What is the name of the protagonist in 'The Secret Garden'?
Answer
Mary Lennox
Answer
Mary Lennox
Mary Lennox is the protagonist of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.
Mary is a 10-year-old girl born in British India to wealthy but neglectful British parents. After a cholera epidemic kills her parents and most of the household servants, she is sent to England to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven, at Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire Moors.
At the beginning, Mary is sickly, lonely, spoiled, and notably unpleasant. Her discovery of a locked garden, aided by a robin and the gardener Ben Weatherstaff, begins a transformation in both her surroundings and her character. Gardening and friendship gradually make her healthier and more compassionate.
Readers sometimes confuse Mary with Colin Craven, her cousin, because Colin's recovery is central to the plot. Colin is an important secondary character, but Mary drives the story: she finds the garden, befriends Dickon, and helps bring the neglected place back to life.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026