The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew is the first of Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. the two main characters are Digory Ketterly and Polly Plummer, two children from London, England. Digory has a very strange family, mostly because of his Uncle Andrew, who they soon find has invented several magic rings using a material from another world that his less-than-sane godmother gave him many years ago. These rings act as portals to different worlds: the yellow ring takes them out of one world, and the green ring takes them back to Earth. Uncle Andrew tricks Polly and Digory into putting the yellow rings on, and they arrive in a place called The Wood Between the Worlds where there are dozens of portals to many different worlds and dimensions. They duo decides to go exploring in one of
the worlds but find that it is completely empty of all living things except for its queen, whom they wake out of an enchanted sleep upon their arrival.
Queen Jadis turns out to be a powerful, commanding woman who once ruled over a mighty empire, but became embroiled in a civil war against her sister and
uttered a magic word so powerful that it killed all life on the planet except for her. Since she has nothing but an empty world to rule over, Jadis forces
Digory and Polly to take her back to London, where she wreaks havoc upon the locals. Digory gets ahold of her eventually and uses his ring to take her back
to The Wood Between the Worlds and into a completely different, empty world where nothing exists yet. There Digory, Polly, Uncle Andrew, Jadis, and cabby and his horse that accidently came with them from London witness the birth of a new world created by the great lion Aslan. The land, Narnia, has many magical talking creatures and beautiful lands, but Jadis runs off and escapes from Aslan, who she fears. Digory and Polly then travel on the orders of Aslan to a sacred garden and retrieve a magic apple that will protect Narnia from Jadis, but the with herself steals from the tree and eats an apple, making her immortal. Polly and Digory escape her and take one apple back to Narnia, then return home with Uncle Andrew so that he can no longer meddle with magical affairs.
the worlds but find that it is completely empty of all living things except for its queen, whom they wake out of an enchanted sleep upon their arrival.
Queen Jadis turns out to be a powerful, commanding woman who once ruled over a mighty empire, but became embroiled in a civil war against her sister and
uttered a magic word so powerful that it killed all life on the planet except for her. Since she has nothing but an empty world to rule over, Jadis forces
Digory and Polly to take her back to London, where she wreaks havoc upon the locals. Digory gets ahold of her eventually and uses his ring to take her back
to The Wood Between the Worlds and into a completely different, empty world where nothing exists yet. There Digory, Polly, Uncle Andrew, Jadis, and cabby and his horse that accidently came with them from London witness the birth of a new world created by the great lion Aslan. The land, Narnia, has many magical talking creatures and beautiful lands, but Jadis runs off and escapes from Aslan, who she fears. Digory and Polly then travel on the orders of Aslan to a sacred garden and retrieve a magic apple that will protect Narnia from Jadis, but the with herself steals from the tree and eats an apple, making her immortal. Polly and Digory escape her and take one apple back to Narnia, then return home with Uncle Andrew so that he can no longer meddle with magical affairs.
The Paradoxical Shenanigans of a Lamppost
While the Empress Jadis is traveling around London with Uncle Andrew, she gets into an altercation with a police officer as a crowd of onlookers watch and try to talk her down from acting violent. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work. Using her otherworldly strength, she tears off a large metal bar from a nearby lamp post and uses it as weapon. She is still holding it as she is transported to Narnia, but then drops it on the ground as the world is being created. Because of the magic that has saturated the ground and the air, the metal bar grows into a brand new lamppost, right smack in the middle of the woods. It stands as a literal beacon, completely foreign to that world.
At first, this piece of metal is a symbol of Jadis’ power, destructive tendencies, and the corruption that she brings into Narnia. As a piece of London, a filthy, polluted city built on cruelty and inequality in that time period where only the privileged had rights and education, it seems to exude filth and contamination compared to the idyllic and pure land that has grown around it. It is also a symbol of Uncle Andrew’s greed, since he wanted to bring other metal objects to Narnia, grow them like the lamppost, and sell them for profit. However, its role changes in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, where the lamppost is the very thing that greets Lucy in her first trip to Narnia and leads her to meet Mr. Tumnus. It is a light that reminds Lucy of her home in the dark, cold woods of the wintry forest when she runs to escape from the Witch. It is also the symbol of home that leads the four Pevensies on their final journey home at the end of the book, when they pop out of the wardrobe as children again. It is a symbol of corruption, filth, warmth, home, and safety a paradox flickering away in the woods of Lantern Waste.
At first, this piece of metal is a symbol of Jadis’ power, destructive tendencies, and the corruption that she brings into Narnia. As a piece of London, a filthy, polluted city built on cruelty and inequality in that time period where only the privileged had rights and education, it seems to exude filth and contamination compared to the idyllic and pure land that has grown around it. It is also a symbol of Uncle Andrew’s greed, since he wanted to bring other metal objects to Narnia, grow them like the lamppost, and sell them for profit. However, its role changes in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, where the lamppost is the very thing that greets Lucy in her first trip to Narnia and leads her to meet Mr. Tumnus. It is a light that reminds Lucy of her home in the dark, cold woods of the wintry forest when she runs to escape from the Witch. It is also the symbol of home that leads the four Pevensies on their final journey home at the end of the book, when they pop out of the wardrobe as children again. It is a symbol of corruption, filth, warmth, home, and safety a paradox flickering away in the woods of Lantern Waste.
The Garden of Eden
In order to protect Narnia from the schemes of the Empress Jadis, Aslan sends Digory, Polly, and Strawberry the winged horse on a journey to a magical garden far up in the north, where a tree with enchanted apples grows. Those apples are imbued with the magic of the earth, and their seeds will grow into a tree that will protect Narnia’s borders and prevent Jadis from coming near so long as the plant lives. The trio arrives at the garden without any problems, only to find that Jadis has followed them over the rivers and mountains, bent on discovering what Aslan wants. She does what Aslan expressively forbids anyone to do, and steals an apple from the tree for herself and eats it. As soon as she does, a change comes over her: she is immortal, but her very soul has become warped and twisted. Jadis thirsts for power and strives to manipulate people, so she tempts Digory, trying to convince him to take an apple for himself and achieve immortality or take one for his sick mother, who is dying back in England.
This situation has parallels to the Bible’s book of Genesis, the story of Adam and Eve. God tells Adam and Eve never to pick from the tree in the center of the garden just as Aslan told Digory not to pick from the tree in the garden for his own purposes, but to bring the fruit back to the Narnians. Jadis, the book’s representation of Lucifer, tempts Digory, who represents Adam or Eve, to pick from the tree to gain immortality just as Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit and gain hidden knowledge. She tries to make Digory sin and betray God (Aslan). The irony in this situation is that the reader expects Digory to sin in the same way Adam and Eve did and take the apple of knowledge from the Garden of Eden. Instead, he doesn’t take the apple and gives it back to Aslan, but ends up with his own piece of fruit anyway! Aslan allows Digory to take an apple to London to cure his mother as a reward for his service. In a way, C.S. Lewis is showing his readers who believe in God what life could have been like on Earth if Adam and Eve had never sinned and been banished from Eden. The world of Narnia is a metaphorical garden of Eden, a paradise untainted by Satan.
This situation has parallels to the Bible’s book of Genesis, the story of Adam and Eve. God tells Adam and Eve never to pick from the tree in the center of the garden just as Aslan told Digory not to pick from the tree in the garden for his own purposes, but to bring the fruit back to the Narnians. Jadis, the book’s representation of Lucifer, tempts Digory, who represents Adam or Eve, to pick from the tree to gain immortality just as Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit and gain hidden knowledge. She tries to make Digory sin and betray God (Aslan). The irony in this situation is that the reader expects Digory to sin in the same way Adam and Eve did and take the apple of knowledge from the Garden of Eden. Instead, he doesn’t take the apple and gives it back to Aslan, but ends up with his own piece of fruit anyway! Aslan allows Digory to take an apple to London to cure his mother as a reward for his service. In a way, C.S. Lewis is showing his readers who believe in God what life could have been like on Earth if Adam and Eve had never sinned and been banished from Eden. The world of Narnia is a metaphorical garden of Eden, a paradise untainted by Satan.
The Dynamic Duo: Lewis and Tolkien
It is a well-known fact of avid fantasy readers, but not of many others, that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien knew each other while they were both still alive. In fact, they were very good friends! They were both professors at Oxford University and members of the same literature group, where they shared their stories and works with other authors. Tolkien’s and Lewis’ most famous works have many similarities and were influenced by each other greatly.
Lord of the Rings, an epic fantasy trilogy, has many characteristics in common with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series. Aside from the obvious, taking place in fictional land of kings, queens, prophecies, strange races of people, and magic, they share thematic traits and have uplifting motifs and symbols. A theme in Lord of the Rings is that a person, no matter how small, unimposing, or physically weak, can be important and change the fate of the world. That is represented by little Frodo Baggins, a hobbit that is no more than three feet tall. He saves the world from the wizard Sauron for a second time, going on a grand adventure in the process. Digory is Frodo’s Narnian equivalent. He was only a normal schoolboy, but ended up meeting a great sorceress, witnessing the end of a world, the birth of a new one, and put in place the safeguards that would protect Narnia for thousands of years.
A Narnian theme that is similar to a Lord of the Rings theme is that keeping faith in people is the greatest service you can do for another person and the most advantageous for everyone around you. Digory kept his faith in Aslan and trusted him enough not to betray him to Jadis, believing that Aslan was doing the right thing by keeping the witch out of Narnia. This is similar to how Gandalf entrust the one ring to Frodo, a mere hobbit, despite the dangers and near-misses along their journey.
A motif that the two series have in common is mercy and forgiveness. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins has mercy on Gollum even when the wretched creature tried to kill him and then ended up at the point of Bilbo’s sword. Killing him would certainly have saved all the other characters a lot of trouble, but life is precious and not to be ended at a whim. Aslan took that to heart in The Magician’s Nephew. He treasures life just as much as Bilbo does and chose to save Digory’s mother despite all the trouble that the boy had caused. Any of Digory’s wrongdoings are washed away.
Lord of the Rings, an epic fantasy trilogy, has many characteristics in common with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series. Aside from the obvious, taking place in fictional land of kings, queens, prophecies, strange races of people, and magic, they share thematic traits and have uplifting motifs and symbols. A theme in Lord of the Rings is that a person, no matter how small, unimposing, or physically weak, can be important and change the fate of the world. That is represented by little Frodo Baggins, a hobbit that is no more than three feet tall. He saves the world from the wizard Sauron for a second time, going on a grand adventure in the process. Digory is Frodo’s Narnian equivalent. He was only a normal schoolboy, but ended up meeting a great sorceress, witnessing the end of a world, the birth of a new one, and put in place the safeguards that would protect Narnia for thousands of years.
A Narnian theme that is similar to a Lord of the Rings theme is that keeping faith in people is the greatest service you can do for another person and the most advantageous for everyone around you. Digory kept his faith in Aslan and trusted him enough not to betray him to Jadis, believing that Aslan was doing the right thing by keeping the witch out of Narnia. This is similar to how Gandalf entrust the one ring to Frodo, a mere hobbit, despite the dangers and near-misses along their journey.
A motif that the two series have in common is mercy and forgiveness. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins has mercy on Gollum even when the wretched creature tried to kill him and then ended up at the point of Bilbo’s sword. Killing him would certainly have saved all the other characters a lot of trouble, but life is precious and not to be ended at a whim. Aslan took that to heart in The Magician’s Nephew. He treasures life just as much as Bilbo does and chose to save Digory’s mother despite all the trouble that the boy had caused. Any of Digory’s wrongdoings are washed away.
Andrew's Seven Deadly Sins
Andrew’s years of experimenting and meddling with magic has gone to his head, as well as his lust for material objects and riches. His greed almost resulted in the deaths of innocent London civilians when Jadis is unleashed on the city through his stupidity. There are seven distinct scenes that are important in understanding Uncle Andrew, scenes that correspond to the seven deadly sins of the Bible.
1. Wrath- Andrew shows his personality as volatile in the very first scene he is in, when the children wander into his office. He manipulates them into becoming test subjects for the ring experiment. Seeing the terrible dangers that traveling from one world to the next poses, Digory angrily reacts to Andrew putting Polly in danger, calling his uncle a coward. Andrew’s demeanor changes in a split second to absolute hatred: “‘Silence, sir!’ said Uncle Andrew, bringing his hand down on the table. ‘I will not be talked to like that by a little, dirty, schoolboy’” (Lewis 25)
2. Greed- Andrew’s arrival to Narnia and experience of the birth of a new world does not seem to have any effect on his materialistic priorities. He only has eyes for money and the potential investments that Narnia holds. Andrew soon imagines himself as a great lord of the land or a businessman making profit off of destructive weapons grown from the magic that permeates Narnia. “‘The commercial possibilities…are unbounded…railway engines, battleships, anything you please. They’ll cost nothing, and I’ll sell ‘em at full prices in England. I shall be a millionaire’” (Lewis 120).
3. Sloth- At one point Andrew becomes trapped with Jadis, the Cabby, Polly, and Digory inthe darkness moments before Narnia is created. No one can see each other, so Andrew takes advantage of that to lead Digory away from the group and tries to get his ring so he can abandon the group, leaving them for dead. By doing this he refuses to take responsibility for his actions: getting them into the mess with Jadis and getting them trapped away from Earth. He is too lazy and dishonorable to even try to get them out safely.
4. Pride- Andrew puts himself on a pedestal, one that reaches the clouds and towers above any other people. He sees himself as the greatest magician who has ever lived and refuses to acknowledge any other person as a being of significance: “…you must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys- and servants- and women, can’t possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages [like me]…I am the great
scholar, the magician…’” (Lewis 21).
5. Lust- Jadis is a magnificent woman in her own right, and Andrew has eyes for only her, not noticing anything else. Being a bachelor and an old man, a woman like Jadis is like finding a gem in a pile of manure when it comes to women he sees: “He kept on saying to himself, ‘A dem fine woman, sir, a dem fine woman. A superb creature.’…the foolish old man was actually beginning to imagine the Witch would fall in love with him” (Lewis 83)
6. Envy- As seen from his greediness, Andrew always wants what he can’t have. One such thing is youth. His envy for Digory’s youth and health is evident when he laments over his age and becomes enamored with Narnia’s magical benefits: “‘I shouldn’t be surprised if I never grew a day older in this country! Stupendous!
The land of youth!’” (Lewis 120).
7. Gluttony- Andrew likes to enjoy himself, as do we all, but takes it up a step more than the average person. As a celebration of using his rings successfully and in
preparation for his excursion with Jadis, he dresses in his finest clothes and proceeds to down glass after glass of his best, most potent scotch. After that he calls a cab to escort them to the finest restaurant in London, orders an extravagant amount of food, and tries to by Jadis the finest jewels from the best jewelers England has to offer. He can afford none of this because he was a gambler and is still in financial trouble for owing large sums of money to other gamblers.
1. Wrath- Andrew shows his personality as volatile in the very first scene he is in, when the children wander into his office. He manipulates them into becoming test subjects for the ring experiment. Seeing the terrible dangers that traveling from one world to the next poses, Digory angrily reacts to Andrew putting Polly in danger, calling his uncle a coward. Andrew’s demeanor changes in a split second to absolute hatred: “‘Silence, sir!’ said Uncle Andrew, bringing his hand down on the table. ‘I will not be talked to like that by a little, dirty, schoolboy’” (Lewis 25)
2. Greed- Andrew’s arrival to Narnia and experience of the birth of a new world does not seem to have any effect on his materialistic priorities. He only has eyes for money and the potential investments that Narnia holds. Andrew soon imagines himself as a great lord of the land or a businessman making profit off of destructive weapons grown from the magic that permeates Narnia. “‘The commercial possibilities…are unbounded…railway engines, battleships, anything you please. They’ll cost nothing, and I’ll sell ‘em at full prices in England. I shall be a millionaire’” (Lewis 120).
3. Sloth- At one point Andrew becomes trapped with Jadis, the Cabby, Polly, and Digory inthe darkness moments before Narnia is created. No one can see each other, so Andrew takes advantage of that to lead Digory away from the group and tries to get his ring so he can abandon the group, leaving them for dead. By doing this he refuses to take responsibility for his actions: getting them into the mess with Jadis and getting them trapped away from Earth. He is too lazy and dishonorable to even try to get them out safely.
4. Pride- Andrew puts himself on a pedestal, one that reaches the clouds and towers above any other people. He sees himself as the greatest magician who has ever lived and refuses to acknowledge any other person as a being of significance: “…you must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys- and servants- and women, can’t possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages [like me]…I am the great
scholar, the magician…’” (Lewis 21).
5. Lust- Jadis is a magnificent woman in her own right, and Andrew has eyes for only her, not noticing anything else. Being a bachelor and an old man, a woman like Jadis is like finding a gem in a pile of manure when it comes to women he sees: “He kept on saying to himself, ‘A dem fine woman, sir, a dem fine woman. A superb creature.’…the foolish old man was actually beginning to imagine the Witch would fall in love with him” (Lewis 83)
6. Envy- As seen from his greediness, Andrew always wants what he can’t have. One such thing is youth. His envy for Digory’s youth and health is evident when he laments over his age and becomes enamored with Narnia’s magical benefits: “‘I shouldn’t be surprised if I never grew a day older in this country! Stupendous!
The land of youth!’” (Lewis 120).
7. Gluttony- Andrew likes to enjoy himself, as do we all, but takes it up a step more than the average person. As a celebration of using his rings successfully and in
preparation for his excursion with Jadis, he dresses in his finest clothes and proceeds to down glass after glass of his best, most potent scotch. After that he calls a cab to escort them to the finest restaurant in London, orders an extravagant amount of food, and tries to by Jadis the finest jewels from the best jewelers England has to offer. He can afford none of this because he was a gambler and is still in financial trouble for owing large sums of money to other gamblers.