The Magician's Nephew | Chapter 15: The End of This Story and the Beginning of All the Others

Chapter Summary:

Aslan brings Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew to the Wood between the Worlds. The puddle that contained Charn is gone, and Aslan cautions that earth could go the way of Charn, if trends continue. Aslan also tells Digory and Polly to bury the magic rings when they return to earth.

Suddenly, Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew are back in the scene on earth where they had disappeared from last, and nearly no time has elapsed. Digory goes to his mother, while Polly goes to collect Uncle Andrew's other magic rings. Uncle Andrew goes to drink brandy and go to bed.

Digory gives his mother the apple and she eats it, causing her to progressively become healthier and healthier over the next month. Digory and Polly bury the apple core with the rings surrounding it in the back yard. A tree grows from the apple core.

Time elapses on earth and in Narnia; Digory and Polly remain friends. When Digory is much older, a storm knocks down the tree, and Digory has its remains made into a wardrobe and  the wardrobe placed in his country home.

Reflection: 

This chapter is a pretty neat one for several reasons, and I can't dwell on all of those reasons, but what interests me most is that this chapter is truly a product of its time. The Magician's Nephew was published in 1955 with World War II still recent memory and in the midst of the beginning of the Cold War. When Aslan gives Digory and Polly the following warning, the historical background is clear and relevant:

"It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware. That is the warning" (p. 69). 

With atomic and nuclear warfare a very real possibility in those times, Aslan warns Digory and Polly (and therefore every single reader) of the danger of using a weapon such as the Deplorable Word (which, if you recall, is an unnamed word that Jadis uses to destroy all of life on Charn aside from herself).

If you take a look at the Doomsday Clock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock), you will see that during the time that C.S. Lewis was writing this novel, nuclear holocaust was a very real danger in our world. According to the Doomsday Clock, the time period of 1953-1960 was the closest our world has come to nuclear war. 

But of course, Aslan's message resonates even today. It is not much to correctly predict that tyrannical leaders will come to rule nations across the earth, because it happened often prior to 1955 and thus will certainly happen often after 1955 (as it indeed has). Of course, what is most clever about Aslan's warning to Digory and Polly is that his warning actually reaches beyond Digory and Polly, to every reader of TCON since it was published. Today, Digory and Polly are probably around 70 years old, and Aslan's warning has remained true throughout their lives, and continues to be true today.

Onward to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!