Chronicles of Narnia--Four (Final)

I was shocked by how many illustrations of the seven deadly sins involve seven scantily clad women.

Lewis and the Seven Deadly Sins

          If you didn't see it, I added a comment to "Chronicles of Narnia--Three," about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Here's what it said: I have now done my research on whether Lewis uses the seven deadly sins in Dawn Treader. The website coming up discusses how Lewis uses the seven deadly sins as an organizing principle for the Chronicles as a whole. Very interesting. Go to http://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/7sins.html. As to whether the seven rescued knights in Dawn Treader also relate to the seven deadly sins, I found no commentary. Please comment on the blog comment screen if you have any thoughts on this, Friend Readers.

And now, sit with me on...

Lewis, C. S., The Silver Chair

          The Silver Chair is by far the best book of this series. Eustace and his schoolmate Jill are called into Narnia via Aslan’s castle to set out on a quest. They are to follow Aslan’s four instructions to find the missing prince of Narnia, Rilian. Rilian is the son of the Caspian from Dawn Treader, who is now an old man. Rilian was enchanted by the North Witch, Queen of the Underworld (she has many names).

          Their journey introduces Jill and Eustace to talking owls and to a marsh-wiggle, which is a froglike humanoid. His name is Puddleglum and he is hilariously pessimistic. Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum travel through marshes, plains, and over a huge bridge built by giants long ago. The staggeringly epic bridge is so wonderfully described that you can almost touch it, taste it. (Think of Jackson's Agornath.) Jill and Eustace are misdirected, enchanted, and nearly eaten (in a horrifying sequence), but they eventually solve the mystery of the prince and bring him home.

Here is Puddleglum the Marsh-Wiggle,
chronically (and comically) pessimistic

          This story is especially imaginative and suspenseful. I read it while traveling and yearned for a three-hour sit. The landscapes, the dangers, the creatures. And, unlike Prince Caspian, the heroes (and me) feel that Aslan may have abandoned them because of horrible mistakes they make. The risks are riskier. The children have, in a sense, sinned against Aslan's explicit commandments. Why would he still care? You can see the development of Christian principles here, although there are probably parallels in many religions.

The bridge of the giants in Silver Chair is to
the same scale as the Agornath in LOTR

          In this book, the idea of an afterlife is fully explored, and a version of heaven is presented. Aslan’s realm is beautiful and joyous, peaceful. Aslan’s magic is not that he can return the dead to life, but that he can bring the dead to eternal happiness. The children see how one character dies and is translated into Aslan’s realm. This is a direct set-up for the next book.

          The book is a bit snarky about modernity. The liberal, modern school Jill and Eustace attend, and even their diets, are made fun of in a somewhat unpleasant, preachy way. Lewis obviously feels that modernity lacks magic, and maybe he is right. And, one thing he likes about the past is its hierarchy—noblesse oblige is definitely the best way, he thinks. Benevolent overlords and happy peasants? That's how the society of Narnia is organized.

          Highly recommend this one. If your interest in the series flags before you get to this one, soldier on. The Silver Chair is worth the trip. (And it’s a vacation all in itself.)

Lewis, C. S., The Last Battle

          The series concludes. This book was both magical and tragical—a bit more tragic than I think was warranted. Narnia is destroyed because its inhabitants come to believe in a false god, which provides an opening for marauding neighbor lands to invade. But it’s an old-testament god-like destruction. The stars actually fall from the sky. Many of the friends of Jill and Eustace are brutally killed in battle. In the end, the faithful are saved. The unfaithful, who don’t believe that Aslan loves them, are sent to certain destruction at the hands of the evil god Tash.

          Polly, Digory, Lucy, Edmund, and Peter join Jill and Eustace at the end. As Narnia is destroyed, they enter a new, fresh-washed Narnia. Then we’re in for a bit of preaching. The new Narnia-for-believers is presented as reality—the world of the books was just a depiction of it.

The false king--the
Monkey King

          Heaven turns out to be infinite, while our earthly lives are just some sort of testing ground, insignificant compared to the greater glories ahead. It turns out that, in their "depiction of life" world, Polly, Digory, Lucy, Edmund, Peter, Jill, and Eustace have all been killed. Aslan brings them to “real” life at that time, in a land, basically, of fantasy. The fruits taste fruitier. Happiness is happier. All of their old Narnian friends show up, etc.

          Susan, it turns out, did not keep the faith. She will go to the evil lands. Sorry, Susan. Many children’s books end when the kids reach adulthood. But they are usually not slaughtered!

Concluding Thoughts

The blogger's future?

          Overall, this series was terrific. My imagination is fired with new imagery, and I have learned about loyalty and friendship. For me, if not for Lewis, the landscapes were real and the journeys were meaningful. And, Lewis does present a coherent Christian-based vision of the afterlife. It is beautiful and reassuring, a bridge for children to a life of faith. Someday, I need to write my book of the team of atoms and molecules of the body needing to be free again to create new life-forms, as Star Trek would say. This is the story of how the atoms in my body (after death) will re-emerge as a tomato or queen anne's lace or gnat or mushroom (I hope it’s psychedelic, like me). It’s not the soul that lasts, it’s the atoms.

          This post concludes my reviews of The Chronicles of Narnia. Posting these entries from my reader's journal, editing them, and illustrating them travel me back through the adventures and landscapes of these books--delightful! I am struck repeatedly by how imaginative the imagery is, how rich the details, how complete the alternative world. However, it would not hurt my feelings if the last book was simply lopped off. Let children themselves imagine the next book--they have plenty of material to work with.