After having read the book, ‘A Little Princess’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett, I feel blessed to be around so many little princesses I can actually accredit to the title. The book revolves around a girl, Sara, whose mother had passed away upon her birth. Her father was an army officer in India. The book was written in 1905. When Sara was seven, her father brought her to London and admitted her to a French school in London (her mother was French). Sara had blind love for her father and his absence would affect her a lot to Sara. Her father, Captain Crewe bought Sara a big doll to talk to and sleep with, in his absence. She named her Emily. The owner of the school, Miss Minchin was very greedy. Captain had requested her to give Sara a separate room and fulfill all her wishes, he would give the school the required money for that. Miss Minchin would do everything in her power if given money on time. The other kids were shocked to see Sara, she was very active and mature. Sara used to help everyone at school. A small girl was crying once because her mother had passed away. Sara made her think of a beautiful heaven where she and her mother existed and were all happy.
Sara was an expert at recreating imaginations and reading people’s thoughts. As a result of this, all the other kids loved her. On Sara’s 11th birthday, the news of Captain Crewe’s death was revealed; he had died because of a heart attack after being deceived by a friend in India who looted his all money. In no time, Sara had become an impoverished orphan. She was strong enough to bear it all while Miss Minchin was still very greedy. With no money left after the death of Sara’s father, she was made to work in Miss Minchin’s school. Sara helped the young kids learn their lessons, along with carrying out chores like cooking and buying things from the market. The cook there made Sara work very hard. Every now and then, she was ordered to buy groceries. Despite her situation, there was no one who pitied her. Once, an Indian man came to live next to their school’s building. After learning about him, Sara came to know that she was English but previously used to be in India. He had an Indian servant with him and a monkey as a pet.
Original Title: A Little Princess
Published February 26th 2002 by Penguin Books (first published 1905)
Edition Language: English
Characters: Sara Crewe, Ralph Crewe, Maria Minchin, Ermengarde St. John, Rebecca “Becky”
Setting: London, England (United Kingdom)
Other Editions: 311
Regularly, on her the way to market, she would pass by the house of a lawyer. He had some very nice kids. One of his sons had promised to give six pennies to a poor kid. Once, he saw Sara with torn clothes and gave her the six pennies.
Sara didn’t want to take them but thinking that his heart would broke, she kept them with her. She didn’t spend them but put a thread through it and wore it. The boy’s father was the lawyer of the Indian man near their house. The Indian man was in fact, the person who deceived Sara’s father in India. His purpose in London was to search for Sara and hand her over all the money her father had left for her. He had never seen Sara before nor did Sara have any information of his intentions. The lawyer went to France in order to look for Sara but all in vain. This hurt the Indian man a lot, it was like a living hell for him. On the other side, Miss Minchin kept brutalising little Sara. The lawyer’s son once met with the Indian man. While they were talking, the Indian man shared his story with the boy and asked for his suggestion. He took Sara’s name so he could check on her as being the girl who matched his story. When the Indian man asked the lawyer to confirm if the girl he was in search of was actually Sara or not, it turned out that it was her indeed. Afterwards, the Indian man released Sara from the brutalities of Miss Minchin and kept her like a little princess in his home.
This book made me realise that every orphan or poor girl in our society is a true, real princess. These girls go through a lot of hardships and don’t complain about anything. They should be treated like real princesses and be given the real status of a “princess”, and we are the only ones to give them that status and fight for it. I feel proud to have so many little princesses in my society, and I hope that through my writing, all others who neglect the little princesses in their society will give them a reason to be happy and leave a smile on their faces.
The writer is a part time teacher at DELTA Academy Turbat and a regular student at Atta Shad Degree College Turbat
Published in Daily Times, January 23rd 2018.
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