Although the Narnia Chronicles, by C.S. Lewis are ostensibly children’s stories, they have a serious side that often reflects the non-fiction writing of C.S. Lewis.  The Silver Chair has elements that are parallel with The Problem of Pain, amongst others, in which C.S. Lewis tackles the ever-challenging question of suffering.  In the latter, he concludes that the vast majority of human suffering is caused by the dark side of free will: in essence, we make poor, selfish or sinful choices whose consequences are that someone suffers.  The Silver Chair presents a story in which fallible human choices (such as failing to follow instructions) lead to difficulty – despite which, the goal is ultimately still accomplished. 

The Silver Chair presents this idea in the context of a quest: a quest with several deeper meanings (for more details on the quest story, see the box, below).  The story reinforces points made elsewhere in his writing.

I have written before on the importance that C.S. Lewis attached to the importance of imagination in approaching truth and meaning (September 2004).  He wrote: “Reason is the natural organ of truth.  But imagination is the organ of meaning.”  He believed that imagination can become the means by which one approaches truth, and that the best way to engage both imagination and reason is in a story.

C.S. Lewis expressed the belief in The Problem of Pain, that God has no needs, so cannot need our love.  This extends to the cause and effect of God in our lives: can we call upon God without God willing it?  A clue to this would be Aslan’s response to Jill Pole in The Silver Chair, when she says that she and Eustace asked to be brought to Narnia: “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you.”  Although Eustace and Jill asked to be taken into Narnia, their initial request was not granted; indeed, only after being roused from their call to Aslan by bullying schoolmates did they try, in desperation, to flee through a locked door in a garden wall.  This time, the hitherto locked door opened and the two children, unexpectedly, were able to enter Narnia.

This is not unlike C.S. Lewis’ description of joy.  He recounted in Surprised by Joy that his experience of joy was characterized by the unexpected nature of its occurrence.  If he tried to seek it, or find it, or produce it, he never had success; it had to occur spontaneously.  Eventually the experience of joy itself acquired a different taste of its own: “I believe … that the old stab [of joy], the old bittersweet, has come to me as often and as sharply since my conversion as at any time of my life whatever.  But I now know that the experience … was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer.” 

In a similar vein, the unexpected entries into Narnia occur in such a way that the children will experience the awe and wonder of Narnia, not at their own bidding, which could become cheap and worn out, but at the bidding of “Someone”, as Jill Pole learns in The Silver Chair – that “Someone” being Aslan.  Familiarity, after all, breeds contempt. 

The idea of discipline is a major theme in The Silver Chair.  In the book the concept of discipline is represented by the need for Jill to keep repeating the signs given to her by Aslan - even when it seems not to make sense any more.  C.S. Lewis is pointing towards the need for personal, spiritual discipline, such as prayer, contemplation, or study of scripture, as a way to maintain faith, as a way to preserve the goals given to us in life, and as a way to exercise our free will in a responsible and compassionate manner, thus minimizing the potential pain and suffering inflicted upon ourselves and others.  This idea of maintaining discipline, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense, has a parallel in the idea that faith means continuing to believe even when it seems to make no sense, a characteristic of the ever-faithful, if somewhat pessimistic, Puddleglum that becomes vitally important for overcoming the Witch’s power.

A pivotal scene in The Silver Chair occurs when the Witch returns to discover that Prince Rilian has been freed from her spell.  She proceeds to try to bewitch the prince, Puddleglum, Eustace and Jill by seductively suggesting that they have really created an alternative reality that is purely of their own imagining: that her world is the only real world that can possibly exist, because it is the only world that they can see at the time.  This, of course, is the argument of the atheist (amongst others): we can only trust the experience of our senses; what we cannot touch, see, hear, taste or smell cannot be real. 

She also plays into a common human failing, of which we can be both aware and guilty, namely of trying to create God in our image, rather than the other way around.  The Witch’s words, denying the reality of any world but her own, and denying the existence of Narnia and Aslan, are reminiscent of those who would take all those characteristics that are good about ourselves, turn them into God, and hold up as the ideal - thus forming God in our own image.  The Witch, the Lady in Green, accuses her victims of doing this.  Puddleglum’s response is that what she denigrates as an imaginary reality is better than her version of reality, even if it’s not true!

The Witch is presented in the story as a beautiful, seductive, irresistible woman with a very beguiling way of speaking.  They story emphasizes how easy it is to give into her persuasion.  We can see in this an analogy for the spirit of the age trying to attack us and our faith.

When we read stories written in a different era, we sometimes miss details that no longer resonate with our experience.  The reviewer of our script at the C.S. Lewis Company drew attention to the relevance of the colour green in the apparel of the Witch.  He wrote, “This is one who has sold her soul to the devil for extended youth and beauty. The original text refers to her dress as ‘as green as poison’.  This is a literary reference to a chemical substance commonly used in Victorian times as a poison to deal with rats and mice, etc., called ‘Paris Green’.  It was a Copper-Arsenic compound and extremely toxic.  It looked (unfortunately) like green sugar, and was the death of quite a few children who ate it, and on one occasion it was accidentally added to a confectioner’s recipe in the town of Bradford, resulting in the deaths of 20 people and the serious illness of 200 others.  This led to J.M. Barrie using the reference to Green Sugar being poisonous in his play Peter Pan, and it was from this that C.S. Lewis took the ‘green as poison’.”  And the character of the Witch, for all her seductive nature, is decidedly deadly.

Puddleglum, the Marsh-wiggle, is a central character in The Silver Chair.  Puddleglum is based upon Fred Paxon, C.S. Lewis’ gardener, who was, by all accounts, very sound and wise.  Puddleglum is a dour figure who always anticipates the worse.  As a former colleague once stated to me: “Always expect the worst and you won’t be disappointed.”  That is Puddleglum.  Yet Puddleglum is a creature of remarkably strong faith, and his faith is what ultimately leads to the breaking of the Witch’s spell. 

At around the time that C.S. Lewis was writing The Silver Chair he was engaged in working upon an essay called, Obstinacy in Belief.  The obstinacy of belief can be described simply as having the strength to cling to one’s beliefs despite all external pressure.  Puddleglum makes what would seem to be a remarkable statement: he will believe in Aslan and Narnia even if they do not exist, because the alternative offered by the Witch is so much less appealing.

By believing even when it does not seem to make sense, the Marsh-wiggle ultimately prevails - with a physical act, not intellectually.  He stamps out the Witch's fire, burning his foot.  In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis describes pain as “God’s megaphone,” or how God can get through to us when we stop listening (or following instructions).  Puddleglum says (or thinks, in the book) that there is nothing like a good shock of pain “for dissolving certain kinds of magic.” 

In mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis argues that reasoning is an important element in faith. Faith is what one’s reason accepts to be true despite one’s changing moods.  In The Silver Chair, everything is clear in Aslan’s world; everything is a little confused in Narnia; underground it is even less clear.  Life underground, in the Witch’s world, is dull, lifeless, bland and claustrophobic.  The Silver Chair is the imaginary working out of this.  Most importantly, the way in which the quest unfolds is drastically affected by a simple action of Jill’s at the very start of her time with Eustace in Narnia.  By showing off to Eustace that she is not afraid of heights (he is), she initiates a set of actions that drastically affects their quest.  This is, of course, the sin of pride rearing its rather ugly head.  The missed signs and errors of judgement that occur all hinge upon this one, rather silly action.  C.S. Lewis’ point is that one person’s sin of pride can cause others to fall and suffer. 

And yet … in the end, by remaining steadfast to their final instruction (to do what someone asks in the name of Aslan), they are able to succeed in their quest.  What C.S. Lewis appears to be illustrating is the point that while human sinfulness can make life difficult and dangerous, God’s will can still be fulfilled.  It will just take a little longer.