody left to come. Mary learns that both her parents died and the living servants left, totally forgetting about her.