What is the point of The Magician’s Nephew? Why was it written?
Ostensibly, the answer to this question is found in the very first chapter, in the very first paragraph, in the second sentence: “It is a very important story because it shows how all the coming and going between our world and the land of Narnia first began.” Really, The Magician’s Nephew is just a way to fill in the missing puzzle piece–how Narnian’s and Earth-folk got mixed up together. Or at least, that’s what Lewis would have you think. He carries this pretense along to the very end, stating in the second to last paragraph of the book: “That was the beginning of all the comings and goings between Narnia and our world, which you can read of in other books.”
Obviously, I think that there’s something more to The Magician’s Nephew than simply being a stage-setting story.
Okay, okay then–what is the point of The Magician’s Nephew?
Actually, that’s a hard question to answer. But I think that maybe the point of The Magician’s Nephew, the main theme that ties it all together is greatness.
On July 20, 2009 – 07:08
Carrie, Reading to Know wrote:
That is an intriguing thought. I agree – Lewis wouldn’t have spent the time just writing up a story setter. There would have had to be a deeper meaning and purpose in it.
Food for thought(s)!