The Secret Garden

by

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Ben Weatherstaff Character Analysis

The elderly and cantankerous gardener at Misselthwaite Manor. Mary meets him on her first day outside, and the two initially don't like each other much. Despite this, Ben Weatherstaff introduces Mary to his friend the robin. Ben Weatherstaff has no qualms about hurting Mary's feelings or telling her to go away, which helps Mary to learn how to earn someone's friendship and attention. She eventually resorts to sneaking up on him, and the two decide they like each other. He introduces Mary to the basic tenets of gardening and later, it's revealed that he's been pruning the roses in the secret garden for the last ten years, though his rheumatics (arthritis) has kept him from scaling the wall for the last two years. On the first day that Colin spends time in the garden, Ben Weatherstaff catches the children in the garden and is initially angry with them for the intrusion. However, Colin uses his power as the master of the manor to make Ben Weatherstaff come into the garden, pledge to keep the children's presence in the garden a secret, and promise to help them restore the garden to its former glory. Ben Weatherstaff is an instrumental figure in Colin's recovery, as sharing the various rumors circulating about Colin's poor health (that he has crooked legs, is mentally disabled, and actually has a hunchback) makes Colin angry enough to stand and prove Ben Weatherstaff wrong. Though he's open about not being able to stay awake through a conventional church service, he participates fully in Colin's prayer circles and even suggests that they sing the Doxology. His introduction to Magic helps cure his rheumatics.

Ben Weatherstaff Quotes in The Secret Garden

The The Secret Garden quotes below are all either spoken by Ben Weatherstaff or refer to Ben Weatherstaff . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Healing, Growth, and Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

"A bird with a red breast was sitting on one of them and he sang."

To her surprise the surly old weather-beaten face actually changed its expression. A slow smile spread over it and the gardener looked quite different. It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not thought of it before.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Ben Weatherstaff , The Robin
Page Number: 44
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

She walked away, slowly thinking. She had begun to like the garden just as she had begun to like the robin and Dickon and Martha's mother. She was beginning to like Martha, too. This seemed a good many people to like—when you were not used to liking.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff , Susan Sowerby / Mother, Martha, The Robin
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

"Do you like roses?" she said.

Ben Weatherstaff rooted up a weed and threw it aside before he answered.

"Well, yes, I do. I was learned that by a young lady I was gardener to. She had a lot in a place she was fond of, an' she loved 'em like they was children—or robins. I've seen her bend over an' kiss 'em." He dragged out another weed and scowled at it. "That were as much as ten year' ago."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Ben Weatherstaff (speaker), Mrs. Craven
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden, Roses
Page Number: 111
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

And this was not half of the Magic. The fact that he had really once stood on his feet had set Colin thinking tremendously and when Mary told him of the spell she had worked he was excited and approved of it greatly. He talked of it constantly.

"Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world," he said wisely one day, "but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment."

Related Characters: Colin Craven (speaker), Mary Lennox , Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Secret Garden LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Secret Garden PDF

Ben Weatherstaff Quotes in The Secret Garden

The The Secret Garden quotes below are all either spoken by Ben Weatherstaff or refer to Ben Weatherstaff . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Healing, Growth, and Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

"A bird with a red breast was sitting on one of them and he sang."

To her surprise the surly old weather-beaten face actually changed its expression. A slow smile spread over it and the gardener looked quite different. It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not thought of it before.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Ben Weatherstaff , The Robin
Page Number: 44
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

She walked away, slowly thinking. She had begun to like the garden just as she had begun to like the robin and Dickon and Martha's mother. She was beginning to like Martha, too. This seemed a good many people to like—when you were not used to liking.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff , Susan Sowerby / Mother, Martha, The Robin
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

"Do you like roses?" she said.

Ben Weatherstaff rooted up a weed and threw it aside before he answered.

"Well, yes, I do. I was learned that by a young lady I was gardener to. She had a lot in a place she was fond of, an' she loved 'em like they was children—or robins. I've seen her bend over an' kiss 'em." He dragged out another weed and scowled at it. "That were as much as ten year' ago."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Ben Weatherstaff (speaker), Mrs. Craven
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden, Roses
Page Number: 111
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

And this was not half of the Magic. The fact that he had really once stood on his feet had set Colin thinking tremendously and when Mary told him of the spell she had worked he was excited and approved of it greatly. He talked of it constantly.

"Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world," he said wisely one day, "but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment."

Related Characters: Colin Craven (speaker), Mary Lennox , Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis: