The Power of Thought Theme Analysis

When Mary and Colin first begin spending time together, Mary makes an important discovery: as far as she can tell, there's nothing wrong with Colin aside from his nasty temper and selfish attitude. She and Colin begin to suspect that he believes he's going to die or develop a hunchback simply because he's been told so by the adults around him for his entire life. Consequentially, when Colin takes control of his inner monologue and decides to think only that he's going to heal and live forever, he effectively makes this happen. In this way, The Secret Garden presents a world in which a person's successes or failures can be traced to the quality and content of their thoughts, and suggests that once someone focuses on thinking good thoughts, healing and positive change will abound.

When Mary first meets Colin, she learns that he believes that he's not going to live to adulthood and, more horrifyingly for him, that he believe he's suddenly going to start developing a hunch in his back. This is because, at the time of his birth, Colin supposedly appeared sickly and deformed. However, the novel implies that this likely was a matter of opinion, not fact, and specifically, one borne out of grief. Colin's mother, Mrs. Craven, died around the time of his birth when she fell out of a tree in the secret garden. Because Mr. Craven was so in love with his wife, and because Colin so perfectly resembles his mother, Mr. Craven resented Colin, even as an infant, for living at all when Mrs. Craven died. In light of this intense grief and resentment, it's very possible that there never was anything the matter with Colin; his various maladies could've easily been brought on by the unhappy thoughts of his father. However, the fact that Colin's apparent illness and frailty takes on such a powerful role in his life speaks to the power of thought and belief, as it suggests that hearing this sort of thing all the time leads a person to internalize it and believe it's true—which in turn manifests as physical ailments in Colin, given that he's constantly ill and thinks of himself as a sick person.

During Mary and Colin's first fight, in which he throws a tantrum because he believes he's going to die and develop a hunchback, Mary demands to inspect Colin's back. Her inspection reveals that there's absolutely nothing wrong with his back and she even threatens to laugh at him if he says there is ever again. Following this, the narrator reveals that Colin's illness is all in his head—the narrator notes that had Colin had friends or thought to ask questions, "he would have found out that most of his fright and illness was created by himself." Tellingly, once Colin makes up his mind to believe Mary that he isn't ill or at risk of dying, his health suddenly begins to improve. This reinforces the power of both positive and negative thoughts, as the negative thoughts were powerful enough to bring on Colin's tantrums and scare him into misery, while his positive thoughts give him the strength and the tenacity to exercise, go outside, and eventually, develop his belief in what he, Mary, and Dickon refer to as "Magic."

In a basic sense, Magic allows Colin to name his belief in the power of positive thinking and as a result, enables him to put together a program that transforms positive thinking into a series of rituals and specific actions and in turn, makes it easier to follow. This begins when Colin leads Mary, Dickon, and Ben Weatherstaff in a prayer circle of sorts, where they chant over and over again about the power of the natural world and of positive thinking. Later, the system of Magic expands to include basic strength training exercises that, when combined with Colin's newfound enthusiasm for positive thought, helps him grow stronger and more confident. As the weeks pass, part of the ritual comes to include Colin's regular speeches about the power of Magic and what good it's doing for him, suggesting that while the belief in Magic is something that starts in a private, secluded space, it's something that eventually will (and in the end, does) transcend the boundaries of the secret garden and help others.

Importantly, the transformation that Mr. Craven undergoes in the final chapter of the novel suggests that Magic and positive thought can influence others without their having to think the positive thoughts themselves. This final chapter tells of Mrs. Craven’s experiences abroad during the time that Colin is first developing his understanding of Magic at home. While traveling, Mr. Craven suddenly awakes to the beauty surrounding him, and as Colin grows stronger, Mr. Craven grows more introspective and more positive himself. The dramatic transformations that Colin, Mary, and Mr. Craven make as a result of Magic, and the implied restoration of happiness and health to all residents at Misselthwaite, suggests that positive thought has the power to right wrongs even on a larger scale than the individual. Taken together, all of this presents a world in which thoughts reign supreme and in which individuals can effect real change in their worlds if they learn to control and channel those thoughts.