@Hobbit: lol, Jadis the spider! Hadn’t thought to make the comparison, but yeah, that’s exactly what I was getting at!
(Also, I think
you should do all seven books as graphic novels!
)
@Ajjie and Hobbit: I did wonder if the phoenix could maybe be Narnia’s Holy Spirit for the exact same reason. I know I’ve been thinking of Aslan’s breath possibly being the Spirit (an idea put forth by someone else, I wanna day Wilf?), but the Spirit doesn’t have to take a single form either.
@Ajjie: I absolutely acknowledge that Digory’s journey was quicker and easier than Jill’s by a long shot. I only bring up the difference because Lewis never explicitly says that Jill shared the signs with her companions (even though, as I said, they seem to have at least a working knowledge).
Nice comparison of Frank and Emeth.
Jadis’ (probable) marriage tactics make sense to me, the way you phrase ‘em.
I think offering Digory the throne is simply an offer of position and power, which is appealing to many. And if the implication is that he could have power like hers, then he’d be “god-like” in a sense, kinda like how Satan said Adam and Eve would be like God if they ate the fruit. I rather doubt Jadis knew what Aslan was going to do with the apple, but I’m confident that she knew that it would mean bad news for her, as she’s aware of a different and stronger magic than hers.
And now that the rest of the apples are abhorrent to her, she likely wanted to 1) keep the apple from Aslan (again, bad news for her if he gets it), and 2) suck someone else into the curse she’s just entered. Satan was cast out of Heaven and he’s not too keen on any of us getting in either.
Good point about writing a world without the effects of the Fall and about man being above animals. (And yeah, Perelandra was kinda weird like that ‘cause that’s not what we know.)
@cleander: I hadn’t really realized the emotional impact of Digory’s temptation (even though Lewis makes the emotional aspect pretty clear through Digory’s reactions).
Nice parsing down of Digory’s reward!
Eh, yeah... it’s a problematic word. I think I’m more okay with it than I should be just because it took me a while to even realize what it actually was and it looks so different anyway.... Wouldn’t repeat it around kids though.
That is an interesting thought. I also wonder if that has any sort of ramifications on “Adam’s flesh and Adam’s bone”. Though... I guess not. Even apart from the kings between Frank’s children and Jadis (ie: human half-breeds), there’s also Rilian who’s at least a quarter Star, if not half. But then... Jadis is supposedly connected to Adam through Lilith (which is a
whole other issue, but anyway (
I say! That means Charn, or at least that like of kings we see, came about after our world began. And that someone(s) from our world stumbled into that at some point.)), so maybe that’s why she makes use of that to claim the throne of Narnia? (Mr Beaver pooh-poohs this as an illegitimate claim, so perhaps it’s not so much a claim to Adam that counts as it is one of a claim to both Adam and Eve?) Aaaaaanyway. I’m done playing with that can of worms for the time being.
Last chapter!
“... such a sweetness and power rolled about them and over them and entered them that they felt they had never really been happy or wise or good, or even alive and awake, before.” Between this feeling and the silver apple, it sounds an awful lot like the True Narnia... which makes sense, of course, what with Aslan’s living presence and the Edenic nature of the garden.
Who were the first citizens of Archenland, I wonder? By HHB, it seems to be populated by a human citizenry, not one of creatures. Did more humans come from our world, as the Telmarines did? Did Narnians follow the first king over the border (or already live there), and then phase out over time for a human population? Was Archenland a sort of “South Narnia” for a time? What drove Frank’s second son from home to set up a new nation? (I’d be tempted to say something about Adam’s son Cain, but I’m seriously hoping that Frank and Helen’s kids weren’t at all like that.) So many questions and no answers!
How much do you suppose Uncle Andrew actually remembers of his adventure in another world? He clearly remembers Jadis as a “dem fine woman” for a long time (I imagine he romanticizes the memory and downplays/ignores the nastiest bits) and he certainly learned his lesson about dabbling in magic, but does he remember the Wood or Narnia or Aslan or Narnia’s creation (and the lamppost-tree) or the whole ordeal of having been planted and caged by animals?
And, coming around full circle, Digory grows up to be what Uncle Andrew could have been: a wise and respected scholar and world traveller who satiated his curiosities with wholesome pursuits and who never forgot Aslan and His grace and purity.