My younger sis started reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and she came across a few sentences in Chapter 1 in the first paragraph itself.
Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. Her father had held a position under the English Government and had always been busy and ill himself…
She was offended by Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another. part. She said it meant that all people from India are always ill. Whereas I think the author meant ‘Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India‘ and ‘had always been ill in one way or another‘ are meant to be 2 statements not really related to each other. But I could be wrong.
The next sentence ‘Her father had held a position under the English Government and had always been busy and ill himself‘ kind of contradicts my understanding.
But my sister was really offended. She said the author should have taken the sentiments of all readers in mind before making a carpet statement like that.
And besides Indians don’t have yellow hair, neither do we have yellow faces.
I would have read this book sometime later but I’m really not keen to read it anymore. My sister is still reading it but she is reading it to find if there are more references like that in the book.
I told my sister I will ask my blog readers about it. So what do you think? Was it racist? Would you read a book that criticizes your nationality or race?
