Narniathon: THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW

The sixth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Magician's Nephew, is a prequel to the first, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Some publishers name this book the first in the series, but there are lots of hints in the book itself why Lewis did not want it in the beginning slot. Dr. Michael Ward tells us why on his Planet Narnia website:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was not only written first, it was also published first, and the way that it introduces Aslan indicates that the reader is not expected to know who he is, whereas The Magician's Nephew (even though it deals with an earlier period of Narnia history) does not take particular pains to introduce him, because Lewis knew that most of his readers would already have encountered Aslan in earlier published volumes.  The Magician's Nephew also expects that the reader knows about the magic wardrobe.  For these reasons (among others), it is a mistake for publishers to put the number 1 on the spine of The Magician's Nephew or to print it first in multi-volume editions (Planet Narnia -FAQ).   

I was already a devotee of reading the Narnia series in publication order before reading Dr. Ward's analysis, but now I am more determined than ever to spread the news. But if one wants to deviate consider his advice, "It does not particularly matter where in the series first-timers read The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy as long as those two stories are read after The Lion and before The Last Battle" (Ward). As a high school librarian I had a lot of copies of the separate books in the Chronicles of Narnia and two multi-volume editions. The only students who successfully completed the series were those who started the series at the right place with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Others who started with the Magician's Nephew usually stopped there. 

Enough said on this topic. Now on to the Narniathon questions and my review of the book.

1. Here is how Narnia began, and yet this origin story wasn’t told until just before the final book was published. Do you find this puzzling, or do you think it is indeed better for us to learn how the land came into being now rather than at the start?

Ha-ha. Guess I should have read the questions before I went on my tirade (above.) Clearly I am a believer in NOT reading The Magician's Nephew first even though it is the Narnia creation story.

2. Yet again, we are presented with two new protagonists, Polly and Digory. And yet we also discover at the end that one of these characters is an old friend of ours, and that we have met another of the characters many books back. What was your reaction to these revelations the first time you came across them?

Digory is the professor who lives in the house with the wardrobe which becomes the portal to Narnia in the very first book. I love that we learn at the end of this book how that piece of furniture happened to be magical. And then there is the witch, that dastardly gal. Was Aslan completely exasperated that his beautiful new world was defiled within hours of its creation or did he anticipate it would happen even before the beginning? I spent some time thinking about this.

3. An apple tree plays a significant role in The Magician’s Nephew. Did you find this a satisfying motif, and if so, why do you think that is so?

The chapter about the apple tree saves the whole book for me for a couple of reasons. First, the apple tree is a Biblical reference that all children will recognize from the Adam and Eve story in Genesis. Aslan's description of what happens if someone (the Witch) eats an apple from the special tree at the wrong time or in the wrong way, "they will loathe it ever after" (157). The witch gained her heart's desire, for unwearying strength and endless days, "But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and she has already begun to know it." We see how weary and despicable she becomes in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She is NOT a happy person, for sure! (Understatement!)

The second way that the apple tree chapters saved the book for me was how Aslan assured Digory that his mother could consume the fruit in a safe way and when she did it not only healed her but brought light into the house for the whole family. God's love is often described as light. This light, then, becomes another motif that Christians would recognize and find delight in.

Another aspect about the apple and the assignment that was especially meaningful to me and my present situation builds off of the discussion that Polly and Digory had with the flying horse, Strawberry the night before they get to the garden Aslan instructed them to find, "As the bright young stars of that new world came out they talked over everything: how Digory had hoped to get something for his Mother and how, instead of that, he had been sent on this message" (136). Recently I found myself praying for a miracle. A miracle for a dear person to be saved from death. The person died. What I prayed (for a miracle) didn't happen, or so it seemed at the time. Yet since that prayer, I have discovered so many miracles that did occur in other's lives because of the death. One often thinks that God answers prayers to our specific requests, which isn't true. He does answer prayers but with a much broader aim than we could ever imagine. Digory experienced this. Digory wanted to save his mom. Aslan wanted to protect all of Narnia and in the process Digory's mother was saved, too. I'd say a big miracle was how this changed Digory in the process, too. He was changed from a selfish, sometimes thoughtless boy, one who recognized his need to be truthful, also.

In Planet Narnia, author Michael Ward speculates that Lewis wrote The Magician's Nephew to be controlled by Venus (Planet Narnia, Venus). "The special beauty of Venus in the sky led to it being thought of chiefly as a feminine planet, the goddess of amorousness and sexuality.  Since she presided over such qualities, she was also connected with fertility and creativity and thence to motherliness." I'd say the love in the book can be see more as Aslan's love for his creation and for the friendship love that develops between Digory and Polly, and the love that Digory feels toward his mother. The planet Venus is often called the Morning Star, which is a name attributed to Christ (Rev. 22:16.) I suspect that Lewis had fun hiding his planet project into his books. 😀

As with my re-read of the first five books of the series, I found great delight in my re-read of this, the penultimate book of the series. Thanks for providing a space to do with this others, Calm Grove!

-Anne