The Silver Chair | Chapter 9: How They Discovered Something Worth Knowing

Chapter Reflection:

Jill spent the rest of the day sucking up to the giants in the castle so that none of them would suspect their intended escape. At lunch time, while Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum are eating, they hear the nearby giants casually mention that they are eating a Talking Animal. Puddleglum and Eustace feel disgusted, and so does Jill after a bit of explaining.

Later, Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum are in the kitchen awaiting a time to escape through the back door. One of the cooks is in the kitchen and lays down for a restless nap. While the cook is napping, Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum notice an open cookbook that contains recipes for men and marsh-wiggles as part of the traditional Autumn Feast. Horrified, Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum make their escape. 

As they walk along the path toward the ruined city, they realize that they are wearing bright clothes, that the castle has about 50 windows facing their direction, and that there is no tree cover at all. Puddleglum tells them to stroll as if they are on a walk, and not to run until he tells them.

A horn sounds--the King and Queen's hunting party returns. They notice that Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum are missing, and they release the hounds. Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum run, making it to a nearby opening of the paths beneath the ruined city. They fumble about in the dark, and suddenly slide down a very, very long hill. 

Once they reach the bottom, everyone is safe and no one is badly injured. A voice comes from the pitch darkness (not Aslan's voice, as they had hoped) asking what brings them there.

Reflection:

Once again, we have a chapter that focuses largely on plot. And I have just one primary observation from this chapter: How in the world has it taken so long for Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill to realize that the giants fully intended to eat them for their Autumn Feast? I mean, if only they had been reading the same story I had been... Oh that's right, they weren't reading it. They were living it. The hints throughout the story have been abundantly clear--they were unquestionably about to be eaten. So, that begs the question--why did it take them so darn long to figure it out? I have a few theories.

Theory 1: There is the sincere possibility that between Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum, none of them had the wits to figure it out. We'll call this the "Low IQ Theory." Yes, I know, they're just children. Well, kind of. Narnian has aging effects on people, and Eustace has a good deal of familiarity with Narnia. And Puddleglum is absolutely not a child. In fact, he's such a huge pessimist that he really, really should have figured it out sooner.

Theory 2: The Lady of the Green Kirtle bewitched them in some way. I think this is a relatively plausible theory, given Eustace and Jill's lust for Harfang for the entirety of their journey after meeting the woman in green. Perhaps her words themselves are bewitched in a way to make them totally and completely convincing and believable--so that they never had a doubt in their minds about the supposed gentleness of the giants. And speaking of this theory, I'm really interested for the moment when Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum actually discuss the fact that this woman lied to them. Perhaps it's just a given. But you'd think this was a conversation they'd have had already, but there's been too much action going on for that.

Theory 3: Then, there's the long-shot theory that the giants were actually intelligent enough to deceive Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum. This is the least likely theory, given everything that we know was said in the text. In addition, the giants have to have enough stupidity in them to leave the cookbook open. 

Theory 4: A last theory that you might not consider (and this one could fit with any or all of the others) is that they just didn't realize it because it wasn't how Aslan wanted their journey to progress. Take, for instance, the fact that if they had not gone to Harfang, they probably would have never found the ruined city of the giants that they have just likely entered. Perhaps this was just part of Aslan's timing for their journey.

There are many theories, and several of them could be right. As for me, I'm settling with Theory 1--"Low IQ Theory." Judge me.