Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Lion, The Witch, & the Wardrobe--C.S. Lewis Part 3


Hello all! Here is the part 3! It will cover chapters 13-17. I will be watching the movie tonight and hopefully doing some comparisons tomorrow! (if I have time)

Title: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Author: C.S. Lewis
Published: Originally published in 1950, it has been re-printed many times over the years. The particular copies I am reviewing are the same ones Dad read to us over the years, they are pretty old and falling apart! :-) (My brother Andrew has a newer copy with all the books in one collected version, however, I am still reading the old ones. :-) ) Anyway, this particular copy is printed from Collier Books sometime in the 1970s.
Background Information: See other posts on C.S. Lewis and Narnia.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe...

Chapter 13, we find Edmund exhausted from walking. The Witch and the Dwarf discuss the situation and wonder if only having three of the four thrones would work and not fulfill the prophecy. The Dwarf wonders if it would make a difference now that he (Aslan) is in Narnia. The Dwarf and Witch also begin talking about how they "had better do what we have to do at once." (p. 131) Just then the wolf that had escaped from the good Narnia animals comes running up and tells them that the other wolf was killed. She also gives the wolf instructions to gather all the rest of her evil helpers. (evil helpers, is my terminology by the way :-) )

The Witch and the Dwarf begin to make preparations to kill Edmund! Before they can though, the other Narnia animals come to the rescue! However, the Witch and the Dwarf seem to have disappeared before the animals could capture them. After the Narnia animals leave, we learn that the Witch had made it appear that she and the Dwarf were a tree stump.

The next day, the other children learn that Edmund has been rescued. Aslan has had a talk with Edmund and tells the others: "there is no need to talk to him about what is past." (p. 136) Edmund apologizes to his siblings and they accept his apologies.

Soon we learn that the Witch's Dwarf has come to ask permission for the "Queen" to talk to Aslan. The Witch then comes and informs Aslan that he has a traitor in his midst. She reminds Aslan that "all traitors belong to her" and declares that Edmund's blood is her property. (Mr. Beaver also has some humorous comments he adds during the course of these conversations :-) ) Aslan agrees with what the Witch is saying is true and the two of them go off alone to discuss it further. Finally Aslan calls everyone back and tells them that the mattered is settled, but he doesn't go into details. Before the Witch leaves she asks: "But how do I know this promise will be kept?" (p. 141). Aslan's response is to roar at her and she runs for her life. :-)

Chapter 14--After the Witch leaves, Aslan tells everyone they must leave the Stone Table area and go to a different spot. During their journey Aslan gives Peter instructions for the upcoming battle. For the last part of the journey, Susan and Lucy are with Aslan the most and notice that he seems very sad. The evening is a somber one, as everyone notices Aslan's serious demeanor. That night, Susan and Lucy are unable to sleep and they end up getting up and following Aslan. We soon learn that Aslan is heading back to the Stone Table, and when he finds Susan and Lucy are following him, he agrees that they can come, because he would like the company. (with the stipulation, that they must leave when he tells them to)

The three of them finally reach the Stone Table, and Aslan tells the girls to go and not let themselves be seen. They walk away, but stay hidden to see what happens next. Soon the Witch and all of her evil helpers are there and begin taunting Aslan. Through the next couple of pages, we learn how they shave his mane, mock him so more, muzzle him, tie him up, kick and spit on him, and eventually kill him. Just before the Witch kills him she says:

"And now, who has won? Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor? Now I will kill you instead of him as our pact was and so the Deep Magic will be appeased. But when you are dead what will prevent me from killing him as well? And who will take him out of my hand then? Understand that you have given me Narnia forever, you have lost your own life and you have not saved his. In that knowledge, despair and die." (p. 152) (Susan and Lucy close their eyes when the actual killing occurs)

Chapter 15--The Witch and her followers leave, and with many tears Susan and Lucy go over to Aslan's body, they take the muzzle off, and then they notice a bunch of mice all over Aslan! The girls are horrified and first and then they realize the mice are chewing off the cords that are tied around Aslan! By morning, the girls finally start to leave and as they are heading back they hear a loud cracking noise. The girls nervously head back and when they get there the Stone Table is broken in two pieces and Aslan's body is gone! The girls at first think the Witch has taken Aslan's body. However, they are surprised to hear his voice and realize he is still alive! (and he's not a ghost either :-) ) The girls are delighted to see Aslan again and they talk for a little bit, trying to figure out how he can still be alive, he explains and concludes with how the Witch didn't know the whole story and that: "She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death would start working backwards." (p. 160)

Aslan and the girls have a fun "romp" where they get to chase him. After playing around some, Aslan has them get on his back and they make the journey to the Witch's house. The book has this to say about their ride on Aslan's back: "That ride was perhaps the most wonderful thing that happened to them in Narnia. Have you ever had a gallop on a horse? Think of that; and then take away the heavy noise of the hoofs and the jingle of the harness and image instead the almost noiseless padding of the great paws." (p. 161-162) (the description goes on longer, but you get the idea) They finally arrive at the Witch's house and see all the statues.

Chapter 16--Once at the Witch's house, Aslan begins "breathing" on all of the statues and they come back to life! To learn more about all the exciting details you can read the book or the movie does a good job of "describing" it too. Lucy is thrilled to see Mr. Tumnus again and we get to meet the Gian Rumblebuffin. (who is a friendly giant) After some discussion, Aslan, the girls and all the newly restored Narnia animals run to help the others in the battle.

The girls see Peter and Edmund fighting, along with all the Witch's evil helpers, and Peter and the Witch are in a pretty intense fight. The girls get off Aslan's back and Alan gets into the battle and kills the Witch! (and some of the other evil creatures as well) Peter and his army all cheer as the battle comes to an end. :-)

Chapter 17--The battle ends and Peter and Aslan shake "hands" and Peter tells Aslan about how Edmund helped to get the Witch's wand broken, which helped turn the battle in their favor. However, in the course of all the fighting, Edmund has been wounded, and Aslan reminds Lucy about her Christmas gift, the bottle with the special "cordial" in it. She gives some to Edmund and is waiting to see what happens when Aslan tells her to help others, Lucy wants to wait, and Aslan asks her: "Must more people must die for Edmund?" (p. 177) Lucy apologizes and begins helping the others. When she finishes, Edmund is back to normal and "looking better than she had seen him look--oh, for ages; in fact ever since his first term at that horrid school which was where he had begun to go wrong." (p. 177)

Lucy also whispers to Susan at one point, wondering if Edmund knows what Aslan did for him, Susan says "of course not" and tells Lucy that they shouldn't tell Edmund. The next few pages go on a little more, and we learn how the four children are crowned Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel and at one point, Aslan leaves. The children finally notice he is gone and Mr. Beaver tells them Aslan will come and go and that "He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion." (p. 180)

The story is close to then end now, we learn about how the children grow up and continue their reign as Kings and Queens and that they "governed Narnia well and long and happy was their reign." (p. 180) Peter becomes known as "King Peter the Magnificent" Susan as Queen Susan the Gentle" Edmund as "King Edmund the Just" and Lucy as "Queen Lucy the Valiant" (p. 181) We also learn that the children live in great joy and if they ever thought of their old life, it was more like a dream. One day, years, later, Mr. Tumnus comes and tells the Kings and Queens about a White Stag, this White Stag gives you wishes if you catch him, so they decide to "hunt" for it. We also learn that since the children are older, and Kings and Queens they talk differently now. :-) It's quite fun to read it. :-)

As they are searching for the White Stag, the four of them notice "a tree of iron" or "a pillar of iron with a lantern set on the top" (p. 184) (meaning the lamp post) They discuss the strangeness of seeing this in the woods and how it seems somehow familiar. They decide to go past the lamp-post and see what the can find. Soon they find themselves in a bunch of trees and then just after that they find themselves surrounded by coats!

Then the four of them come tumbling out of the closet and find themselves back where they started in the Spare Room! And barely any time has passed! (they weren't caught by Mrs. Macready by the way) I will add the last several paragraphs from the book, so you can read how it ends:

"And that would have been the very end of the story if it hadn't been that they felt they really must explain to the Professor why four of the coats out of his wardrobe were missing. And the Professor, who was a very remarkable man, didn't tell them not to be silly or not to tell lies, but believed the whole story. "No," he said, "I don't think it will be any good trying to go back through the wardrobe door to get the coats. You won't get into Narnia again by that route. Nor would the coats be much use by now if you did! Eh? What's that? Yes, of course you'll get back into Narnia again some day. Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia. But don't go trying to use the same route twice. Indeed, don't try to get there at all. It'll happen when you re not looking for it. And don't talk too much about it even among yourselves. And don't mention it to anyone else unless you find that they've had adventures of the same sort themselves. What's that? How will you know? Oh, you'll know all right. Odd things, they say--even their looks--will let the secret out. Keep your eyes open. Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?"
And that is the very end of the adventures of the wardrobe. But if the Professor was right it was only the beginning of the adventures in Narnia." (p. 185-186)


Hope you enjoyed it! Tomorrow there will hopefully be discussion questions too! Have a great day!

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