The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe | Chapter 8: What Happened after Dinner

Chapter Summary:

The chapter begins after the four children and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver finish dinner. Mr. Beaver explains that Mr. Tumnus has likely been taken to the White Witch's house, where the Witch keeps a courtyard full of people she has turned into stone. The children want to go try and save Mr. Tumnus, but Mr. Beaver says that their best chance is to go meet Aslan, which they plan to do the next day.

Mr. Beaver explains that Aslan is a lion and the King of Narnia--and that he has returned to Narnia to meet with the four children the next day at a location called the Stone Table. 

The children also learn that their peril in Narnia is due to a few prophesies. One prophesy says that when Aslan returns, winter will finally end. Another says that when humans return to Cair Paravel (royal palace of Narnia) that a time of evil will end. And a third prophesy says that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will sit on the four thrones at Cair Paravel, at which time the White Witch's reign and life will end.

Suddenly, everyone notices that Edmund is gone. Mr. Beaver confirms with Peter, Susan, and Lucy that Edmund had been to Narnia before, but had never spoken about who he met or what he did. Mr. Beaver points out that there is no need to search; he is certain that Edmund has gone to betray them to the White Witch (he could see treachery in Edmund's eyes). There is also much discussion about how much Edmund heard of the conversation about Aslan and the prophesies.  

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver agree that their best chance of survival is to set out for the Stone Table immediately (though there is disagreement about whether the Witch will come to the Beaver home first or go directly to the Stone Table once Edmund has betrayed them).

Reflection:

Judging not only from the length of my chapter summary above, but also from my own reading of the chapter, I would venture to say that this is the most plot-filled chapter of the entire book (perhaps the entire series) thus far. This chapter focuses a great deal not only on Narnian history and lore, but we learn a great deal about the White Witch and Aslan as well. Any moderately well-read person of any age can also see into the future of the story by reading this chapter. Ultimately, we are pretty sure we know what is going to happen, we just don't know how it's going to happen--and we definitely don't know what's going to happen afterwards (there are, after all, 5 more books after this one).

I don't think there's going to be much focus to today's reflection (is there ever, really?). Instead, I think it will be fun to take a look at a couple of my favorite passages from this chapter, because I have quite a few. Here's the first one, in which Mr. Beaver is talking about the White Witch:

"But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be human and isn't yet, or used to be human once and isn't now, or ought to be human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet" (p. 100).

I'm pretty sure Voldemort would fall into most of those categories. Or pretty much any fictitious villain ever. But that's precisely what I think it neat about this quotation--it really does cover pretty much every fantasy-based villain ever imagined. This is what stories tell us is most consistent about villains--in the midst of their villainous behavior, they lose track of what it means to be themselves (which is often human, except in cases like Gollum, who loses track of what it means to be a hobbit). Even the vampire craze of the last ten years (thanks a lot, Twilight) has been consistent with this one.

Here's another interesting one:

"Then mark my words ... he has already met the White Witch and joined her side, and been told where she lives. I didn't like to mention it before (he being your brother and all) but the moment I set eyes on that brother of yours I said to myself 'Treacherous.' He had the look of one who has been with the Witch and eaten her food. You can always tell them if you've lived long in Narnia; something about their eyes" (p. 101).

What Mr. Beaver says here is interesting, because he has made a great deal of correct assumptions in this short passage (and to this point we have nothing to lead us to believe that Mr. Beaver has any sort of psychic or prophetic abilities). He correctly assumes that (1) Edmund has met the White Witch, (2) that he knows where she lives, (3) that Edmund intended treachery, and (4) that Edmund had eaten the Witch's food. He deduces all of this simply by looking at Edmund's eyes. A good deal has been written about eyes in a variety of novels (can anyone say Dr. T.J. Eckleberg?)--and throughout these novels the eyes are often equated with the way things really are (Harry Potter fans remember Snape's last words). It all comes from the cliched statement that eyes are the window to the soul--whatever that means--and I think this is probably what C.S. Lewis has in mind here. Unfortunately for Edmund, he is off to play his role as Judas, and his siblings have noticed far, far too late.

With that in mind, it is ironic that it is likely Peter, Susan, and Lucy's failure to forgive Edmund with any due haste that leads to his ultimate decision to betray them. I wonder what would have happened if they had forgiven Edmund as quickly as Lucy forgave Peter for not believing her tale about the wardrobe.