深受大眾喜愛的兒童經典文學作品《祕密花園》，故事主要講述瑪麗和柯林兩位角色的轉變，該變化不僅是行為反應，亦展現在身體表徵，因此到了小說結尾，孩子們的轉變體現在紅潤的臉頰以及兒童般的朝氣與活力，與過往病弱的狀態形成了鮮明的對比。
本研究著重在探討主角轉變的原因，研究過程中追尋其他學者的步伐，發現許多人將角色中的康復現象歸因於孩子們積極思考的結果，並指出新思維「心靈療癒」運動影響了作者法蘭西絲‧霍森‧柏納特看待世界的方式。
筆者的研究方向與過往學者的研究思路不同，主要專注於小說中的核心元素「魔法」。儘管有些學者的研究間接承認魔法對兒童復原的重要性，但鮮少有人深入探究該方向，因此本研究深入著墨於這一點。為此，筆者借鑒道家哲學的視角，認為魔法與道家的「道」概念具高度相似性，迪肯的精湛技藝亦巧妙地契合了「無為」的概念，因而在《祕密花園》敘述中，一個人的生命力最終取決於他與魔法的融合程度。

The beloved children's classic The Secret Garden hinges on the transformation of its two main characters, Mary and Colin. This transformation is not merely behavioral but also physical in nature, such that by the novel's end the children evince a rosy-cheeked flush and childlike vigor—a stark contrast to their erstwhile sickly state. The present study investigates the cause of this transformation. In doing so, it follows in the footsteps of other scholars, many of whom see the children's recovery as a function of positive thinking, pointing to "mind-healing" movements such as New Thought that influenced the way Frances Hodgson Burnett saw the world.
Deviating markedly from this well-hewn path, I focus on the novel's core element of "magic." Though some scholars obliquely acknowledge the import of the magic to the children's rehabilitation, few if any interrogate this in any depth. I hope to fill this void. To do so, I draw on a Daoist philosophical lens, arguing that the magic is highly analogous to the Daoist notion of "dao," that Dickon's virtuosity hews neatly to the notion of "wuwei," and that in Garden, one's vitality is ultimately determined by his or her level of alignment with the magic.

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