The Secret Garden and Walk Two Moons: Death in Children's Literature

Literature has always been a way of passing on stories and educating a general public. In children's literature, lessons of life and death are often handled with care in hopes of teaching children in a safe environment. Through books, children can see first hand how other people deal with tragedy and problems in real life settings.

While death is a complicated event to go through first hand, reading, learning, and understanding it from the perspective of fictional characters has been used as a technique to help children cope for many years. When using literature as a tool with children, the books should contain characters children can identify with. It should be meaningful, interesting, and appropriate for children.

Two examples of death in children's novels are found in both The Secret Garden and Walk Two Moons.

Mary, the child protagonist of The Secret Garden, lost both of her parents to disease. Mrs. Craven the wife of Mr. Craven and mother to Colin is also dead. Though the deaths of these characters are less prevalent than the story of the dead-like garden, the people faced with knowledge of death are changed individuals who bond together in an unlikely manner.

Mary was a spoiled child who did not appear to be affected greatly by her parent's death. She was demeaning, ornery, cocky, and bossy. Her parents never spent time with her and taught her about love and compassion. They never cared for her they way parents should care for their children and in turn, Mary dealt with her loss alone until she met Colin. Colin, like Mary, was an arrogant child with little need for companionship. Mary, however, would not put up with his attitude and easily put him in his place. When they realized they had plenty in common, they formed an unbreakable bond. The author allowed both children to grow up within the book together and grieve in a very unusual way-bringing the rose garden to life.

Mary helped Colin come to terms with his mother's death and his own diagnosis of death by telling him stories, taking him to the rose garden, and helping him become stronger and healthier as she herself had become working in the garden. She helped him to work through the tragedy and eventually Colin was able to look at his mother's portrait without anger. Mr. Craven was also able to come to terms with the loss of his wife upon learning his son was now a healthy and spirited young man.

As in most novels, the tragedy of death brings forth new life, change, and growth, and the characters in The Secret Garden cycle through it in their own way. Though the author did not delve into the characters emotional state much in the book, she used the garden as the focal point for life and death. Bringing the garden back to life was a metaphor for compassion and understanding, something neither Mary nor Colin were aware of through parental relationships. The lessons of The Secret Garden were many. The new life of the garden and the friendships formed, helped the main characters move past the pain of death and loss of loved ones.

In Walk Two Moons, Sal tells a story of her journey to find her mother. Though she is completely aware that her mother is dead, she acts as if she is alive and wishes to convince her to come home. As with most life changing events, the stages of morning are handled well within the book. Sal denies the truth at first and eventually accepts it when she comes upon her mother's grave in Idaho.

Sal uses the story of Phoebe to come to terms with her mother's death. She tells her grandparents how Phoebe's mother was a despondent and lonely woman searching for something new in life. She saw similarities between her family and Phoebe's. When Phoebe's mother vanished, Sal used her own experiences of loss to help Phoebe learn the truth about where her mother had gone. Sal wanted to believe that she too could find her mother and bring her home if she tried hard enough.

Even though Phoebe's story turned out differently, the change in her friend helped Sal to realize that mother's don't go away. They may be gone from sight but are always there and for Sal, "singing in the trees."
Seeing the people around her dealing with death in various ways, such as her father befriending Margaret-a woman who lost her own husband and was the sole survivor of the bus accident that took Sal's mother's life-or the strength of her grandfather when his gooseberry passes away, helped Sal to face the truth of her own pain and accept the love and support of her family and friends.

Though the secondary plots and topics of Walk Two Moons, delve into other areas of conflict, the focus remains on Sal's growth and acceptance of her mother's death. She matures and understands why people act certain ways when dealing with loss or tragedy. She sees herself in others, how they change when things go wrong and how they deal or ignore the truth around them. The author allowed Sal to learn vicariously through Phoebe, seeing how her own attitude mirrored her friend's. When Phoebe's mother returns, Sal can't help but feel jealous but used those feelings to confront some of the issues she was dealing with internally.

While all the characters in The Secret Garden and Walk Two Moons, had their own quirks and flaws, they all were able to work through the stages of grief with the help of friends, family, and surroundings and became understanding and compassionate people who were stronger in the end despite their suffering.