When thinking of the best way to illustrate the journey Mary and later Colin take while in the secret garden, I did not just want to choose a picture of the two children sitting under at tree with smiles on their faces. Truly, the story is far more than just two children spending time in a garden. I wanted to focus on the psychological, spiritual, self-finding journey the children undergo from bitter, sour children to joyful, happy kids. I was stumped, how on earth do I find a picture to illustrate the transformation from sour to sweet? Then, one afternoon I was watching TV and a candy commercial came on. "Sour Patch Kids, first they're sour, then they're sweet." On the outside the candy is covered with sour salt. Once past the salt, all that is left is fruity sweetness of the candy. The garden transforms the children, altering their outlooks on life from once pessimistic hate to optimistic hope. Of course the candy is not nearly as life-altering as the concept of The Secret Garden, but the same change occurs in both instances - sour to sweet- almost like magic.
I wanted to take the aesthetics portion one step further. After our focus on Maggie Macnab's Decoding Design, I wanted to attempt to make my own "logo" for the novel.
Two: The number two rests upon the concept of opposites and one's separation from the whole. Mary and Colin both undergo this separation or neglect from their families - Mary because of her appearance and Colin because of his illness. The duality goes a step further in the novel in that Mary and Colin are introduced to readers in a state of negativity, bitterness, and disgust with the world around them. Despite their poor perception of themselves and others, they make a stunning transformation. I chose the colors violet and yellow to represent the children because violet is yellow's opposite in the color wheel, and both are possible colors of flowers.
Five: I wanted to incorporate five within my logo because five's focus is human existence. Humans are the abstract ideas of five put into physical form. Five is most commonly symbolized by the Golden Spiral. Ironically, the golden spiral pattern is also found in the petal formation of many flowers.
Eight: Concepts within eight stand out the most in my logo. The principle behind eight is the completion of a process. Mary and Colin undergo a tremendous personal process of self-definition and self-acceptance. When analyzing the process Mary undergoes in her transformation I was surprised to find, her process can be separated into eight stages as well:
1. Mary's journey begins in India where she is hidden and neglected by her family.
2. Death of her family and her recognition is all alone
3. Moving in with the clergyman and his family.
4. Moving to the Moor to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven.
5. Meeting Martha.
6. When she becomes captivated by the robin that lives in the Secret Garden.
7. Entering the garden with Colin for the first time.
8. Regularly spending time in the garden as happy, peaceful Mary Lennox.
I chose to represent the process by combing the two spirals to form an infinity symbol signifying completion.
