A Little Princess

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A Little Princess
Author Frances Hodgson Burnett
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Children's literature
Publisher Warne
Publication date 1905
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
ISBN NA

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 novella entitled Sara Crewe: or, What happened at Miss Minchin's boarding school, which was published in St. Nicholas Magazine.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Seven-year-old Sara Crewe, who was raised in India by her affluent and adoring father, Captain Ralph Crewe, has been sent to London, England to be educated at Miss Minchin's Seminary for Young Ladies. Impressed by Captain Crewe's fortune, and wishing to keep Sara at the school as long as possible, Miss Minchin allows Sara to have far more luxuries than the average student: her own personal maid, a pony, a private sitting room and an extravagant wardrobe. Sara is permitted to do anything she pleases, and is constantly praised, complimented and shown off as the school's star pupil. When Captain Crewe becomes part owner of several diamond mines – investing his life's fortune with a "dear friend" – Sara's status grows even more.

She is bright, compassionate and generally well-liked by her classmates. A gifted storyteller, she can draw the attention of every student in the seminary, even those that are not fond of her. Sara likes to imagine she is a princess and strives to emulate the qualities of one: generosity, compassion and politeness. Her best friend, Ermengarde, is the "school dunce"; Sara helps her learn her lessons by weaving them into stories. Sara is also the "adopted mother" of a younger student, Lottie. Sara and Lottie share a bond since both of their mothers have died. She also befriends Becky, the school scullery maid and smuggles food to her.

On Sara's eleventh birthday, one of Captain Crewe's solicitors arrives with bad news: Captain Crewe has died of "jungle fever and business troubles combined." and his "dear friend" and business partner has run off with the Captain's entire fortune. Sarah is now a penniless orphan. Miss Minchin threatens to turn Sara out but is convinced to keep her as a servant. From that point on, Sara becomes a maid of all work at the school, doing everything from teaching French lessons to cleaning and running errands. She is deprived of food and adequate clothing. Many of the other servants take delight in ordering Sara about, and most of her former classmates grow distant from her. As Sara's situation worsens, she begins to despair. She keeps herself going by imagining that she and Becky are prisoners in the Bastille. Ermengarde and Lottie also lift her mood by sneaking to her attic to visit her whenever they can.

One day, a seriously ill and depressed man moves into the townhouse next to the Seminary. Sara calls him the "Indian Gentleman" as he has an Indian servant and a number of possessions from India. Unbeknownst to Sara, the "Indian Gentleman" is her father's business partner, Mr. Carrisford, come to search for her in order to adopt her and restore her father's fortune to her.

She also becomes interested in the family who frequently visits the Indian Gentleman, and labels them "The Large Family". The father of the Large Family, Mr. Carmichael, is Mr. Carrisford's solicitor who is, among other duties, searching for Sara.

Ram Dass tells Mr. Carrisford of Sara's miserable existence in the attic. Mr. Carrisford's interest is aroused and he and Ram Dass work out a plan to alleviate Sarah's miserable life. When Sara is sleeping or working, Ram Dass and his assistants smuggle furniture, rugs, books and other presents into her room, and every night, they kindle a fire in the fireplace and leave a lavish meal for Sara and Becky. (No one from the school discovers this transformation, as no one but Becky, Lottie and Ermengarde come to her room.) Mr. Carrisford even arranges for luxurious clothing to replace Sara's ragged wardrobe. Miss Minchin and her sister, Miss Amelia, are unsettled by Sara's happier demeanor and new clothes, as the women believe they have been provided by a concerned (and possibly hot-tempered) rich uncle who cares for her.

One evening Ram Dass' pet monkey escapes across the rooftops to Sara's attic, and she takes him in from the cold. The next day she comes to Carrisford's house to return the monkey and nonchalantly greets Ram Dass in Hindi, explaining that she grew up in India. It is only now that Carrisford and Carmichael realize that she is the girl for whom they have been searching. Mr. Carrisford becomes her new guardian and restores Sara's fortune, now vastly increased. Sara leaves Miss Minchin's Seminary and the people she knew there with the exception of Becky, who comes as her maid and Ermengarde and Lottie, who visit frequently. Even though Sara's fortunes are reversed, she retains her kind and generous nature and does not forget what it was like to be cold and hungry; she arranges with a baker who was kind to her when she was an impoverished servant girl for bread to be distributed to other similarly deprived children.

[edit] Characters

Sara Crewe is the eponymous "little princess". She is the only daughter of Ralph Crewe, an officer in the British Army. Her French mother died at Sara's birth. Sara was born and raised in India, and speaks Hindi in addition to English and French. She is exceptionally clever, kind and generous, in spite of the fact that she is given every luxury she could ask for. Sara is also a gifted storyteller and has a creative imagination. She pretends she is a princess and strives to emulate the qualities of one: generosity, compassion and politeness. Sara is seven when the story begins, eleven when she loses her fortune, and about thirteen when she is re-discovered.

While Sara is depicted as a positive character, Burnett notes that she is "no angel". She has a quick temper and in one scene she barely restrains herself from hitting Lavinia. She later admits that she "might fly into a rage and kill Miss Minchin." In addition, some modern readers are troubled that she seems to perceive no contradiction in empathizing with "the populace" while personally identifying with Marie Antoinette.

Captain Ralph Crewe is Sara's father. He shares a strong bond with his daughter and misses her desperately when she leaves for school. Captain Crewe is also young and flighty and does not tend to be cautious with his fortune.

Maria Minchin, known as Miss Minchin, is the owner and headmistress of the Seminary. She is rigid, given to rules and order and has a cruel streak.

Amelia Minchin, known as Miss Amelia, is Maria's sister. She has a far kinder nature than her sister, but is too emotionally weak to assert herself to her domineering sibling. At the end of the story when Miss Minchin fails to see the error of her cruel ways, Amelia finally takes a stand against her.

Becky is the child scullery maid at the school. She is severely bullied and overworked by Miss Minchin, and is occasionally used as a scapegoat by other servants. Becky becomes friends with Sara while she is still wealthy and continues to support her after she is relegated to the attic.

Emily is Sara's doll. Sara treats her as a friend and confidante, and likes to imagine she is alive. When she loses her fortune, Emily is the sole possession Sara is allowed to keep when she refuses to surrender it to Miss Minchin.

Melchisedec is a rat that lives in the walls in Sara's attic room. She tames him and feeds him when she can.

[edit] Students

Ermengarde St. John is Sara's best friend at school. Considered to be the "dunce of the school", she has difficulty with her French lessons and frequently draws the wrath of Miss Minchin. Sara helps by weaving the lessons into interesting stories. Ermengarde is good-natured and loyal, and sneaks away to visit Sara when she becomes a servant.

Lavinia Herbert was the richest pupil before Sara's arrival at the Seminary, and is very jealous when she is displaced, seeing Sara as a threat to her. Lavinia is the only pupil Sara ever openly quarrels with. After Sara loses her fortune, Lavinia ridicules her. Lavinia is described as thirteen years old when Sara first arrives, making her about nineteen at the end of the novel.

Lottie Legh is a motherless four-year-old girl who has been spoiled at home and frequently throws screaming tantrums. Sara becomes her "adopted mother" at school and is usually the only person who can calm her. Lottie is very attached to Sara and comes to visit her in the attic.

Jessie is Lavinia's best friend and confidante. Although she is described by Burnett as "silly", she also has a better disposition than Lavinia and expresses her disapproval at the way Sara is treated by Miss Minchin.

[edit] The "Other Side of the Wall"

Mr. Thomas Carrisford, or the Indian Gentleman, lives next door to the Seminary. It is revealed that he is Captain Crewe's "dear friend". Sara, not knowing his true identity, calls him "the Indian Gentleman" because she observes several pieces of Indian furniture being carried into his house.

Ram Dass is Mr. Carrisford's servant. He befriends Sara when he sees her across their townhouses' skylights. Ram Dass tends a small monkey, Sulla, which frequently runs away.

Mr. Carmichael is Mr. Carrisford's solicitor and the father of "the Large Family". One of his chief duties for Mr. Carrisford is to search for Sara Crewe; this task takes him to Russia and France.

Nora, Janet and Donald Carmichael are three of the children in the Large Family. They first cross paths with Sara when Donald gives her his entire Christmas sixpence on a cold day. Her polite response, calling him a "kind, kind little darling thing", interests the children. They begin to call her "The-little-girl-who-is-not-a-beggar" and watch her as carefully as she observes them, never guessing that she is the missing Sara Crewe their father is searching for.

[edit] Other characters

Mariette is Sara's personal French maid. She is fond of Sara as she treats her with far more courtesy than other children she has worked for. She is dismissed as soon as Sara loses her fortune.

Monsieur Dufarge is the Seminary's French teacher. He is impressed with Sara's French that he even recommended to Ms. Minchin that she forgo her French classes with her.

Mr. Barrow is one of Captain Crewe's solicitors. A cold, shrewd man, he comes to the school to inform Miss Minchin of Crewe's death, and gives her the idea of making Sara work in the seminary.

Anne is a beggar child Sara sees in front of a bakery one day. Seeing that she is desperately hungry, Sara gives her five out of the six buns she buys in the bakery shop. Anne finds a place to live when she is taken in by the bun woman.

The bun woman is the proprietress of the bakery. When Sara intends to buy four buns with a fourpence she finds in the gutter, the woman gives her six because Sara looks shabby and hungry. When she sees Sara give five of the six buns to Anne outside the shop, she is so shocked and touched that she decides to take the homeless child in and give her a permanent home in the shop.

[edit] Source material

Sara Crewe, or What Happened At Miss Minchin's, the work on which A Little Princess is based, was first written as a serialized novella. It was published in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1888, after a period Burnett spent travelling across Europe with her family.

The thread of the book is evident in the novella, 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.

Many events in the book also do not happen. Captain Crewe's death is in the first chapter, so all of Sara's life as a show pupil – including her evident kindness even when wealthy and her gift for storytelling – is unmentioned. Indeed, the kindness of Sara in the novella is only substantiated by the incident in which she buys buns for the street urchin Anne.

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.

[edit] New musical versions

Due in part to the novel's public domain status, several musical versions of A Little Princess have emerged in recent years, including:

  • A Little Princess, Princess Musicals [1] Book and Lyrics by Michael Hjort, Music by Camille Curtis.
  • Sara Crewe, premiered May 2007 at Needham (Boston, MA) Community Theater, first full production November 2007 at the Blackwell Playhouse, Marietta, Georgia; music, lyrics, and book by Miriam Raiken-Kolb and Elizabeth Ellor
  • Sara Crewe: A Little Princess, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston, 2006. Music and libretto by Susan Kosoff and Jane Staab
  • A Little Princess, TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, California, premiered 2004. Music by Andrew Lippa; book by Brian Crawley; directed by Susan H. Schulman
  • A Little Princess, Wings Theatre, New York, 2003. Book and Direction by Robert Sickinger; music and lyrics by Mel Atkey, musical director Mary Ann Ivan
  • A Little Princess, Children's Musical Theater San Jose, May 2002. Book and lyrics by Tegan McLane, music by Richard Link.

Some of these productions have made significant changes to the book, story and characters, most notably the Sickinger/Atkey/Ivan version, which moves the action to Civil War-era America.

  • Princesses, a 2004 musical currently in development for Broadway, features students at a boarding school presenting a production of A Little Princess. Music and book by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner; lyrics and direction by David Zippel.

[edit] Related books

In 1995, Apple published a series of three books written by Gabrielle Charbonnet. The "Princess" series was an updated version of the classic, with the title character named Molly, rather than Sara. Molly Stewart's father was a famous film director who left his daughter in a posh upscale boarding school. There were three books in the series, which ended in a similar way as the original.

  • Molly's Heart
  • A Room in the Attic
  • Home At Last

[edit] Film and television adaptations

[edit] Film

Some of the film versions made significant changes to the story, setting, and characters. In the 1939 version an entire subplot is devoted to Sara's abetting of a forbidden romance between the school's riding master and an under-teacher. The 1995 version moves the action to New York City during World War I and generally follows the storyline of the 1939 version. In both the 1939 and 1995 films, Miss Minchin becomes aware of Sara's transformed attic room and tries to have her arrested for theft. Additionally, both versions change the book's ending completely, revealing that Sara's father is alive and having him recover from amnesia on sight of her.

[edit] Television

  • 1973 version: Deborah Makepeace as Sara and Ruth Dunning as Miss Minchin. This was very faithful to the novel.
  • Sōkō no Strain, a 2006 anime that completely reworks the story into a mecha series about "Sara Werec", whose ability to pilot a mecha is taken away when her brother, Ralph, betrays and disgraces the family.

[edit] External links