The Magician’s Nephew

by

C. S. Lewis

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Magician’s Nephew makes teaching easy.
Polly is a young girl who lives in a London row house. She befriends Digory Kirke when he moves in with the Ketterleys next door, and they begin exploring the attics in their houses. Polly is a curious girl who is game for adventure. She is more practical and sensible than Digory, however—for example, accurately sensing that releasing the Witch from her curse will have dire consequences. When Digory is subsequently unkind to her, she demands an apology, but she readily forgives him when he genuinely repents. Throughout the story, she is loyal and trustworthy whenever Digory needs her help in corralling and resisting the Witch. After they return to London from Narnia, Polly and Digory remain good friends throughout their lives.

Polly Plummer Quotes in The Magician’s Nephew

The The Magician’s Nephew quotes below are all either spoken by Polly Plummer or refer to Polly Plummer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Creative Magic vs. Destructive Magic Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

What it said was something like this—at least this is the sense of it though the poetry, when you read it there, was better:

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

“No fear!” said Polly. “We don’t want any danger.”

“Oh but don’t you see it’s no good!” said Digory. “We can’t get out of it now. We shall always be wondering what else would have happened if we had struck the bell. I’m not going home to be driven mad by always thinking of that. No fear!”

Related Characters: Digory Kirke (speaker), Polly Plummer (speaker), Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“It was my sister’s fault,” said the Queen. “She drove me to it. May the curse of all the Powers rest upon her forever! At any moment I was ready to make peace—yes and to spare her life too, if only she would yield me the throne. But she would not. Her pride has destroyed the whole world. Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise that neither side would use Magic. But when she broke her promise, what could I do? Fool! As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think—she was always a weakling—that I would not use it?”

Related Characters: Queen Jadis / The Witch (speaker), Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer
Page Number: 66
Explanation and Analysis:

“But the people?” gasped Digory.

“What people, boy?” asked the Queen.

“All the ordinary people,” said Polly, “who’d never done you any harm. And the women, and the children, and the animals.”

“Don’t you understand?” said the Queen (still speaking to Digory). “I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they there for but to do my will?”

“It was rather hard luck on them, all the same,” said he.

“I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State?”

Related Characters: Digory Kirke (speaker), Polly Plummer (speaker), Queen Jadis / The Witch (speaker)
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

There was no doubt that the Witch had got over her faintness; and now that one saw her in our own world, with ordinary things around her, she fairly took one’s breath away. In Charn she had been alarming enough: in London, she was terrifying. For one thing, they had not realized till now how very big she was. […] But even her height was nothing compared with her beauty, her fierceness, and her wildness. She looked ten times more alive than most of the people one meets in London. Uncle Andrew was bowing and rubbing his hands and looking, to tell the truth, extremely frightened. He seemed a little shrimp of a creature beside the Witch. And yet, as Polly said afterward, there was a sort of likeness between her face and his, something in the expression. It was the look that all wicked Magicians have, the “Mark” which Jadis had said she could not find in Digory’s face.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:

I think (and Digory thinks too) that her mind was of a sort which cannot remember that quiet place at all, and however often you took her there and however long you left her there, she would still know nothing about it. Now that she was left alone with the children, she took no notice of either of them. And that was like her too. In Charn she had taken no notice of Polly (till the very end) because Digory was the one she wanted to make use of. Now that she had Uncle Andrew, she took no notice of Digory. I expect most witches are like that. They are not interested in things or people unless they can use them; they are terribly practical.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

We must now go back a bit and explain what the whole scene had looked like from Uncle Andrew’s point of view. It had not made at all the same impression on him as on the Cabby and the children. For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. […] When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke, he missed the whole point; for a rather interesting reason. […] [The Lion’s song] made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. […] And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“You met the Witch?” said Aslan in a low voice which had the threat of a growl in it.

“She woke up,” said Digory wretchedly. And then, turning very white, “I mean, I woke her. Because I wanted to know what would happen if I struck a bell. Polly didn’t want to. It wasn’t her fault. I—I fought her. I know I shouldn’t have. I think I was a bit enchanted by the writing under the bell.”

“Do you?” asked Aslan; still speaking very low and deep.

“No,” said Digory. “I see now I wasn’t. I was only pretending.”

Related Characters: Digory Kirke (speaker), The Lion / Aslan (speaker), Polly Plummer, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:

Aslan threw up his shaggy head, opened his mouth, and uttered a long, single note; not very loud, but full of power. Polly’s heart jumped in her body when she heard it. She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between. And so, though she was filled with wonder, she was not really astonished or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman, with a kind, honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her. Polly knew at once that it was the Cabby’s wife, fetched out of our world not by any tiresome magic rings, but quickly, simply and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest.

Related Characters: Polly Plummer, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank, The Cabby’s Wife / Queen Helen
Page Number: 149
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“He thinks great folly, child,” said Aslan. “This world is bursting with life for these few days because the song with which I called it into life still hangs in the air and rumbles in the ground. It will not be so for long. But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growlings and roarings. Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good! But I will give him the only gift he is still able to receive.”

Related Characters: The Lion / Aslan (speaker), Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley
Related Symbols: Songs and Singing
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

“But we’re not quite as bad as that world, are we, Aslan?”

“Not yet, Daughter of Eve,” he said. “Not yet. But you are growing more like it. It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware.”

Related Characters: Polly Plummer (speaker), The Lion / Aslan (speaker), Digory Kirke, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Magician’s Nephew PDF

Polly Plummer Quotes in The Magician’s Nephew

The The Magician’s Nephew quotes below are all either spoken by Polly Plummer or refer to Polly Plummer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Creative Magic vs. Destructive Magic Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

What it said was something like this—at least this is the sense of it though the poetry, when you read it there, was better:

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

“No fear!” said Polly. “We don’t want any danger.”

“Oh but don’t you see it’s no good!” said Digory. “We can’t get out of it now. We shall always be wondering what else would have happened if we had struck the bell. I’m not going home to be driven mad by always thinking of that. No fear!”

Related Characters: Digory Kirke (speaker), Polly Plummer (speaker), Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“It was my sister’s fault,” said the Queen. “She drove me to it. May the curse of all the Powers rest upon her forever! At any moment I was ready to make peace—yes and to spare her life too, if only she would yield me the throne. But she would not. Her pride has destroyed the whole world. Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise that neither side would use Magic. But when she broke her promise, what could I do? Fool! As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think—she was always a weakling—that I would not use it?”

Related Characters: Queen Jadis / The Witch (speaker), Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer
Page Number: 66
Explanation and Analysis:

“But the people?” gasped Digory.

“What people, boy?” asked the Queen.

“All the ordinary people,” said Polly, “who’d never done you any harm. And the women, and the children, and the animals.”

“Don’t you understand?” said the Queen (still speaking to Digory). “I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they there for but to do my will?”

“It was rather hard luck on them, all the same,” said he.

“I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State?”

Related Characters: Digory Kirke (speaker), Polly Plummer (speaker), Queen Jadis / The Witch (speaker)
Page Number: 67
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

There was no doubt that the Witch had got over her faintness; and now that one saw her in our own world, with ordinary things around her, she fairly took one’s breath away. In Charn she had been alarming enough: in London, she was terrifying. For one thing, they had not realized till now how very big she was. […] But even her height was nothing compared with her beauty, her fierceness, and her wildness. She looked ten times more alive than most of the people one meets in London. Uncle Andrew was bowing and rubbing his hands and looking, to tell the truth, extremely frightened. He seemed a little shrimp of a creature beside the Witch. And yet, as Polly said afterward, there was a sort of likeness between her face and his, something in the expression. It was the look that all wicked Magicians have, the “Mark” which Jadis had said she could not find in Digory’s face.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:

I think (and Digory thinks too) that her mind was of a sort which cannot remember that quiet place at all, and however often you took her there and however long you left her there, she would still know nothing about it. Now that she was left alone with the children, she took no notice of either of them. And that was like her too. In Charn she had taken no notice of Polly (till the very end) because Digory was the one she wanted to make use of. Now that she had Uncle Andrew, she took no notice of Digory. I expect most witches are like that. They are not interested in things or people unless they can use them; they are terribly practical.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

We must now go back a bit and explain what the whole scene had looked like from Uncle Andrew’s point of view. It had not made at all the same impression on him as on the Cabby and the children. For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. […] When the great moment came and the Beasts spoke, he missed the whole point; for a rather interesting reason. […] [The Lion’s song] made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. […] And the longer and more beautiful the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song.

Related Characters: Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank
Page Number: 137
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“You met the Witch?” said Aslan in a low voice which had the threat of a growl in it.

“She woke up,” said Digory wretchedly. And then, turning very white, “I mean, I woke her. Because I wanted to know what would happen if I struck a bell. Polly didn’t want to. It wasn’t her fault. I—I fought her. I know I shouldn’t have. I think I was a bit enchanted by the writing under the bell.”

“Do you?” asked Aslan; still speaking very low and deep.

“No,” said Digory. “I see now I wasn’t. I was only pretending.”

Related Characters: Digory Kirke (speaker), The Lion / Aslan (speaker), Polly Plummer, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:

Aslan threw up his shaggy head, opened his mouth, and uttered a long, single note; not very loud, but full of power. Polly’s heart jumped in her body when she heard it. She felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between. And so, though she was filled with wonder, she was not really astonished or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman, with a kind, honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her. Polly knew at once that it was the Cabby’s wife, fetched out of our world not by any tiresome magic rings, but quickly, simply and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest.

Related Characters: Polly Plummer, The Lion / Aslan, The Cabby / King Frank, The Cabby’s Wife / Queen Helen
Page Number: 149
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“He thinks great folly, child,” said Aslan. “This world is bursting with life for these few days because the song with which I called it into life still hangs in the air and rumbles in the ground. It will not be so for long. But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growlings and roarings. Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good! But I will give him the only gift he is still able to receive.”

Related Characters: The Lion / Aslan (speaker), Polly Plummer, Uncle Andrew Ketterley
Related Symbols: Songs and Singing
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

“But we’re not quite as bad as that world, are we, Aslan?”

“Not yet, Daughter of Eve,” he said. “Not yet. But you are growing more like it. It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware.”

Related Characters: Polly Plummer (speaker), The Lion / Aslan (speaker), Digory Kirke, Queen Jadis / The Witch
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis: