r/Narnia

For all you haters!

From the article:

The families of David and Douglas Gresham, stepsons of C.S. Lewis, have released an official statement via Netflix about Writer/Director Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. This comes days after Movieguide founder Dr. Ted Baehr made headlines by reporting the family had spoken to him about the film.

>“From our ongoing conversations with Greta Gerwig, we have personally witnessed her sincere passion for the Narnia series. Her life-long love of C.S. Lewis is apparent to everyone involved with this film. We saw this enthusiasm during our visit to the set in London. We are thrilled to be working with such a talented and accomplished director and production team, and are keen to continue working with them on future projects. Our vision is for this movie to be enormously successful and for this calibre of talent to be applied to all of the Chronicles of Narnia.”

Note about last chapter's summary: Someone rightfully pointed out that Uncle Andrew taking a few drinks isn't the same as getting drunk. I'm sorry about that, went back and fixed that in the previous post.

Summary

Aunt Letty confronts Jadis immediately and orders her to leave the house. Jadis tries to blast Aunt Letty like she did to Charn's gates, but realizes that power doesn't work in our world. Instead, she grabs Aunt Letty, lifts her above her head, and throws Letty across the room. The hansom arrives, so Jadis leaves with Uncle Andrew.

Aunt Letty fortunately is uninjured due to landing on a mattress. Digory has to consider his options. He doesn't realize that Jadis has lost her "blasting" powers, but worries about the damage she can do in London. Digory plans to get Jadis back into the Wood using his yellow ring, but with no money and no idea where she is, he realizes his best chance is to wait until she and his Uncle return. Polly is sent to her room when she can't fully explain to her mother why her clothes are wet from the previous chapters.

While Digory's waiting, he overhears his Aunt Letty talking to a visitor about Mabel's ( Digory's mother) illness and that only fruit from the land of youth could do her any good. Digory gets wild hope from this and begins thinking of using the ring to explore other worlds when he sees Jadis.

Jadis arrives, standing on the roof of the hansom and flogging the horse Strawberry without mercy. The hansom crashes into a lamppost, but Jadis jumps clear and rides the horse. The police and a crowd of spectators show up. A policeman tries to question Uncle Andrew, but has to step back to avoid getting killed by Strawberry. The Cabby (Strawberry's owner and the owner of the smashed hansom) arrives and tries to talk to Jadis and soothe Strawberry. Jadis responds by saying, "Dog! Dog, unhand our royal charger. We are the Empress Jadis."

Thoughts

Jadis standing on the hansom roof as she rides was quite the striking image and I liked how the text described it. It's also interesting that Digory's fixation on the land of youth becomes his focus for a good amount of the rest of this book, from what I remember.

Optional Discussion Questions

You don't have to answer all/any of these questions, they're just for discussion.

1. Why do you suppose Letty thought Jadis was from a circus and why does she not approve of bare arms? Also, what is sal volatile?

2. Do you suppose the Wood had something to do with Jadis no longer having her "blasting" powers or is it from being in our world?

3. I personally found the "Sarah the housemaid having a great day" running joke to be funny, though maybe it's not for everyone. What do you think of it?

4. The text mentions Digory, his Mother, and Aunt Letty having lunch, while Polly shows up late for dinner. I'm a bit confused here. Is something happening with the day that I'm not getting, are Digory and Polly's families acting differently, or both? And what are your impressions of Digory's and Polly's families, from the brief glimpses we get?

5. What do you think of Aunt Letty mentioning the land of youth and Digory's hope that he gets as a result?

6. What'd you think of Jadis' return on the hansom? And what are your thoughts on the police and the crowd showing up?

7. What do you think of the Cabby?

8. Anything else you want to ask about/bring up about this chapter?

The first movie is a fantastical fantasy

Prince Caspian is a medieval fantasy

And The Voyage of the Dawn Treader have a more dark fantasy style