At two important moments in the novel Burnett uses a metaphor comparing the globe to an orange to explain to the reader how characters view the world and their place within it. At first this comparison seems like a simple simile, but the work it turns out to do has real metaphorical significance for the rest of the novel. In Chapter 19, Mrs. Medlock describes how Dickon's mother had articulated this concept to her:
“When I was at school my jography told as th’ world was shaped like a orange an’ I found out before I was ten that th’ whole orange doesn’t belong to nobody. No one owns more than his bit of a quarter an’ there’s times it seems like there’s not enow quarters to go round. But don’t you—none o’ you—think as you own th’ whole orange or you’ll find out you’re mistaken, an’ you won’t find it out without hard knocks.” What children learns from children,’ she says, ‘is that there’s no sense in grabbin’ at th’ whole orange—peel an’ all.
Burnett uses this initial simile to articulate the broader metaphorical concept of ownership over things and people. Nobody can own everything (or "the whole orange"), and behaving as if they could will only result in disappointment. Thinking of the world as a piece of fruit that can be consumed helps expand this thought, as it also adds inferences of greed and consumption to the concept. The metaphor of the orange as the consumable world is most often associated with both Mary and Colin. These characters spend much of The Secret Garden learning that the world does not revolve around them alone, and they ultimately learn how to find the size of their "own quarters."
Later, in Chapter 20 when Colin's health has improved and people are beginning to believe he might survive his childhood, Mrs. Medlock expands on the "orange" theory:
“Well, there’s one thing pretty sure,” said Mrs. Medlock. “If he does live and that Indian child stays here I’ll warrant she teaches him that the whole orange does not belong to him, as Susan Sowerby says. And he’ll be likely to find out the size of his own quarter.”
Mrs. Medlock says in the previous quote that she had learned the orange didn't belong to her "before she was ten," the age that Colin and Mary are when this happens. She believes that Mary will be able to face down Colin's bad temper and spoilt nature and show him "the size of his own quarter," or that his power over people and things does have limits.
At two important moments in the novel Burnett uses a metaphor comparing the globe to an orange to explain to the reader how characters view the world and their place within it. At first this comparison seems like a simple simile, but the work it turns out to do has real metaphorical significance for the rest of the novel. In Chapter 19, Mrs. Medlock describes how Dickon's mother had articulated this concept to her:
“When I was at school my jography told as th’ world was shaped like a orange an’ I found out before I was ten that th’ whole orange doesn’t belong to nobody. No one owns more than his bit of a quarter an’ there’s times it seems like there’s not enow quarters to go round. But don’t you—none o’ you—think as you own th’ whole orange or you’ll find out you’re mistaken, an’ you won’t find it out without hard knocks.” What children learns from children,’ she says, ‘is that there’s no sense in grabbin’ at th’ whole orange—peel an’ all.
Burnett uses this initial simile to articulate the broader metaphorical concept of ownership over things and people. Nobody can own everything (or "the whole orange"), and behaving as if they could will only result in disappointment. Thinking of the world as a piece of fruit that can be consumed helps expand this thought, as it also adds inferences of greed and consumption to the concept. The metaphor of the orange as the consumable world is most often associated with both Mary and Colin. These characters spend much of The Secret Garden learning that the world does not revolve around them alone, and they ultimately learn how to find the size of their "own quarters."
Later, in Chapter 20 when Colin's health has improved and people are beginning to believe he might survive his childhood, Mrs. Medlock expands on the "orange" theory:
“Well, there’s one thing pretty sure,” said Mrs. Medlock. “If he does live and that Indian child stays here I’ll warrant she teaches him that the whole orange does not belong to him, as Susan Sowerby says. And he’ll be likely to find out the size of his own quarter.”
Mrs. Medlock says in the previous quote that she had learned the orange didn't belong to her "before she was ten," the age that Colin and Mary are when this happens. She believes that Mary will be able to face down Colin's bad temper and spoilt nature and show him "the size of his own quarter," or that his power over people and things does have limits.
