Book Review - 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S Lewis - Book Six: 'The Silver Chair'

‘The Chronicles of Narnia - The Silver Chair’ by CS Lewis

“You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you.”

‘Eustace and Jill, wishing themselves in Narnia to escape from the horrors of their school, are commanded by the great Lion Aslan to find Prince Rilian, who mysteriously disappeared ten years before.
Guided by the marsh-wiggle Puddleglum, all at first goes well, but then they end up deep underground – and in thrall to the powerful Lady of the Green Kirtle.’

The sixth and penultimate book in the series, this one does not feature the Pevensie children at all. Instead, we follow their cousin, Eustace, and his schoolfriend, Jill Pole, as they journey through lands beyond Narnia.

The story begins at the school, a co-educational, which both children attend.
‘It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.
She was crying because they had been bullying her.’

And it’s while she’s crying that Eustace stumbles across her and ends up keeping her company as she struggles to compose herself.

In the course of their chat, Jill mentions that Eustace is quite different when compared to last term and asks him about it.

At first, all he says is, ‘“A lot of queer things happened to me in the hols,”’ meaning his inadvertent journey to Narnia.

Jill wants to know what exactly, and after some time, he says, ‘“Supposing I told you I’d been in a place where animals can talk and where there are… enchantments and dragons – and – well, all the sorts of things you have in fairy-tales.”’

Instead of laughing at him, Jill asks how he got there.

‘“The only way you can – by Magic,”’ is his whispered reply.

They decide to attempt to find their way to Narnia and Eustace believes the best way to do this is to repeatedly say Aslan’s name.

Hearing the bullies calling out for them, they hurriedly redouble their efforts.

And succeed.

More than a little afraid, they find themselves in a forest where, despite the sound of birds, ‘there was a sort of background of immense silence… huge trees… grew in every direction… There was not a breath of wind in that cool, bright air. It was a very lonely forest.’

They walk ahead to where there are no trees and, suddenly, Eustace pulls Jill back; they’re right at the edge of a cliff.

They’re so high up that when they look down, they can see clouds far below them.

One thing leads to another, and the children are separated.

It is Jill who first sees Aslan and all she knows is, he is a huge lion, for Eustace hadn’t explained exactly who Aslan is.

Aslan tells her that she and Eustace have a task to perform… ‘“the task for which I called you and him here out of your own world.”’

Confused, Jill says that nobody called them; ‘“It was we who asked to come here.”’
‘“You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.’

And he sets out their task.

The son of the King of Narnia was stolen away many years ago and none know where the prince might be or even if he’s still alive.
‘“But he is. I lay on you this command, that you seek this lost prince until either you have found him and brought him to his father’s house, or else died in the attempt, or else have gone back into your own world.”’

Aslan then tells her four signs which they must follow if they hope to succeed and makes her repeat them until she is able to recite them word for word, after which he sends her to join Eustace.

And so, their adventure, their quest begins.

In ‘The Silver Chair’, Lewis shows us a much darker Narnia, one that is less friendly and welcoming.

As with the previous book, ‘Dawn Treader’, we’re in unfamiliar territory.

Given the length of the book, under 200 pages, Lewis, yet again, does a stellar job with his worldbuilding, giving us a well thought out world, be it in the far north, in the deep, wintry land of the giants, to deep underground in the realm of the Lady of the Green Kirtle.

Yet, there’s still room for the reader’s imagination to fill things out with even more detail.

Lewis’ writing is as fabulous as ever, not only with his descriptions but with the characters too.

Although Eustace has been in Narnia before, he’s as lost as Jill because they’re not traversing the same routes, crossing land instead of sea.

Jill, more often than not, takes centre stage and she is a very relatable and believable young girl.

While she tries her best, she does get irritable and tired, and doesn’t always do the ‘right’ thing even when, deep down, she knows what that is.

By far the best character in the book, possibly in the series (so far), is the marsh-wiggle, Puddleglum.

When I first read the word, marsh-wiggle, I imagined an eel-like creature.

I couldn’t have been more wrong…

A marsh-wiggle has ‘a long thin face with rather sunken cheeks, a tightly shut mouth, a sharp nose, and no beard… The hair, if it could be called hair, which hung over his large ears was greeny-grey, and each lock was flat rather than round, so that they were like tiny reeds.’

This particular marsh-wiggle’s expression ‘was solemn, his complexion muddy, and you could see at once that he took a serious view of life.’

Puddleglum is not only a delightful bundle of pessimistic negativity who, somehow, finds a dubious bright side to a situation, he’s also unexpectedly brave.

Lewis gives him some of the best dialogue…
‘“The bright side of it is… that if we break our necks getting down the cliff, then we’re safe from being drowned in the river.”’
‘“… remember there’s one good thing about being trapped down here: it’ll save funeral expenses.”’

There’s a particularly poignant scene near the end of the book and I like the way Lewis presented it, from a distance via Jill’s point-of-view; it added emotional weight to the scene.

While written from a Christian’s perspective, I feel the symbolic aspects in the story fit any religious/spiritual belief.

Whatever one believes in – be it a God, Goddess, the Divine, the Universe, Source – there are moments in the book that point to the importance of remembering our connection to the Divine, and that the loving benevolence of the Divine doesn’t depend on us performing rituals and doing everything ‘just so’.

When we get turned around and confused by the distractions of life, when we forget or convince ourselves the Divine doesn’t care for us, it is always there, it never disappears.

All we have to do is trust, have faith and believe, and remember that connection.

I like that Lewis has subtly woven that into a children’s story.

Although I found the closing scene, right at the end, a little odd, I enjoyed this book very much and would now place it second, after ‘The Magician’s Nephew’.

Last book in the series coming up next week, and I’m really looking forward to reading it, though a little apprehensive as well.