Introduction to the Book
The Silver Chair is usually read as the second to last of the 7 titles which make up the Chronicles of Narnia.
Why should I read this book?
It’s a great story and an integral part of the Chronicles of Narnia. It deals with the theme of deception by evil spiritual forces – the devil is a liar by nature and deception is his bread and butter. For that reason it is a shade darker than the earlier books in the series, though the points of light and joy burn brightly against that background.
The story in a few sentences
Two children, Eustace Scrubb (known as “Scrubb”) and a newcomer called Jill Pole, return to Narnia where Aslan sets them a task - to find Prince Rilian, the heir to the throne of Narnia. The Prince has disappeared – abducted by evil forces – and efforts to find him have failed. Prince Rilian’s father is King Caspian X of Narnia. We met him earlier in the series, but now he is old man, close to death and mourning for his lost son, who he may never see again.
Aslan gives Jill four “signs” to obey and emphasises them most strongly. The children are joined on their adventure by a loyal marsh-wiggle (a species invented by Lewis) whose name is Puddleglum. They encounter many difficulties and make a mess of three out of the four “signs” which Aslan gave them. But eventually, they get back on track – following Aslan’s signs. They find Prince Rilian and set him free from the wicked witch who has held him captive. King Caspian dies as he is reunited with his son and heir, but the children witness Aslan raise him up to new life.
There is a lot in the book for the reader to enjoy and mull over:
1. Who Called Whom?
The story opens with a scene in which Jill is being pursued by school bullies. She and Scrubb decide to call out to Aslan for help. Jill wonders if they should draw a circle in the ground and write things in queer letters and recite spells. Eustace gives this a bit of thought but replies:
“I’ve an idea that all those circles and things are rather rot. I don’t think he’d like them. It would look as if we thought we could make him do things. But really we can only ask him.”
The two children do call on Aslan by name and soon find themselves out of reach of their bullies and in a new world where Jill meets the Lion. Aslan tells Jill that he has called her and Scrubb to carry out a task which he will give her. This confuses Jill and she asks:
“I was wondering – I mean – could there be some mistake? Because nobody called me and Scrubb. It was we who asked to come here. Scrubb said we were to call to – to Somebody – it was a name I didn’t know – the perhaps the Somebody would let us in. And we did, and then we found the door open.
“You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.
Now many, many, words have been spilled by Christian writers about the role of free will and the role of God in the journey of faith. But somehow Lewis manages to say something very profound, memorable and concise in this episode – something thoroughly in tune with the Bible and which gelled with Lewis’ own experience. Certainly, Lewis had the sense of being called, albeit reluctantly, to faith in God as he described in Surprised by Joy:
You must picture me alone...., night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.
2. Remember, Remember the Signs
Early in the story Aslan gives Jill certain “signs” which she is told to memorise and follow meticulously. The directions Aslan gives Jill are clear and emphatic and the whole scene recalls the directions which God gave to the people of Israel after Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments [Deuteronomy 11:8-28].
But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care it does not confuse your mind. And the signs you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the sign and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. (p.36)
For Lewis, faith was not simply a matter of things “believed”. Belief must express itself in obedience or it isn’t genuine faith at all.
3. An Unlikely Hero
The children’s first impressions of Puddleglum were not favourable. Lewis describes him as a lanky figure (all legs and arms) with sunken cheeks, a sharp nose, flat greeny-grey hair and a solemn expression. Worse, he is a shocking pessimist who consistently predicts that things will go badly (often he is wrong!).
Puddleglum is a wonderful antidote to the leadership stereotypes! His strength comes from his loyalty to the children, his perseverance and his determination to obey Aslan.
Twice his intervention proves decisive – and although his pessimism never quite deserts him – he is a shining beacon of courage and faithfulness. Lewis once wrote, in a letter to an American lady, “How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing...it is irresistible.” Puddleglum fits this like a glove.
4. On the Right Path, but it’s not an Easy One.
After a difficult journey and only narrowly escaping being eaten by giants, the two children and Puddleglum start to follow Aslan’s “signs” once more. However, when they descend into the depths of the earth they are captured again – by Earthmen and taken to a dark underground castle when they are entertained by a Knight.
The Knight tells them that every evening he has to be tied to the Silver Chair for his own good, because of an evil enchantment. He warns them that when this happens he will plead to be released but if they give in and do release him then he will turn into a serpent and kill them all. So, they promise not to release him under any circumstances.
Night falls and things unfold as expected. The Knight, who is tightly bound to the chair becomes frenzied and pleads with our heroes to release him. They stand firm, but then the Knight calls on them to release him “in the name of Aslan”. This throws the children into confusion because someone asking them to do something for him in “my name, the name of Aslan” was the fourth of the four signs given to them by Aslan. Jill speaks for herself and for Scrubb:
“Oh, if only we knew!” said Jill.
“I think we do know,” said Puddleglum.
“Do you mean you think everything will come right if we do untie him?” said Scrubb.
“I don’t know about that,” said Puddleglum. “You see Aslan didn’t tell Pole what would happen. He only told her what to do. That fellow will be the death of us once he’s up, I shouldn’t wonder. But it doesn’t let us off following the sign.”
There are echoes here of Jesus’ own encounter with the devil, told in Matthew, chapter 4. Just as Jesus refuses to budge from the word of God and dismisses his tempter with the words, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” So Puddleglum insists on sticking to Aslan’s word, come what may.
5. Deception and Freedom
In obedience to Aslan’s 4th sign, the group cut the Knight free from the Silver Chair he is tied to, and so break the enchantment which has held him captive. Now he is revealed as none other than the missing Prince Rilian. But the group’s delight in finding and releasing him is short-lived, because the self-styled Queen of Underland (who is really a witch) returns before they can escape. The Queen puts an intoxicating substance on the fire and uses enchanting music and beguiling words to almost persuade them that there is no world above ground, no sun, no Narnia and no Aslan. Then Puddleglum breaks the spell by stamping out the fire with his bare feet and declaring:
“I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.
The Queen then turns into a serpent, but Prince Rilian hacks off its head before it can kill them.
This episode (the decisive point in the book) speaks to things Lewis wrote elsewhere. He understood that faith should be held tenaciously, not in the face of reason because the Christian faith is not contrary to reason. But against what Paul describes as the “powers of this dark world” and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. There may be dark times when the believer needs to hold tightly to truths which they previously received in broad daylight and on good authority.
6. The Joy in Free Obedience
The French philosopher Simone Weil once said: “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvellous, intoxicating.” I think Lewis would have liked that.
There is a joyful, varied and imaginative exuberance in Lewis’ free peoples in comparison with the drab sadness of the witch’s followers. The Earthmen who take the three prisoner when they descend into the underworld are “sad and silent”. But when they are freed from the witch’s grasp all heaven breaks lose:
In a few minutes the whole of Underland was ringing with shouts and cheers, and gnomes, by hundreds and thousands, leaping, turning cartwheels, standing on their heads, playing leapfrog, and letting off huge crackers (fireworks)...
Lewis called his spiritual biography Surprised by Joy for good reason and you get a real sense of that in the last two chapters of The Silver Chair. When Jill and the others escape from Underworld and re-enter Narnia their homecoming is a joyful affair. And not only joyful, also good, wholesome, homely and appetising:
(Jill) had a vague impression of Dwarfs crowding round the fire with frying-pans bigger than themselves, and hissing, and delicious smell of sausages, and more, and more and more sausages. And not wretched sausages half full of bread and soya bean either, but real meaty, spicy ones, fat and piping hot and burst and just the tiniest bit burnt. And great mugs of frothy chocolate, and roast potatoes and roast chestnuts and baked apples with raisins stuck in where the cores had been, and then ices just to freshen you up after all the hot things.
Wonderful prose – all the more when you consider that The Silver Chair was published in 1953 and wartime rationing in the UK did not end until July 1954.
7. The Best is yet to be for the Old King.
This is not a fairy-tale which ends happily for all concerned since King Caspian dies before he can be enjoy meeting his lost son, Prince Rilian. But Aslan takes Jill and Scrubb to another world - Aslan’s own – where they witness Caspian’s resurrection:
And there, on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream, lay King Caspian, dead, with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. Even the Lion wept...
“Son of Adam,” said Aslan “go into that thicket and pluck the thorn that you will find there, and bring it to me.”
Eustace obeyed. The thorn was a foot long and as sharp as a rapier.
“Drive it into my paw, Son of Adam,” said Aslan, holding up his right fore-paw and spreading out the great pad towards Eustace.
“Must I?” said Eustace.
“Yes” said Aslan
Then Eustace set his teeth and drove the thorn into the Lion’s pad. And there came out a great drop of blood, redder than all the redness you have ever seen or imagined. And it splashed into the stream over the dead body of the King. At the same moment the doleful music stopped. And the dead King began to be changed. His white beard turned to grey, and from grey to yellow, and got shorter and vanished altogether; and his sunken cheeks grew round and fresh, and the wrinkles were smoothed, and his eyes opened, and his eyes and lips both laughed, and suddenly he leaped up and stood before them – a very young man or a boy.
This is a glorious passage full of hope and joy and the life that comes through the blood of Jesus. It deserves to be read at many an old Christian’s funeral!
I’ve enjoyed “The Silver Chair”, what is next?
The seventh (and final) book in the Chronicles of Narnia, is The Last Battle.....
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Christopher Simpson
Chris Simpson lives in Sheffield, UK, with his wife where they are members of Meadowhead Christian Fellowship. Chris is well-known for his interest in C S Lewis.