Mary and Colin are cousins. They are very similar in character, as well as life. They are both powerful, rich, they both died mother and they were both brought up by servants. They were both the only child in the family. They behaved with the servants as if they were a prince and princess. There was not a drop of respect for the servants in them and they didn’t even say a word please either thank you. Their similarity contributed to the beginning of their friendship. They both kept secret the Mysterious Garden, the entrance to which was forbidden. The garden belonged to Colin's mother and after his death his father forbade the entrance to it. His father hated him because the boy looked like his mother and was a living reminder of her death.
This was the main cause of the boy’s physical and moral weakness. He could not get out of bed and was sure that he would die soon. His father came to him only at night and the boy knew that he hates him. Burnett writes, that Mary is : " as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever live " and "keep the child out of sight as much as possible". She calls her nanny :¨ "Pig! Pig! Daughter of Pigs!". She calls her a pig, because it`s the worst insult for an Indian native. She is a little selfish mistress, who is not only rich British, but she comes from a rich Anglo-Indian family.
In the beginning the author states, that she is : "the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen", but she transforms and we are told that : ¨Mary had not had time to pay much attention to her changing face and in the end we can see that she is :"like a blush rose" . Her friendship with Colin and desire to help her cousin transforms her like a person and we notice the inside and outside transformation.
Almost the same transformation we see through the Colin`s changes. He has got: "the great gray eyes with black lashes around them, so like and yet so horribly unlike the happy eyes he had adored" and Mary "stroke and pat his hand and sing a very low little chanting song in Hindustandi", because she feels sorry for his pale skin and sick boy. She shows us kindness, which she didn`t have before. Colin worked in secret garden and it made him closer to his passed - away mother. He begins to believe in «Magic" and author describes us the secret garden in a very picturesque and wonderful way: "And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles. In the robin's nest there were Eggs and the robin's mate sat upon them keeping them warm with her feathery little breast and careful wings….. the immense, tender, terrible, heart-breaking beauty and solemnity of Eggs. If there had been one person in that garden who had not known through all his or her innermost being that if an Egg were taken away or hurt the whole world would whirl round and crash through space and come to an end". This is some kind of comparison and metaphor, the author shows us that miracles exist when you have someone you want to warm with your warmth, take care of it and it makes you blossom your heart and fill your soul with warmth. Colin becomes healthy and happy. His father is very happy as well and he shows that he loves his son when he sees him like that.
