The Secret Garden Character Development

Characters in novels are very much like real people. They experience real-life situations that help them grow and develop which become visible to readers through various literature characteristics. Themes, motifs and symbolism all show readers how certain characters find their “stronger sense of self”, playing hand and hand with character development throughout the storyline. The development and growing of characters is present and similar in all of the four novels; Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting and Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia. In The Secret Garden, Burnett portrays the two main characters, Mary Lennox and Colin Craven as “mirror images.” The entire …show more content…
Just like in the three previous novels, Jess and Leslie demonstrate clearly how growing up and making new connections and relationships can have a great impact on a person, also demonstrating their character development along the way. Both Jess and Leslie begin the novel as outsiders, not going out of their way to interact with the other students but they develop a friendship among each other that complements each character. This friendship consists of Leslie pushing Jess to his full potential of being an artist, even when he does not have the support of his own parents. Also, Jess helps Leslie find something more to her own self, finding a “stronger sense of self” and identity, bringing her to church and convincing her to stand up to the school bully. By the end of the novel when Jess loses Leslie, he realizes that even though she is no longer with him, dealing with the loss and mourning just like in real life, the influence of her being and their friendship was still able to grow stronger. Leslie’s and Jess’s character at the end of the novel were stronger than before, which had much to do with each other and the impact of that friendship as well as the reality of life and death and dealing with those two