The Secret Garden

by

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Dickon is Martha's twelve-year-old brother. He spends most of his time out on the moor, enjoying the fresh air and befriending animals, especially abandoned baby animals that he then tames. Martha begins talking to Mary about Dickon long before Mary meets him, and she becomes entranced by the idea of him as he's so different from her. She finally meets Dickon when he comes to bring her the gardening tools and seeds that she asked for. She initially describes him as somewhat unattractive, with ruddy cheeks, an upturned nose, and red hair. However, as she gets to know Dickon better and comes to admire his way with animals, she finds these physical qualities attractive. Indeed, Martha and Mrs. Sowerby discuss that Dickon's upturned nose is like a rabbit's—constantly sniffing and wiggling to smell the moor—and after spending more time with him, both Mary and Colin begin to do the same thing. Dickon is a good, strong, and trustworthy boy who's a fixture among the locals, which is why Dr. Craven agrees to let Dickon push Colin's wheelchair out in the garden. In the garden, he acts as Colin's guardian and offers him his arm as they walk laps. He participates fully as Colin comes up with his spiritual system of Magic and shows Mary and Colin how to properly garden and care for plants. In the robin's narration, he mentions that Dickon speaks the robin language, thereby confirming Dickon's intimate relationship with the natural world. While Dickon is friends with the robin, he also often brings along other tame animals, including Captain, a fox; Soot, a crow; and Nut and Shell, two squirrels.

Dickon Quotes in The Secret Garden

The The Secret Garden quotes below are all either spoken by Dickon or refer to Dickon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Healing, Growth, and Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

Mary had never possessed an animal pet of her own and had always thought she should like no one. So she began to feel a slight interest in Dickon, and as she had never before been interested in any one but herself, it was the dawning of a healthy sentiment.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox , Dickon, Martha
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

"I wonder," staring at her reflectively, "what Dickon would think of thee?"

"He wouldn't like me," said Mary in her stiff, cold little way. "No one does."

Martha looked reflective again.

"How does tha' like thysel'?" she inquired, really quite as if she were curious to know.

"Not at all—really," she answered. "But I never thought of that before."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Martha (speaker), Dickon
Page Number: 75
Explanation and Analysis:

She walked away, slowly thinking. She had begun to like the garden just as she had begun to like the robin and Dickon and Martha's mother. She was beginning to like Martha, too. This seemed a good many people to like—when you were not used to liking.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff , Susan Sowerby / Mother, Martha, The Robin
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

"Could you keep a secret, if I told you one? It's a great secret. I don't know what I should do if any one found it out. I believe I should die!" She said the last sentence quite fiercely.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Then Mary did a strange thing. She learned forward and asked him a question she had never dreamed of asking any one before. And she tried to ask it in Yorkshire because that was his language, and in India a native was always pleased if you knew his speech.

"Does tha' like me?" she said.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

"He's been lying in his room so long and he's always been so afraid of his back that it has made him queer," said Mary. "He knows a good many things out of books but he doesn't know anything else. He says he has been to ill to notice things and he hates going out of doors and hates gardens and gardeners. But he likes to hear about this garden because it is a secret."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Colin Craven, Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

"You'll get plenty of fresh air, won't you?" said Mary.

"I'm going to get nothing else," he answered. "I've seen the spring now and I'm going to see the summer. I'm going to see everything grow here. I'm going to grow here myself."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Colin Craven (speaker), Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 263
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

And this was not half of the Magic. The fact that he had really once stood on his feet had set Colin thinking tremendously and when Mary told him of the spell she had worked he was excited and approved of it greatly. He talked of it constantly.

"Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world," he said wisely one day, "but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment."

Related Characters: Colin Craven (speaker), Mary Lennox , Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

"You are just what I—what I wanted," he said. "I wish you were my mother—as well as Dickon's!"

All at once Susan Sowerby bent down and drew him with her warm arms close against the bosom under the blue cloak—as if he had been Dickon's brother. The quick mist swept over her eyes.

"Eh! Dear lad!" she said. "Thy own mother's in this 'ere very garden, I do believe. She couldna' keep out of it. Thy father mun come back to thee—he mun!"

Related Characters: Colin Craven (speaker), Susan Sowerby / Mother (speaker), Mary Lennox , Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden, Roses
Page Number: 336
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Secret Garden LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Secret Garden PDF

Dickon Quotes in The Secret Garden

The The Secret Garden quotes below are all either spoken by Dickon or refer to Dickon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Healing, Growth, and Nature Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

Mary had never possessed an animal pet of her own and had always thought she should like no one. So she began to feel a slight interest in Dickon, and as she had never before been interested in any one but herself, it was the dawning of a healthy sentiment.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox , Dickon, Martha
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

"I wonder," staring at her reflectively, "what Dickon would think of thee?"

"He wouldn't like me," said Mary in her stiff, cold little way. "No one does."

Martha looked reflective again.

"How does tha' like thysel'?" she inquired, really quite as if she were curious to know.

"Not at all—really," she answered. "But I never thought of that before."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Martha (speaker), Dickon
Page Number: 75
Explanation and Analysis:

She walked away, slowly thinking. She had begun to like the garden just as she had begun to like the robin and Dickon and Martha's mother. She was beginning to like Martha, too. This seemed a good many people to like—when you were not used to liking.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff , Susan Sowerby / Mother, Martha, The Robin
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

"Could you keep a secret, if I told you one? It's a great secret. I don't know what I should do if any one found it out. I believe I should die!" She said the last sentence quite fiercely.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Then Mary did a strange thing. She learned forward and asked him a question she had never dreamed of asking any one before. And she tried to ask it in Yorkshire because that was his language, and in India a native was always pleased if you knew his speech.

"Does tha' like me?" she said.

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

"He's been lying in his room so long and he's always been so afraid of his back that it has made him queer," said Mary. "He knows a good many things out of books but he doesn't know anything else. He says he has been to ill to notice things and he hates going out of doors and hates gardens and gardeners. But he likes to hear about this garden because it is a secret."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Colin Craven, Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

"You'll get plenty of fresh air, won't you?" said Mary.

"I'm going to get nothing else," he answered. "I've seen the spring now and I'm going to see the summer. I'm going to see everything grow here. I'm going to grow here myself."

Related Characters: Mary Lennox (speaker), Colin Craven (speaker), Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden
Page Number: 263
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

And this was not half of the Magic. The fact that he had really once stood on his feet had set Colin thinking tremendously and when Mary told him of the spell she had worked he was excited and approved of it greatly. He talked of it constantly.

"Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world," he said wisely one day, "but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen. I am going to try and experiment."

Related Characters: Colin Craven (speaker), Mary Lennox , Dickon, Ben Weatherstaff
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

"You are just what I—what I wanted," he said. "I wish you were my mother—as well as Dickon's!"

All at once Susan Sowerby bent down and drew him with her warm arms close against the bosom under the blue cloak—as if he had been Dickon's brother. The quick mist swept over her eyes.

"Eh! Dear lad!" she said. "Thy own mother's in this 'ere very garden, I do believe. She couldna' keep out of it. Thy father mun come back to thee—he mun!"

Related Characters: Colin Craven (speaker), Susan Sowerby / Mother (speaker), Mary Lennox , Dickon
Related Symbols: The Secret Garden, Roses
Page Number: 336
Explanation and Analysis: