The Silver Chair

Happy (or not so happy for those of us who don't like snow and had to knock the snow off their cars this morning with an umbrella instead of a scraper) Monday! ;)

The Silver Chair is one of my favorite books. I'm laughing as I type this because I am pretty sure that I've started out each of my reviews this way. They're just all so good! I promise not to start the next one like this.....
Summary: Eustace visits Narnia again, this time accompanied by a girl named Jill. Right as they arrive in Narnia, however, they are separated. While they are apart, Aslan appears to Jill and gives her a list of instructions and warnings. He commands her to memorize them and repeat them to herself at three specific times each day. He gives Eustace instructions as well. When they meet back up they go on a mission to find the missing Prince Rillian, King Caspian's son. They soon meet up with Puddleglum, a marshwiggle, and is accompanied by him for the duration of the adventure.
The group comes across several individual adventures, including being captured by giants and falling into an underground city. They find Rillian in the underground city and must then battle with its witch queen who does not want to let him go.

The Silver Chair is awesome (in my own personal opinion) because of Puddleglum. He is one of my all time favorite fiction characters. He is a very despondant person. If you were to say happy monday to him, for instance, he would quickly give several reasons why it probably will turn bad very shortly. He is, however, extremely loyal to Aslan and Narnia. One of my three favorite parts in the entire series is when the witch queen is trying to convince (through sourcery and persuasion) Puddleglum, Rillian, Eustace, and Jill that they have simply imagined Narnia and Aslan and that it doesn't acutally exist at all. Everyone had begun to sway and even agree with her when Puddleglum boldy steps out in a rare speech where he declares his loyalty to Aslan even if he doesn't exsit. He acknowledges that he does not have any physical proof of the Lion but that he has seen him and his work and says that he would rather serve him and live as he requires even if it turns out not to be real. His actual speech is much better worded than my telling of it. I considered putting the whole thing in here, but I don't actually have access to the book right now and maybe now you will go out and get the book and read it for yourself.
Another good lesson to be learned from the Silver Chair is from Jill. When Aslan first gives her the instructions to remember and repeate every day, she does so faithfully. But after a while, when she knows them like the back of her hand, she becomes complacent and starts skipping her repetition. Soon she forgets them and disaster occures because of it. I think this is a great reminder to us. We should be daily preaching the gospel to ourselves and to others and reminding ourselves of God's commandments in our own lives. Once we become complacent in our faith and stop striving to work it out, only disaster can follow.

Next week I will discuss The Magicians Nephew, which reveals how Narnia was created.