Nancy’s Ancestors: the Mystery of Imaginative Female Power in The Secret Garden and A Little Princess

Abstract

When my grandmother gave me The Secret of the Old Clock (1930), the first book in the Nancy Drew series, I immediately became addicted to the escapades of the dauntless heroine. From my ten-year-old point of view, it seemed perfectly natural that a woman of the oh-so-mature age of eighteen would have the unlimited independence that Nancy enjoyed. Looking back from an adult perspective, however, it appears a bit bizarre that the young sleuth could gallivant around the world to track villains and right wrongs. As a child, I never suspected that Nancy’s freedom might be due to the dearth of authority figures in her life; she had a father, of course, but Carson Drew was always more deeply involved in lawyering than in parenting. Anyone who remembers her Nancy Drew will also recollect Hannah Gruen, the ‘mother-substitute’ who has cared for Nancy since the detective’s toddler days. Interestingly enough, Hannah never seems to have the authority of a mother, although it is debatable whether this is simply due to her servant status, or whether any power she might have is further diminished by Nancy’s frequent need to rescue her from various ill-intentioned criminals. The ineffectiveness of Hannah as a mother-substitute, coupled with the absence of Nancy’s biological mother, poses a distinct advantage for Nancy’s independence. While a mother might encourage her daughter to accept the passive gender role thrust on her by society, the absence of such an authority allows Nancy the freedom to uncover secrets through her sleuthing even as she risks her life to gain that information.