Chronicles of Narnia
October 22, 2016
In Chapter 12 of the Silver Chair, the Witch attempts to lull
Eustace, Jill, Puddleglum and the Prince into security through her magic,
trying to convince them that the underworld is, in fact, the only world. As her
magic fills the room, the children try harder and harder to fight its power,
feeling it dull their senses and confuse their logic. As they struggle,
different things spark a new fight in them as they remember Narnia. Puddleglum
exclaims in his fight against the magic, “I’ve seen the sky full of stars. I’ve
seen the sun coming up out of the sea of a morning and sinking behind the
mountains at night” (185). What sparks his memory in Narnia is the beauty of
it. Despite not having the logic to refute the Witch’s words, he remembers the
wonder and the unexplainable sky, remembering the sun rising every morning. It
is the beauty of Narnia that revives the children out of stupor, that sparks a
feeling. It is not a nice accessory of a rational world but it is essential to
their understanding of reality.
Puddleglum continues, “And I’ve
seen him up in the midday sky when I couldn’t look at him for the brightness”
(185) connecting the beauty of Narnia to his understanding of Aslan. It is not
simply the aesthetic of beauty that is essential but it is beauty of Aslan that
brings hope. The beauty of Narnia speaks of the character of the creator. It is
Aslan that shakes the children from the spelled, dream state of the Witch, to
the harsh reality of their situation. The beauty speaks of Aslan and Aslan
speaks of truth, truth that is felt rather than argued.
Watching a sunset many times
feels like an unnecessary pleasure, a break from the chaos of life. I often
view it as a moment of peace in my hectic day, where I forget about my to-do
list or unanswered emails. However, watching the sunset might very well be the
most real, lasting, even eternal, thing I do in a day because in watching the
sunset I am learning about the one who defines reality.
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