The Magician's Nephew Summary and Analysis of Chapters 13 – 15

Summary

Chapter 13: An Unexpected Meeting

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Polly wakes the others in the morning; they find a toffee “fruit” tree has grown. After bathing and eating, they set off again for the garden.

Soon, a valley comes into view, surrounded by icy mountains; at the end of the valley is the garden they are looking for, sitting on top of a green hill. The garden is surrounded by a high wall, and the entrance is a golden gate. Fledge lands on the side of the hill, and Polly and Fledge can see that the gate to the garden is closed, and immediately know that they cannot enter with Digory.

As Digory approaches the gate, he sees that it has an inscription with a warning: the garden must be entered by the gate, not by climbing the wall; the fruit of the garden can only be taken to be shared with others; and, if these rules are not obeyed, then the rule breaker’s greatest desire and greatest misery will befall them.

The garden seems a very private place, thus, Digory also knows he must enter by himself, without Polly and Fledge. After entering, Digory immediately finds the tree holding the special fruit. He picks one of the fruits, a sweet smelling silver apple. While the smell of the fruit is extremely appetizing, and Digory feels very hungry, he resists the desire to eat it.

As Digory leaves the garden, he sees the Witch, whose mouth is covered in the juice of the fruit. Digory is sure that she must have come in by climbing the gate, and that she stole the apple. The Witch tells Digory that the fruit gives eternal youth and life; she tries to convince Digory to take an apple to eat for himself. She specifically tempts Digory by saying he could be the King of the land, and she the Queen. He tells her he is not interested in living forever. The Witch then tries to get Digory to take the fruit home to save his mother, instead of taking it to give it to Aslan. She questions Digory’s commitment to Aslan. Digory considers the Witch’s words; he is tempted to take an apple to his mother to save her, but he knows he is supposed to keep his promise to Aslan. Finally, when the Witch suggests that Digory should take the apple and leave Polly behind, Digory realizes that the Witch is cruel and is not giving him sound advice. Digory joins Polly on Fledge’s back and they fly away.

On the way back Digory is silent and thoughtful. He is not completely sure he did the right thing by deciding not to follow the Witch’s advice, but then he remembers the tears in Aslan’s eyes and feels comforted. The children and Fledge arrive in Narnia later in the day, and Digory presents the silver apple to Aslan.

Chapter 14: The Planting of the Tree

Aslan instructs Digory to toss the apple into the mud near the river, where it can grow.

Aslan and the rest of Narnia are about to perform the coronation of King Frank (the Cabby) and Queen Helen. The King and Queen are both dressed in magnificent clothing and they look beautiful and kind. The dwarves build crowns for the king and Queen using gold from “a gold tree.” This gold tree had grown up from coins that had fallen out of Uncle Andrew’s pocket during his ordeal with the animals.

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Meanwhile, the talking animals have been keeping Uncle Andrew in a makeshift cage, made of tree branches tied together. They have realized he is indeed an animal, and have been offering him food, such as honey with bees still stuck in it (a gift from the bear). The talking animals bring Uncle Andrew to show to Aslan: the animals tell Aslan that they wish to keep Uncle Andrew as a pet. The children recognize Uncle Andrew immediately and see that he is scared; they ask Aslan if he can help soothe Andrew. Aslan agrees and utters a short sentence that makes Uncle Andrew fall asleep.

The crowns for the King and Queen are presented to them in a ceremony. After the coronation of the King and Queen, everyone notices that the silver apple has grown into a tall and beautiful tree. The children tell Aslan that the Witch has already eaten one of the apples. Polly and Digory are worried the Witch will come to Narnia for more apples. However, Aslan assures them that now that the Witch has eaten an apple, she will never want to eat one again and will stay far away from Narnia. Also, although she will live forever, she will also forever be miserable.

Digory is pained because he realizes even if he had stolen an apple for his mother, that his mother would have experienced the same fate as the Witch. But Aslan has another surprise for Digory: Aslan gives Digory an apple from the tree. This special apple will not give his mother eternal life, but it will heal her.

Their goals accomplished, Digory and Polly ask permission to go home.

Chapter 15: The End of This Story and the Beginning of All the Others

Without using the rings, Aslan brings the children and the sleeping Uncle Andrew to the Wood Between the Worlds. Aslan shows the children the empty pool where Charn used to be. Aslan warns them that one day their world could meet the same fate as Charn, if they are not careful. Aslan also tells them that once they get home, they must bury the rings that they used to arrive there.

Aslan then gives the children a warm look that fills them with joy and happiness. Suddenly, they find themselves back on the street in London, in the same scene they left, except without the horse, the Cabby, or Queen Jadis. Not a minute has passed while they were gone, and there is still chaos on the streets. The children quickly run inside with Uncle Andrew.

Polly goes to the attic to grab the rest of Uncle Andrew’s rings, in order to hide them from Uncle Andrew. Meanwhile, Uncle Andrew is not thinking at all of the rings, and instead goes to his room to pour himself a drink.

Digory goes to give his mother the magical apple. The apple shines more brightly than anything else in the room, and smells delicious. Digory cuts it up and gives it to his mother; when she finishes, she falls asleep. Digory is afraid to hope that the apple will work, but when he thinks of the tears in Aslan’s eyes, he feels he can hope.

Digory buries the core of the apple in his yard. The next day, the core has already begun to sprout into a tree. Digory and Polly decide to bury the rings next to the tree.

In the weeks that follow, Digory’s mother’s health improves and she recovers completely from her illness. Soon after, Digory’s father sends a letter from India stating that he has inherited money from a Great Uncle Kirke. Thus, with their newfound wealth, Digory and his family go to live in a house in the country. There, they help care for Uncle Andrew, who never touches magic again.

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In Narnia, the land goes on flourishing; the children of the king and queen marry nymphs, wood gods, and river gods.

Polly and Digory stay friends, and over the years she often visits him and his family in their country house. Digory grows up to be a professor.

The apple tree in the Ketterley’s back yard continues to grow, but does not bear magic fruit. When Digory is an adult, the tree blows down in a storm; to preserve it, Digory has it made into a wardrobe. Digory then puts this wardrobe in his country home. Because the wood of the wardrobe has maintained a connection to Narnia, it is through this wardrobe that another child, in the other books, will enter Narnia.

Analysis

The apple that Digory seeks for Narnia is a direct allusion to the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. In the Bible, this tree serves as a test of faith for Adam and Eve. The special tree in Narnia is also a test of faith for Digory; can he take the apple and bring it back to Narnia safely, without eating it, or taking one for his mother? Digory has been repeatedly wondering if “fruit from the land of youth” would be able to save his mother. Once he has the apple, Digory is tempted by the apple for selfish reasons, because of its delicious smell; however, he overcomes his initial temptation due to his strong sense of right and wrong.

When Digory leaves the gates of the garden, he is tempted again, this time by the evil Witch. Here, the temptation clearly comes from an evil source. Digory knows the Witch is evil, and sees that she has already eaten the fruit, which “had made a horrid stain around her mouth.” Digory also assumes, “she must have climbed the wall” (188). Thus, Digory already knows that the Witch must have violated the rules stated on the golden gates. Yet, he is still curious as to what the Witch may know now that she has eaten the fruit. His curiosity is still part of his character, but, because he has matured, Digory has begun to learn to control his impulses and to employ the use of logic.

Polly and Digory’s friendship continues to be a guiding source for Digory. The “fatal mistake” of the Witch, in her temptation of Digory, was to suggest to Digory that he takes an apple back to his mother and that “You needn’t take the little girl back with you” (192). Digory recognizes the importance of his loyalty to Polly as a friend; the Witch, on the other hand, sees only selfish motives. The Witch thus reveals herself, once again, as cruel and evil. Although Polly does not participate in Digory’s argument with the Witch, she does provide him with the reason not to give in to the Witch.

In Digory’s decision to bring just one apple to Aslan, as he requested, the novel comes to its climax: Digory achieves the goal of protecting Narnia. Using this apple, Aslan is able to arm Narnia against the Witch for many years to come. Good thus prevails in the story. However, although good has won out, evil has not been completely defeated.

In the final scenes with Aslan, Aslan warns the children that their world could become like Charn. Charn thus becomes an allegory, serving to teach the “race of Adam and Eve” (meaning humans, using a Biblical allusion) the dangers of wickedness and tyranny. Aslan then leaves the children with the hope of magic. The imagery of the feeling they have when they left Aslan of “golden goodness” is powerful and strong, and stays with them for life.

Back in London, in Digory’s final heroic act of the story, he brings his mother the “fruit from the land of youth” that he had been seeking since early in the novel. The fruit has olfactory and visual imagery surrounding it that paint it as bright and heavenly. The apple succeeds in curing Digory’s mother. Thus, Digory has not only saved Narnia, he has saved his mother from death.

Although Digory did save Narnia for the time being, the continued existence of evil in Narnia foreshadows the conflict that will arise in the next book in the Narnia series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Although The Magician’s Nephew was actually written after the rest of the series, it is now numbered the first in the series, and thus purposefully sets up the context of Narnia and why Narnia exists (“History of Narnia”). Therefore, Chapter Fifteen foreshadows the next Narnia book by giving the reader these two clues: the lamp-post will serve to light the way when another child enters Narnia many years later, and the apple tree that Digory planted will later be used to make a wardrobe that can act as a door to Narnia.

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