Identity In The Forgotten Garden

Discover identity
An individual’s lineage influences the outcome of who he/she grows into. Every individual looks to their parent as a mentor of sorts, someone to ask questions and learn from. But what if an individual grew up not knowing who that mentor was, without acquiring their values and traits. In the novel The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton she centers the story on a family spanning from the early 1900’s to early 2000’s. Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra are all the main protagonists in the story and all faced a loss of their birth parents. Each of these characters grew up without their mother and father and learned to grow strong but always longing affection. Each had someone to care for them but each story is different. Eliza ending up
Eliza Makepeace at a young age lost her mother to sickness and became the adult figure looking out for her mentally ill brother Sammy. Until after playing a game in the thick fogged, streets of London, Sammy was killed in an accident, soon after Eliza was taken to her uncle’s manor to live. It was here that she discovered Rose Mountrachet her cousin who became her one and only confidant. Rose was the only person she had in her life who cared for her. “For in the years since Eliza had been plucked from her lonely London life and transplanted to the grand and mysterious Blackhurst, Rose had become a soul mate.” Eliza lived at the Blackhurst Manor for years after that growing closer to Rose and becoming an individual. It is not until Rose leaves for a trip to America with her mother that Eliza starts to grow more reserved. She becomes more interested in exploring the maze and the secret garden at the end of it. She becomes fascinated by the secret garden and the cottage beside it. "It was a garden, a walled garden. Overgrown but with beautiful bones visible still. Someone had cared for this garden once. The remains of two paths snaked back and forth, intertwined like the lacing on an Irish dancing shoe. Fruit trees had been espaliered around the sides, and wires zigzagged from the top of one wall to the top of
Cassandra lived with her grandmother Nell because her mother deserted her. Cassandra had a hard life but her grandmother had helped her through it until she died. She had lost her only family, and her close friend. This is an n example of her getting a sense of identity because she realized how much Nell had shaped her life. Cassandra soon learned of the cottage Nell had purchased and soon figured out why she had been there. Cassandra set out to finish what Nell started. Along the way Cassandra learns a lot about her grandmother, great grandmother, and herself. She travels to Blackhurst Manor and visits the cottage her grandmother had purchased. She also meets a man named Christian who shows her a way into the secret garden ““It’s magical, isn’t it, this place?” Christian was standing in the centre of the garden by a rusted iron bench. “Even when I was a kid I could feel that.”” Cassandra previously to Nell’s death lost a husband and son to a car accident. This is also an example of her building her identity. Nell helped her cope with it and brought her back from misery. And so because of this another example of her discovering her identity is her feelings towards Christian. She is struggling with her feelings about him and her despair about how her husband would feel. Throughout the rest of the story Cassandra studies Nell’s progress and slowly figures out the truth. Also when Cassandra