The Magician’s Nephew: Chapter 6 “The Beginning of Uncle Andrew’s Troubles”
C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 6, Issue 7
Digory and Polly unintentionally bring Jadis with them to the Wood Between the Worlds and then, even more unfortunately, back with them to London.
Their interaction with her in different circumstances serves as an apt illustration of how temptation comes across in various situations. We must resist even when it seems impossible because we don’t know what the next moment holds.
Chapter 6 “The Beginning of Uncle Andrew’s Troubles”
Unfortunately, Digory and Polly could not escape from Jadis. Because Uncle Andrew really didn’t understand how travel between worlds worked, neither did the children.
Jadis had grabbed Polly’s hair right as she and Digory jumped into the pool, which pulled her along with them. Lewis compares it to picking up a pin with a magnet and pulling along other pins that are touching.
But the location change has brought about more changes for Jadis. This place is seemingly closer to Aslan’s Country, and it often brings about self-forgetfulness. Nothing could be more depowering for the self-absorbed Jadis.
As the children see her in a different light, quite literally, they also recognize the difference in her appearance and power. The narrator refers to her as “the Witch” for the first time.
“She was much paler than she had been; so pale that hardly any of her beauty was left. … Neither of the children felt in the least afraid of her now.”
Later, we are told that Digory and Polly were stronger than she was. Jadis begins staggering and begging with them to take her out of the Wood Between the Worlds.
How often is this true with temptation? In one setting, we can feel overwhelmed. The sin seems almost impossible to resist. But if we simply stand our ground in that moment until a different time or change our setting to somewhere new, we can gain a different perspective and recognize the ability to resist.
Obviously, we see Lewis tackle temptation in The Screwtape Letters, but two quotes from Mere Christianity help sum up the importance of withstanding sin in those difficult moments. We truly learn about evil as we resist it.
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”
And as we resist it in one seemingly small moment, we build the muscles and the habits that allow us to resist it in more difficult and potentially crucial moments later.
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”
The children overpower Jadis in this moment. As a result, she begs for mercy and claims the Wood Between the Worlds is killing her.
Polly, having borne the brunt of Jadis’ arrogance, is ready to leave her behind as a “reason of State,” like when the Queen heedlessly killed countless people and dismissed their importance. Digory, on the other hand, feels sorry for her. His delay allows Jadis to grab him by the ear as he and Polly jump into the pool to return to London.
