The Magician's Nephew | Chapter 1: The Wrong Door

Chapter Summary: 

The Magician's Nephew begins with the meeting of Polly and Digory, two children who are neighbors in a long row of houses in London. Digory is newly living with his aunt and uncle (siblings)--Mr (Andrew) and Miss Ketterley--while his father is in India and his mother is dying. 

Polly and Digory become quick friends during the rainy London summer months, and begin to explore the connected attics of their row of houses. They determine that they want to try and enter the peculiar empty house that is just beyond Digory's house via the attic passageway. 

After nervous anticipation, they mark out paces to the empty house, and enter what they believe to be the correct door. Instead, they enter a fully-furnished attic, and realize that they have stumbled upon Uncle Andrew's forbidden attic study. Uncle Andrew immediately locks the children in the attic and tries to convince them to stay with ramblings about his vague project.

When it is clear that the children are ill-at-ease, Uncle Andrew feigns indifference and offers Polly a ring (from which there is a humming sound emanating) as a gift. As soon as Polly touches the ring, she disappears.

Reflection:

This first chapter of The Magician's Nephew is so readable and relatable because it captures (in rather few words) the joy of childhood adventure. This should come as no surprise, since the entire series of TCON is a lesson in childhood fantasy and adventure, but what is surprising is how quickly C.S. Lewis jumps into the story to capture the audience. And indeed he does capture the audience, because anyone old enough to understand more than 50% of the words in this chapter have an understanding of what a childhood adventure is like (i.e. anyone over the age of 3).

Part of this childhood adventure is the mystery that comes along with it (this is the reason that we all enjoyed exploring large houses as children--some of us still do). By the end of this chapter, there are numerous mysteries present: Why does Uncle Andrew have a secret study upstairs? Why does Miss. Ketterley refuse to let her husband speak to Digory at the dinner table? What is in the empty house on the other side of Digory's house? And most importantly--what is the importance of these rings? Why are they humming? And why does Polly disappear? Where does she go? Can she come back?

This child-like sense of adventure and mystery is the reason that I enjoy my geocaching adventures so much. If you know me, you're probably heard me talk about it once or twice. I have the opportunity to seek out an unknown object in an unknown location (mystery), and then have the joy and pleasure of finding a new place (adventure) and hopefully, the geocache as well (the treasure, if you will). Indeed, that's what geocaching is--a treasure hunt. Essentially, that's also what Polly and Digory have initiated--a treasure hunt to discover what is in the house beyond Digory's. But instead of stumbling across the empty house, they stumble across a different type of treasure--Uncle Andrew's study, and the magical ring that makes Polly disappear. 

It is so easy to relate to the chain of events that Polly and Digory have initiated in this chapter. Anyone reading this has an innate desire for adventure--for some of us, that means looking for boxes in the woods. For others, it means attending a conference or convention--or traveling to a distant place--or perhaps (as my mother refers to skydiving) jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. The first chapter of TCON entices the reader to enjoy the adventure at hand, and to have adventures of your own.