Chronicles of Narnia Quotes: The Silver Chair
Identifying and Pursuing Truth
I said last week that Reepicheep’s quote was in competition for my favorite in the entire series. Its competition was this week’s quote. Because the quote is much longer, I will spend less time on backstory and speak a bit more about why I think this quote is so applicable for any modern reader.
My favorite quote from The Silver Chair is said by Puddleglum who at this point in the story has become everyone’s favorite Marshwiggle. The Silver Chair is an adventure story that spends very little time in the country of Narnia because our protagonists are in search of a lost prince of Narnia. When they finally find him, they have almost entered an entirely new world and with the assistance of an evil witch have nearly been convinced that all their memories of our favorite magical country are in fact imagined phantoms. That is when Puddleglum gives this grand monologue to the evil sorceress.
“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a playworld which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”
They don’t have microphones in Narnia to my knowledge, but this is a true mic drop moment. Puddleglum highlights something that our modern society has a very hard time accepting. Puddleglum’s speech makes the case that Truth is greater than a list of facts. It does this by even granting an initial falsehood in his opening sentences. The witch has lied to them about Overland (Narnia) even existing, but Puddleglum grants this false premise. Alright, the witch’s miserable, drab world is all there really is. The protagonists have made up a false world in their imagination and diluted themselves into thinking they could actually have it, but then Puddleglum shows that aspiring to find Narnia is more truthful than settling for the witch’s miserable kingdom.
He makes the argument that if the world is nothing more than the dreary, lifeless, tasteless existence that the witch is offering then it is only natural to reject the world and pursue something greater. I think that our modern society attempts to offer us the same deal the witch is offering our protagonists. It rejects God thereby rejecting Truth and what is offered in its place is hollow, to echo Puddleglum. If you have never watched a debate about God’s existence, there is always at least an underlying stance from the debater denying God that is standing atop nothing. There is no meaning. There is no objective beauty. There is no explanation for right and wrong. When we are sold a false bill of goods, either in this world or Narnia, we have a natural intuition that there simply must be more to life.
Today we are inundated with these false bills of goods that are promised to fulfill our every desire and guide us to a greater understanding of the truth. I don’t think we have to even try these on for size to prove these as invalid because a simple look at their practitioners will make it abundantly clear that they are miserable guides for living a fulfilled life. We do have to be careful about what characteristics we are evaluating to determine fruitfulness of a worldview or guiding principle. Do not be tricked into seeing the wealth of a Hollywood actor or the fame of TV talk show host and think that they have “made it.” Will Smith is among the biggest Hollywood stars out there and infamously assaulted another man on live television to “defend the honor” of his wife who openly brags about being unfaithful to him in their marriage. About a year after this, he publicly announces that he is through with trying to please her. Chelsea Handler, famous TV comedian, has frequently promoted abortion and women who forego family and children for a corporate career and worldly success, but then will post bizarre comments, pictures, and videos that give indications that she is miserable. While these are observations made on only outward appearances and not evaluations of the heart, I don’t think it is too controversial to say that wealth and fame can tend to become idols that attempt to replace God. However, as C.S. Lewis argues in Mere Christianity, when we find within us a desire that cannot be fulfilled by anything of this world we may conclude that we were not made for this world.
Puddleglum is articulating this position as his answer to the witch’s proposition. He has a desire for a world better than the one he is being presented with, so he rejects the world and pursues that innate desire. Just like evaluating the success criteria, we do need to be cautious. Because of the Fall, our desires can be disordered and ultimately detrimental to pursue. But if we make an effort to be well-formed and virtuous, we can distinguish desires originating in our being made in the image of Our Creator and desires of the flesh.
Work to grow in virtue (as my sister has been highlighting in her posts). Recognize and reject falsehoods being offered as replacements for The Truth. Embrace what is true, good, and beautiful.