The Silver Chair | Chapter 5: Puddleglum

Chapter Summary:

Jill is woken up, and she and Eustace fly on two owls' backs. The owls bring them to Puddleglum, a Marsh-wiggle, who provides Eustace and Jill with a place to sleep. They sleep very well. The next morning, they leave the wigwam in which they slept and find Puddleglum fishing for eel among the very marshy land. Eustace and Jill greet Puddleglum, who looks like a man with long, thin arms and legs, but with completely webbed hands and feet. 

Puddleglum asks Eustace and Jill to light a fire using some firewood. In all his talking, Puddleglum is incredibly pessimistic, expecting the worst of every situation. Once the eel stew is cooking, Jill asks if Puddleglum can help them find Prince Rilian. Puddleglum says that he will try to help, and will go with them on their journey. Puddleglum says that everyone who has attempted to find Rilian before has started at the location where Rilian disappeared. Jill says that they have to start at a ruined city of giants, because Aslan said so.

Puddleglum says that they must first go through Ettinsmoor, a land filled with semi-hostile giants, to get to the ruined city (though he doesn't know where it is exactly). Eustace gets upset with Puddleglum for being so pessimistic about everything, but Puddleglum says that he's fairly optimistic among Marsh-wiggles. 

The rest of the day is spent preparing for the journey to come. They all go to bed early, and Eustace and Jill sleep terribly due to Puddleglum's snoring. 

Reflection:

All in all, this is one of those TCON chapters that primarily serves the purpose of comedy. We know this because Puddleglum, whose name is as pessimistic as he is, is the absolute epitome of negativity. In everything that he suggests, he anticipates several paths toward failure. When he wants Jill and Eustace to fetch firewood, he immediately worries that the firewood will be wet--but it is bone dry and lights very easily. 

After enjoying a rather full chapter of Puddleglum's amusing pessimism, Eustace finally calls him out for being absolutely pessimistic about everything. Eustace finds Puddleglum's habit rather irritating, particularly because it appears to be rarely accurate. Jill is worries that Puddleglum will reply aggressively to Eustace's chastising, but here is how Puddleglum actually replies:

"The other wiggles all say--that I'm too flighty; don't take life seriously enough. 'Puddleglum,' they've said, 'you're altogether too full of bobance and bounce and high spirits. You've got to learn that life it's all fricasseed frogs and eel pie. You want something to sober you down a bit...' Now a job like this--a journey up north just as winter's beginning, looking for a Prince that probably isn't there, by way of a ruined city that no one has ever seen--will be just the thing. If that doesn't steady a chap, I don't know what will" (p. 399).

Here's some good comedy, brought to us by Puddleglum. Actually, sarcasm would be nearer to the mark. Puddleglum might be pessimistic about the upcoming journey, but what he says here actually puts it in perspective. He's right--they are starting just as winter is beginning, and indeed many others have tried and failed (and died) trying to find the missing prince. And it is also true that they are trying to find a ruined city that appears to be a lost city altogether. The hope is rather dismal, and everyone knows it--but Puddleglum obviously anticipates the worst. 

What is most amusing about all of this, of course, is that Puddleglum is an optimist among Wiggle-marshes. This is both surprising and amusing--and makes the reader wonder what a pessimistic Wiggle-marsh would be like. Probably not too thrilling to interact with, that's for sure. Anyway, Puddleglum is a most ridiculous and hilarious character--and the adventures with him are sure to be, at the least, cautious. Puddleglum brings a whole new meaning to 'prepare for the worst.'