English 2033E Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Western Religions, Sowerby Family, Hypochondriasis
Document Summary
Perhaps the most subversive and original element of this novel is its heroine: Mary lennox is petulant, spoiled, ugly, and nasty, yet readers often prefer her to the sugary sweet little girls of much children"s literature. Mary"s appeal: burnett makes it clear that mary is not to blame for her personality: she has been neglected by her mother and has never been loved. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression (1). Her disposition is as unattractive as her outward appearance: she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived (2). Like many other books for children, this novel suggests that a love of reading bodes well for a child"s character. Mary"s imagination also emerges in her early attempts to pretend: she. Wandered out into the garden and began to play by herself under a tree near the veranda.
