A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess is a 1905 children's novel by Frances
Hodgson Burnett. It is a revised and expanded version of
Burnett's 1888 serialized novel entitled Sara Crewe: or, What Happened
at Miss Minchin's Boarding School, which was published in St.
Nicholas Magazine.
According to Burnett, she discovered that she had missed out a great deal of
things when writing the novella. She had been composing a play based on the
story when she found out a lot of characters she had missed. The publisher asked
her to publish a new, revised story of the novella, producing the novel.
Plot
A Little Princess opens with seven-year-old Sara Crewe and her father,
Captain Crewe, arriving at Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls in London. Captain Crewe is very wealthy and states
that Sara is a destined for a lavish, comfortable future. Despite being pampered
all her life in India, Sara herself is very intelligent, polite,
and creative. Headmistress Miss Minchin is secretly jealous and
dislikes Sara for her cleverness, but openly praises and flatters her because of
her father's wealth. Before departing for India, Captain Crewe purchases Sara an
elegant wardrobe and a doll whom Sara adores and names "Emily." Sara's
friendliness and love for pretending and storytelling makes her popular with most of the
school's students. They soon begin regarding her as a princess, which she
embraces. Sara befriends Ermengarde, the school dunce; Lottie, a spoiled four-year-old student; and Becky, the scullery maid.
A few years later, Sara receives word from Captain Crewe that he and a
childhood friend have become partners in a scheme to gain control of a diamond mine which could potentially multiply his wealth
enormously. Miss Minchin later treats Sara to a very luxurious eleventh birthday
party per Captain Crewe's request. Captain Crewe's lawyer arrives unexpectedly
and tells Miss Minchin that Captain Crewe has died of jungle fever and his partner has gone missing. He
then adds that business troubles that rendered him completely poor, leaving Sara
an orphaned beggar. Enraged that she will never be reimbursed
for all the services and goods spent on Sara since receiving the last check,
Miss Minchin seizes all of Sara's possessions except for an outgrown black frock
and Emily. Miss Minchin then tells Sara that she will live in the attic next to
Becky and work as a servant in order to continue living in the school.
For the next several years Sara is made to teach the younger students and run
errands in all weathers; she is starved and abused by Miss Minchin, the cook,
and the other servants. She is consoled by Ermengarde, Lottie, and Becky, who
visit her during the night, as well as Emily and a rat she names Melchisedec.
Sara extensively uses her imagination as a means of coping, pretending that she and Becky are
prisoners in the Bastille. Sara also continues pretending she is
still a princess, and continues to be kind and polite to everyone, including her
offenders. One day Sara finds a fourpence in the street and uses it to buy six
buns from a friendly baker. The baker witnesses Sara give five of the buns to a
beggar girl before leaving. The cook regards Sara as a princess and invites the
beggar girl to live with her.
Meanwhile, a man from India, Tom Carrisford, moves into the house next door.
Sara becomes interested and sympathetic when she learns about Mr. Carrisford,
who is sickly. It is revealed that Mr. Carrisford was Captain Crewe's childhood
friend and partner. During their time in India, they had both caught high
fevers, and in his delirium, Mr. Carrisford abandoned Captain Crewe. However,
the diamond mine scheme had not fallen through as they both had initially
believed, and Carrisford became extraordinarily wealthy. Mr. Carrisford feels
extremely guilty that Captain Crewe's daughter is missing because of the ordeal
and seeks to find her. Her name and school are unknown to him, following leads
in Paris and Moscow. Sara meets Ram Dass, Mr. Carrisford's servant, when his pet
monkey escapes into her room through her skylight. Ram Dass immediately admires
Sara when she speaks to him in Hindustani. Ram Dass climbs across the roof into
Sara's room to retrieve the monkey and sees the poor condition of her room. Ram
Dass tells Mr. Carrisford of Sara, who becomes interested in her. Mr. Carrisford
decides to secretly send food and gifts to Sara and Becky. Sara is very thankful
but does not know who her "mysterious friend" is. The following days become less
burdensome to Sara and Becky, to Miss Minchin's confusion.
One night, the monkey escapes into Sara's room through the skylight; Sara
decides to return the monkey to Mr. Carrisford the next morning. Sara mentions
she had lived in India to Mr. Carrisford, who then subsequently learns that Sara
is the missing daughter of Captain Crewe. Sara learns that Mr. Carrisford was
her father's friend and forgives him when she realizes that he is the mysterious
friend who helped her. When Miss Minchin visits to reclaim Sara, she is informed
that Sara will be living with Mr. Carrisford and her entire fortune has been
restored. Miss Minchin kindly asks Sara to come back and continue being a
student at her school, but Sara rejects her offer. Becky is invited to live with
and be the personal attendant of Sara. With her newfound wealth Sara makes a
deal with the baker, proposing to cover the bills for food given to any hungry
child. Sara thus proves her worth as a true "princess."
Source material
The novella appears to have been inspired in part by Charlotte
Brontë's unfinished novel, Emma, the first two chapters of
which were published in Cornhill Magazine in 1860, featuring a rich
heiress with a mysterious past who is apparently abandoned at a boarding
school.
The thread of the book is evident in the novellas, in which Sara Crewe is
left at Miss Minchin's, loses her father, is worked as a drudge, and is
surprised with the kindness of an Indian gentleman who turns out to be Captain
Crewe's friend. However, at just over one-third the length of the later book,
the novella is much less detailed.
Many of the characters in the book are loosely defined or not at all. The
students are treated as a group; only Ermengarde is mentioned by name, and her
interaction with Sara is limited to Sara's asking her for books. Much of the
Large Family is only mentioned by name, and Sara only observes them from afar;
the father is not linked to Mr. Carrisford until the end.
Generally, the novel expanded on things in the novella; Captain Crewe's
"investments" are only referred to briefly and generally, and much of the
information revealed in conversations in the novel is simply summarized.
However, there are details in the novella which were dropped for the novel.
While a drudge, Sara is said to have frequented a library, in which she read
books about women in rough circumstances being rescued by princes and other
powerful men. In addition, Mr. Carrisford's illness is specified as liver
trouble.
After writing Sara Crewe, Burnett returned to the material in 1902,
penning the three-act stage play A Little Un-fairy Princess, which ran in
London
over the autumn of that year. Around the time it transferred to New
York City at the start of 1903, however, the title was shortened
to the one with which it became famous: A Little Princess. (It was A
Little Princess in London, but The Little Princess in New York.)
The play was a success on Broadway, and it is probable that this triumph is
what led Burnett to revise it yet again, this time as an expanded, full-length
novel. Both versions of the book remain in print, although A Little
Princess is better known.
Hodgson Burnett. It is a revised and expanded version of
Burnett's 1888 serialized novel entitled Sara Crewe: or, What Happened
at Miss Minchin's Boarding School, which was published in St.
Nicholas Magazine.
According to Burnett, she discovered that she had missed out a great deal of
things when writing the novella. She had been composing a play based on the
story when she found out a lot of characters she had missed. The publisher asked
her to publish a new, revised story of the novella, producing the novel.
Plot
A Little Princess opens with seven-year-old Sara Crewe and her father,
Captain Crewe, arriving at Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls in London. Captain Crewe is very wealthy and states
that Sara is a destined for a lavish, comfortable future. Despite being pampered
all her life in India, Sara herself is very intelligent, polite,
and creative. Headmistress Miss Minchin is secretly jealous and
dislikes Sara for her cleverness, but openly praises and flatters her because of
her father's wealth. Before departing for India, Captain Crewe purchases Sara an
elegant wardrobe and a doll whom Sara adores and names "Emily." Sara's
friendliness and love for pretending and storytelling makes her popular with most of the
school's students. They soon begin regarding her as a princess, which she
embraces. Sara befriends Ermengarde, the school dunce; Lottie, a spoiled four-year-old student; and Becky, the scullery maid.
A few years later, Sara receives word from Captain Crewe that he and a
childhood friend have become partners in a scheme to gain control of a diamond mine which could potentially multiply his wealth
enormously. Miss Minchin later treats Sara to a very luxurious eleventh birthday
party per Captain Crewe's request. Captain Crewe's lawyer arrives unexpectedly
and tells Miss Minchin that Captain Crewe has died of jungle fever and his partner has gone missing. He
then adds that business troubles that rendered him completely poor, leaving Sara
an orphaned beggar. Enraged that she will never be reimbursed
for all the services and goods spent on Sara since receiving the last check,
Miss Minchin seizes all of Sara's possessions except for an outgrown black frock
and Emily. Miss Minchin then tells Sara that she will live in the attic next to
Becky and work as a servant in order to continue living in the school.
For the next several years Sara is made to teach the younger students and run
errands in all weathers; she is starved and abused by Miss Minchin, the cook,
and the other servants. She is consoled by Ermengarde, Lottie, and Becky, who
visit her during the night, as well as Emily and a rat she names Melchisedec.
Sara extensively uses her imagination as a means of coping, pretending that she and Becky are
prisoners in the Bastille. Sara also continues pretending she is
still a princess, and continues to be kind and polite to everyone, including her
offenders. One day Sara finds a fourpence in the street and uses it to buy six
buns from a friendly baker. The baker witnesses Sara give five of the buns to a
beggar girl before leaving. The cook regards Sara as a princess and invites the
beggar girl to live with her.
Meanwhile, a man from India, Tom Carrisford, moves into the house next door.
Sara becomes interested and sympathetic when she learns about Mr. Carrisford,
who is sickly. It is revealed that Mr. Carrisford was Captain Crewe's childhood
friend and partner. During their time in India, they had both caught high
fevers, and in his delirium, Mr. Carrisford abandoned Captain Crewe. However,
the diamond mine scheme had not fallen through as they both had initially
believed, and Carrisford became extraordinarily wealthy. Mr. Carrisford feels
extremely guilty that Captain Crewe's daughter is missing because of the ordeal
and seeks to find her. Her name and school are unknown to him, following leads
in Paris and Moscow. Sara meets Ram Dass, Mr. Carrisford's servant, when his pet
monkey escapes into her room through her skylight. Ram Dass immediately admires
Sara when she speaks to him in Hindustani. Ram Dass climbs across the roof into
Sara's room to retrieve the monkey and sees the poor condition of her room. Ram
Dass tells Mr. Carrisford of Sara, who becomes interested in her. Mr. Carrisford
decides to secretly send food and gifts to Sara and Becky. Sara is very thankful
but does not know who her "mysterious friend" is. The following days become less
burdensome to Sara and Becky, to Miss Minchin's confusion.
One night, the monkey escapes into Sara's room through the skylight; Sara
decides to return the monkey to Mr. Carrisford the next morning. Sara mentions
she had lived in India to Mr. Carrisford, who then subsequently learns that Sara
is the missing daughter of Captain Crewe. Sara learns that Mr. Carrisford was
her father's friend and forgives him when she realizes that he is the mysterious
friend who helped her. When Miss Minchin visits to reclaim Sara, she is informed
that Sara will be living with Mr. Carrisford and her entire fortune has been
restored. Miss Minchin kindly asks Sara to come back and continue being a
student at her school, but Sara rejects her offer. Becky is invited to live with
and be the personal attendant of Sara. With her newfound wealth Sara makes a
deal with the baker, proposing to cover the bills for food given to any hungry
child. Sara thus proves her worth as a true "princess."
Source material
The novella appears to have been inspired in part by Charlotte
Brontë's unfinished novel, Emma, the first two chapters of
which were published in Cornhill Magazine in 1860, featuring a rich
heiress with a mysterious past who is apparently abandoned at a boarding
school.
The thread of the book is evident in the novellas, in which Sara Crewe is
left at Miss Minchin's, loses her father, is worked as a drudge, and is
surprised with the kindness of an Indian gentleman who turns out to be Captain
Crewe's friend. However, at just over one-third the length of the later book,
the novella is much less detailed.
Many of the characters in the book are loosely defined or not at all. The
students are treated as a group; only Ermengarde is mentioned by name, and her
interaction with Sara is limited to Sara's asking her for books. Much of the
Large Family is only mentioned by name, and Sara only observes them from afar;
the father is not linked to Mr. Carrisford until the end.
Generally, the novel expanded on things in the novella; Captain Crewe's
"investments" are only referred to briefly and generally, and much of the
information revealed in conversations in the novel is simply summarized.
However, there are details in the novella which were dropped for the novel.
While a drudge, Sara is said to have frequented a library, in which she read
books about women in rough circumstances being rescued by princes and other
powerful men. In addition, Mr. Carrisford's illness is specified as liver
trouble.
After writing Sara Crewe, Burnett returned to the material in 1902,
penning the three-act stage play A Little Un-fairy Princess, which ran in
London
over the autumn of that year. Around the time it transferred to New
York City at the start of 1903, however, the title was shortened
to the one with which it became famous: A Little Princess. (It was A
Little Princess in London, but The Little Princess in New York.)
The play was a success on Broadway, and it is probable that this triumph is
what led Burnett to revise it yet again, this time as an expanded, full-length
novel. Both versions of the book remain in print, although A Little
Princess is better known.