Much has been written about CS Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew, which chronologically is the first tale in the Chronicles of Narnia series. While it’s a relatively short and simple tale for children, there’s deeper meaning in the pages for those who have eyes to see.
However, just like how Uncle Andrew isn’t able to hear Aslan’s voice when he is transported to the brand new land of Narnia, there are those who can’t possibly plumb the depths of Lewis’ work. The ill-conceived Netflix movie, which is coming out in the near future, is a glaring example of this vain blindness.
Speaking of the inability to understand, having recently re-read the book, I was struck by that portion of the story in particular. Not too long ago, I re-read Out of the Silent Planet, also by CS Lewis, and gave some of my thoughts on that science fiction novel. There’s a shocking parallel between the two books I never noticed until now.
When Uncle Andrew hears Aslan speak, he doesn’t perceive words but instead believes the lion is growling and roaring, making him afraid. A similar phenomena happens on Mars. While Ransom at first believes the water creatures he encounters to be unable to speak. However, he begins to notice a pattern of language and eventually learns to communicate proficiently with the Hrossa.
Contrast that with Weston and Devine, who have been to the planet twice yet still believe the different creatures who inhabit it are at best primitive savages barely capable of anything passing as speech. They can’t even begin to understand the existence of Oyarsa. It’s a funny similarity with The Magician’s Nephew.
But that’s not all. In both books, the sinful men who discover a new world immediately start thinking of how rich they can become from the venture. They fail to see the higher, holier purposes unfolding before them, only thinking of their own carnal lusts and how to satiate them. Sadly, for some that seems to be about all they can process in this life.
Another interesting observation about Uncle Andrew is how quickly he flips from mean and gruff with the children to cowering and submissive once Jadis appears in our world. As a child I just thought Uncle Andrew was silly and weak. As an adult with many life experiences, I see so much more.
First off, I can’t tell you how many men I’ve known who act like they’re big, bad, and in charge yet once a toxic woman who’s attractive crosses their path, they crumple like a wet rag. These men will fall all over themselves to try to gain acceptance from unhealthy women, who in turn love all the simpering and yet loathe the man doing it. The dynamic is truly sick. Lewis captures it so well that I’m sure he observed the same phenomenon in his own life.
The man gets himself into plenty of trouble, financially and otherwise, trying to impress Jadis. The witch, for her part, isn’t impressed and instead complains that the accommodations made for her are insufficient. She doesn’t respect Andrew in the least but instead despises his weakness. Of course, if he were to stand up to her, she would seek to destroy him, because that’s what kind of woman she is.
Uncle Andrew is completely blind to the fact he’s gaining nothing from Jadis while making himself look weak and foolish. Instead, he kids himself that he has his quarry on the hook and will soon land that “dem fine woman.”
Something about the silver apple tree Aslan has Digory seek out stood out to me like it hasn’t before. I used to think having some apples which appear to be made out of a precious metal was just a dramatic plot device, which it is, but there’s more at work.
Many have made the easy observation that the tree is like the one in the Garden of Eden which God forbids Adam and Eve to partake of its fruit. That’s an easy symbol to grasp.
Yet it’s the fruit itself that made me stop and think for a moment. An apple that’s made of silver would be highly reflective, almost like a mirror, so it would show the person about to partake of it themselves. The fact that Aslan reveals the fruit’s true function is to bring out a person’s inner moral integrity isn’t a coincidence. That’s why the intention with which someone partakes of the fruit is key to how it affects a person. The apples are truly reflective not only physically but also in a more abstract sense.
Finally, and I know this has been said many times before, it’s striking that Lewis uses magical rings in the book. As a child I didn’t make the connection with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but as an adult that parallel is glaringly obvious. It makes me wonder if Lewis put that part in as a nod to his friend, JRR Tolkien.
There’s a deeper connection between the Middle Earth tales and The Magician’s Nephew only those familiar with The Silmarillion would catch. Lewis has Aslan sing Narnia into existence, and Tolkien has the Valar sing Middle Earth into being. However, The Silmarillion wasn’t published until 1977 and The Magician’s Nephew was published in 1955. While Tolkien started writing about Middle Earth around 1914, it’s not clear if Lewis knew anything about what The Silmarillion contained. He might have, since the two men would regularly talk about their writings, but the fact remains that both authors drew inspiration from some of the same old tales.
For example, in the Finnish mythological tale The Kalevala, Väinämöinen sings to form the landscape and transform chaos into order. Many old Celtic tales recount how a deity sung the universe into existence. Some interpret God’s declarations of creation in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to have been delivered in song. In other words, Lewis didn’t copy Tolkien because the two men were inspired by much older works.
The same thing goes for magical rings used by heroes, like the ring Andvaranaut in Saga of the Volsungs or Plato’s telling of Gyges finding a ring which turns the wearer invisible. I could go on, but you hopefully get the point.
It’s impressive CS Lewis was able to load so much meaning and cultural cache into such a short and seemingly simple children’s book, demonstrating his literary genius.
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