When writing my list of books for this goal, I decided to start with The Magician's Nephew. Perhaps if I began at the beginning I'd like it better. I always like starting things at the beginning. They make more sense. I wish The Hobbit movies had come out before Lord of the Rings. It all would have made a lot more sense!
Turns out, this was a good choice! Although it took me 4 months to finish this book, it's more because of grad school than because of lack of interest. The book starts slow, but the last several chapters were fantastic! I loved it! I love knowing how Narnia started.
Now if you hadn't read the book and ever plan to, don't keep reading. I want to tell you some of the things I noticed/enjoyed:
- The lion (Aslan, a symbol of Christ) created the land of Narnia by...SINGING! I thought that was beautiful! First he separated the light from the darkness--in the beginning it's totally dark. Then as he sings, stars appear. Finally the sky lightens from dark to gray to white to pink and finally to gold. As he hears the song, the cabby comments that "I'd ha' been a better man all my life if I'd known there were things like this." After creating light, Aslan sings a new tune and grasses start to grow, spreading out from the lion like a pool, going over the hills like a wave. Then trees and other plants shoot up. Then he creates animals and chooses several of them to breathe life into and making Talking Beasts. I love that this parallels the order of the Creation story in Genesis. But I love looking at it with the new perspective of how this creation happened. Very beautiful.
- I like the first words the Talking Beasts say to Aslan after being created. "Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know." I think those words are carefully chosen, and I think the order is significant. Do I hear and obey? Am I really "awake"? We love even before thinking. We think before speaking. And finally, we know.
- Aslan chooses humble, imperfect people (the cabby and his wife) to be the king and queen of Narnia. This is consistent with my view of God; he works with humble, imperfect people that are teachable and trust Him.
- I think it's interesting that Uncle Andrew only hears growling, not the words Aslan and the other animals are saying. He's not willing to receive the gifts Aslan has for him. He's blinded to only see what he's willing to see.
- With the silver apple, I think it's fascinating that the apple always does what it's meant to do, but the way you partake of it determines whether it is for good or for ill. When explaining that the it is precisely because she ate the apple that now the witch loathes it, Aslan says, "that is what happens to those who pluck and eat fruits at the wrong time and in the wrong way. The fruit is good, but they loathe it ever after." If taken in the right way, when Aslan sanctions it for a specific purpose, it brings joy and life and health.
Quite a lovely book. In fact, it almost makes me want to read the next one. We'll see. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment