Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Magician’s Nephew, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Creative Magic vs. Destructive Magic
Human Selfishness vs. Divine Selflessness
Magic, the Ordinary, and Innate Goodness
Creation, Creator, and the Dignity of Life
Summary
Analysis
Other kinds of creatures emerge from the trees—fauns, dwarves, naiads. All the creatures respond to Aslan, the Lion, saying, “We are awake. We love […] We know.” The children are startled when they hear a horsey voice adding, “But please, we don’t know very much yet.” They are delighted to see that it’s Strawberry. The Cabby says he always knew the horse had a lot of sense.
The animals respond to Aslan, recognizing him as their creator. Even Strawberry is elevated to a special dignity beyond his existence in the ordinary world.
Themes
Aslan addresses the animals again, in a “strong, happy voice.” He grants them themselves, the land of Narnia, and himself. He also charges them to take care of the beasts who don’t talk—to treat them kindly, but not to return to their ways, or else they will lose their status as Talking Beasts. The animals all say, “We won’t,” but a jackdaw is the last to stop speaking, its voice echoing awkwardly in the silence. All the other animals laugh merrily at this, and Aslan encourages them, saying that “jokes as well as justice come in with speech.” Soon the embarrassed jackdaw shares in the delight of the first joke.
Narnia is now established. Aslan summons certain creatures into a council to provide for the safety of Narnia, since “an evil has already entered it.” The rest of the Talking Beasts are baffled, wondering what a “Neevil” could be. Meanwhile, Digory resolves to approach Aslan directly regarding his mother. Polly accompanies him, and the Cabby comes along to talk with Strawberry.
The setting for subsequent Narnia books has now been brought into being. Lewis echoes the biblical creation account in the book of Genesis—the primordial goodness of creation is quickly interrupted by evil (which the innocent animals so far have no capacity to understand).
Themes
When the three humans appear before the crowd of Talking Beasts, the animals are puzzled and speculate about what sort of food they might be, or perhaps another joke. Strawberry doesn’t recognize the Cabby at first, but he recalls a sort of muddled dream of a previous life. Little by little, he remembers his grueling life of pulling the cab. The Cabby agrees that he didn’t love that life, either: “You were a country ‘oss, and I was a country man.” He would rather have stayed in the country and sung in the choir. Strawberry agrees to give Digory a ride over to Aslan, though he’s slightly disappointed that Digory doesn’t have any lumps of sugar on him.
Strawberry and the Cabby are examples of creatures who seem naturally disposed to love and thrive in Narnia, even though they were not originally created in this realm. In contrast to the repulsion and fear experienced by characters like the Witch and Uncle Andrew, their innocence and contentment suggest that one’s innate character has a lot to do with how one experiences Narnia’s magic.
Themes
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Meanwhile, another group of animals notices Uncle Andrew in the distance and decides to go investigate. This whole time, Uncle Andrew has been having a very different experience than the children and the Cabby have been having. This is because what one sees and hears depends a lot on one’s character. Uncle Andrew has been watching the animals, but, being “dreadfully practical,” he hasn’t been noticing the magic so much as worrying about whether they’re going to attack him.
Uncle Andrew’s dread and self-concern eclipse his awareness of the beauty and wonder of what’s occurring. He is unable to be receptive to the creative magic in the same way as the children and Cabby are.
Themes
When the Beasts were endowed with speech, Uncle Andrew missed it altogether. This was because the Lion’s song made him so uncomfortable—making him think and feel things he’d rather ignore. So he tried to convince himself that the Lion wasn’t singing at all—it was merely roaring. Very soon, he was actually unable to hear the Lion’s song, or the other animal’s speech and laughter. He is annoyed with the children for approaching the animals instead of caring about him and his own predicament.
The description of what happened to Uncle Andrew during the Lion’s song provides allegorical insight into Lewis’s understanding of human beings’ responses to God. Uncle Andrew would rather turn inward and nurse his own fears and grievances than embrace what the Lion offers—sooner or later, he will actually be deafened to the Lion’s call.
Themes
As the crowd of curious animals approaches Uncle Andrew, he turns and runs. Narnia has made him younger, and he can run quite fast, but it’s no use. The animals decide he must be the “Neevil” Aslan spoke about, and they team up to surround him. Soon Uncle Andrew is surrounded by a crowd of, to him, fierce- and hungry-looking animals. Since he’s spent years doing experiments on animals, he’s all the more frightened of them now.
Because he’s closed himself off to Aslan’s creative magic, now Uncle Andrew can only perceive danger where he might have been delighted by the magically endowed animals’ friendliness. He actually digs himself into deeper trouble through his own stubbornness.
Themes
