Possibility, Probability

"Nothing is more probable" (53).
C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)

Points for Reflection

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)

1. What elements of this story indicate that Lewis shaped it for a young reading audience?
2. Does one particular tone (e.g. serious, tragic, comic, satiric, somber, etc.) dominate this tale, or does it swing widely among a variety of moods?
3. Does this tale inherently treat Nature in a detached, objective fashion, or does the story celebrate it?  Is it mere background, an active character it its own right, a mirror of other and more distinctly human happenings, or something else?
4. What posture does Lewis implicitly adopt towards animals in this tale?  Are they treated as subordinate to humans?
5. Why name not only the housekeeper but the three servants who play no role in the story (1)?
6. Towards the story’s close, the narrator appends a defining modifier to each of our four central characters: “magnificent” to Peter, “gentle” to Susan, “just” to Edmund, “valiant” to Lucy.  Do any of the characters exhibit these qualities throughout the tale itself?  Do other traits define them earlier on?
7. Is Susan’s practicality usually helpful—in a wise and utilitarian way?
8. What of Mrs. Beaver and her elaborate packing prior to leaving her home—is the talking animal less practical than Susan?
9. What is Lucy’s defining weakness, and does this at all impinge on her natural virtues?
10. Which of Edmund’s words and actions would be properly categorized as “sinful?
11. What web of lies does the witch spin to catch Edmund?
12. Aslan is identified as simultaneously “wild” and “good” (86), “good” and “terrible” (140).  Is it possible to reconcile the apparent contradiction?
13. Do Aslan’s obvious prowess and righteous self-confidence constitute an impenetrable emotional armor?  Does he ever seem vulnerable?
14. What, exactly, makes up for Tumnus’ initial deception?
15. Most stories privilege the perspective of a small handful of characters—or just one—instead of giving everyone’s p.o.v. equal attention.  Which characters’ perspectives dominate this narrative, and why?
16. What are we to make of the odd interplay of light and dark as Edmund approaches the castle (99-100)?
17. In granting Christmas gifts to Susan and Lucy, Father Christmas notes that he does not intend for them to engage in the battle directly, despite Lucy’s apparent willingness to fight.  His reason?  “‘[B]attles are ugly when women fight’” (118-19).  What does he mean by this?
18. What qualities single out Peter as “high” monarch ahead of his siblings?
19. Does one gender seem more emotionally sensitive than the other in this tale?
20. Do the fantastic setting and magical goings-on of Narnia seem inappropriate for a new myth (not an allegory, per se) intent on embodying Christian principles?
21. Does the “deep magic” alluded to by the witch have any analogue in our own world?
22. What of the “magic deeper still” referred to (and exemplified) by Aslan?  Is there a logic to this principle, or does it defy human wisdom?
23. When Lucy refuses to dismiss her experience in Narnia as a made-up story, and holds fast to its verity, she is in essence demonstrating what Christian principle?
24. Do you agree with the professor that there are only three possible explanations for Lucy’s story?
25. To what degree are these four children responsible for their own valor and successes?  Do they prove their true character by completing traditionally heroic actions?
26. By interrogating Susan’s and Peter’s position concerning Lucy’s fantastic report, the Professor is methodically questioning what assumptions which underpin our modern world?
27. Why mention dreams so frequently to describe the children’s experiences (74, 135, 201, etc.)
28. The Bible is replete with important paradoxes employed in an attempt to capture the ineffable.  What apparent paradoxes appear in this story?
29. How frequently do our protagonists experience silence, and what purpose do such silences serve?
30. At what point do Edmund's actions become sinful, according to Biblical principle?
31. Once Edmund is under the addictive influence of the food he consumed, is he less responsible for his actions?
32. At what point does Edmund start to turn from evil towards good, and what various stages can you identify in this process?
33. Consider the Beaver’s description of the Witch’s origins.  Does the Witch sound like a fallen human, evil incarnate, or something else?
34. By what means does the witch exert control over others?
35. How does Lewis bring resolution to this story, as concerns the conflict between good and evil.  How absolute are the actions taken?  Should the action have been more tempered or ambiguous? Why, or why not?
    

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu