The Magician’s Nephew Themes

While magic is obviously a major theme in The Magician’s Nephew, magic isn’t a singular force. The story’s two prominent forms of magic can be summed up as destructive—motivated by the quest for power, even at the expense of other human beings—and creative, which is motivated by the desire for other beings to flourish. The protagonists, Digory and Polly, first encounter destructive magic when Digory’s Uncle Andrew, in a selfishly reckless act…

In The Magician’s Nephew, everyday human choices have immense repercussions for both individual lives and entire worlds. Though epic-scale confrontations between good and evil aren’t fully played out in this story (like the hinted coming conflict between the Witch and the Lion), smaller-scale ones are—especially the choice to act selflessly for others’ sake instead of selfishly to fulfill one’s own desires. Contrary to early expectations, the character who faces the consequences of his…

In The Magician’s Nephew, Lewis gives a vivid account of the dawn of the kingdom of Narnia, the primary setting in the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia series. The burgeoning vitality of this world finds its origin in Aslan’s innate, inexhaustible creativity. Those whom Aslan creates, or those who come to share in his world through their gratitude and wonder at his creation, are endowed with dignity and beauty by association with…