The Magician's Nephew tells the story of the creation of Narnia and the very first journey there by humans. Set in the Victorian era, the story follows young Diggory and Polly as they have a run-in with Diggory's eccentric Uncle Andrew, who attempts to use them as guinea pigs in his experiments with other worlds. Narnia is revealed to be only one of many other worlds, and its creation parallels the Biblical story of the creation of Earth. This novel explores themes of Christianity, original sin, and morality.
Lewis suggested that he did not directly intend to write his Narnia stories as Christian tales, but that these aspects appeared subconsciously as he wrote, although the books did become Christian as they progressed. He thought that the tales were not direct representations or allegory, but that they might evoke or remind readers of Biblical stories. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , Aslan is a Christ-like figure who suffers a death of atonement and returns to life in a similar way to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. The Magician's Nephew has similar biblical allusions, reflecting aspects of The Book of Genesis such as the creation, original sin and temptation.
Parallels with events in Genesis include the forbidden fruit represented by an Apple of Life. Jadis tempts Digory to eat one of the forbidden apples in the garden, as the serpent tempts Eve into eating a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Unlike Eve however, Digory rejects Jadis's offer. (It is noteworthy that also Lewis's Perelandra features a re-enactment of the same Biblical story, which also in that book ends with the tempter foiled and the fall avoided.)
While the creation of Narnia closely echoes the creation of the Earth in the Book of Genesis , there are a number of important differences. Human beings are not created in Narnia by Aslan, they are brought into Narnia from our own world. Unlike Genesis , where souls are given only to human beings, animals and half-human half-animal creatures such as Fauns and Satyrs and even trees and watercourses are given souls and the power of rational thought and speech. This appears to suggest Lewis combined his Christian worldview with his fondness for nature, myth and fairy tales.
Parallels may also be found in Lewis's other writings. Jadis's references to "reasons of State", and her claim to own the people of Charn and to be beyond morality, represent the eclipse of the medieval Christian belief in natural law by the political concept of sovereignty, as embodied first in royal absolutism and then in modern dictatorships. Uncle Andrew represents the Faustian element in the origins of modern science.
On a number of occasions in the Chronicles of Narnia , Aslan uses his breath to give strength to characters, demonstrating his benevolent power or bringing life. He specifically does so in The Magician's Nephew when a 'long warm breath' gives life to Narnia. Lewis used the symbol of the breath to represent the Holy Spirit also known as the Holy Ghost. Both 'spirit' and 'ghost' are translations of the word for breath in Hebrew and Greek. The flash from the stars when the Narnian animals are given the ability to talk also most probably represents the Holy Spirit or "breath of life" of Genesis chapter 2, as well as (possibly) the scholastic concept of the divine active intellect which inspires human beings with rationality.
The Magician's Nephew suggests two opposing approaches to nature, a good approach associated with Aslan as creator and an evil approach associated with human deviation from divine intentions and the harmony of a natural order. On the one hand there is the beauty of Aslan's creation of Narnia, which is suggested as having a natural order by the use of musical harmony to bring landscapes and living things into being. There is also a distinct order to the process of creation, from earth to plants to animal, which evokes the concept of The Great Chain of Being. Lewis himself was a strong believer in the intrinsic value of nature for itself, rather than as a resource to be exploited. This is perhaps reflected in how Aslan also gives speech to spiritual aspects of nature, such naiads in the water and dryads in the trees. Andrew Ketterley and Jadis represent an opposite, evil approach of bending the forces of nature to human will for the purpose of self gain. They see nature solely as a resource to use for their plans and thus disturb and destroy the natural order.
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