The Silver Chair: Read-Along-Final Discussion

Welcome to the final discussion of our read-along. For all of the information and our host Amber's thoughts and wrap-up hop on over to her blog SEASONS OF HUMILITY.

Today we are discussing Chapters 12-16-The end of THE SILVER CHAIR:

QUOTES:

"It is not easy to throw off in half an hour an enchantment "which has made one a slave for ten years."

"The more enchanted you get, the more you feel that you are not enchanted at all."

"Puddleglum was still fighting hard. "I don't know rightly what you all mean by a world," he said, talking like a man who hasn't enough air. "But you can play that fiddle till your fingers drop off, and still you won't make me forget Narnia; and the whole Overworld too. We'll never see it again, I shouldn't wonder. You may have blotted it out and turned it dark like this, for all I know. Nothing more likely. But I know I was there once. I've seen the sky full of stars. I've seen the sun coming up out of the sea of a morning and sinking behind the mountains at night. And I've seen him up in the midday sky when I couldn't look at him for brightness." YES! You go Puddleglum!!!

"I'm a chap who always like to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it."Puddleglum!

"They say there's no roof at all there; only a horrible, great emptiness called the sky." Horrors!

"You can't really like it---crawling about like flies on top of the world!"

"That's right, Sir," said Puddleglum's voice. "And you must always remember there's one good thing about being trapped down here: it'll save funeral expenses." Snort-laughed right there!

"Well, I wouldn't have dreamt of her doing that. Even though I am a good-looking chap." Jill had just kissed Puddleglum on the cheek good-bye. Made me laugh!

"After that, the Head's friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn't much good even at that, they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after."Isn't that the way it goes? You don't want to deal with someone so promote them out of the shop until they become the boss over everything? Ack!

THOUGHTS:

Once again Puddleglum is kind of my hero! He had two excellent speeches that he made that made me cheer and say, "Hurrah for Puddleglum!" I love that he knew they were being enchanted and he was not going to put up with the nonsense. I love that he stuck by his faith in Aslan no matter what the witch said or did to them. And what a great sacrifice he made for all of them by putting his foot in the fire to wake them up! Yes, Puddleglum is the hero in my opinion! Besides the fact, he is funny as all get-out! I love the quote I picked where he says he is the chap that always likes to put a good face on a bad situation! Made me laugh! ha! My favorite quote is his one about saving funeral expenses! How practical! bwahahaha!

QUESTIONS FROM AMBER:

1. Which part of the chapter featuring the Witch ("The Queen of Underland") impacted you the most?
In chapter 12 her speech that was wrapped up in a kind of hypnotic cadence along with her potions and such to get the children, Puddleglum and Prince Rillian under her spell. I saw so many spiritual parallels throughout this book. With her speech it just reminded me of the Devil using his enticing ploys to tempt us. Everything she said was filled with lies, but wrapped up in reasonableness and enticement in order to make the others question everything they believed. 

2. Would you have been tempted to visit Bism if offered the opportunity? Why or why not?

I don't think so. To again put another spiritual take on it I saw Bism as being a bunch of demons trying to entice the children once more into a world that they didn't belong. Another of the witches ploys to get more followers. I think that it was a side-track that would have derailed them just like the pitfalls that derail us when we allow satan too much sway in our lives. Don't you just love the spiritual insights that you can glean from these books?

3. How did you feel about the ending of the story—for Narnia, for Caspian, for Eustace and Jill?
It kind of wrapped up quickly and tidily for sure, but all good things must come to an end so I thought it was a reasonable ending. I felt bad for Rilian that his father died, that was sad. And I was glad that things were going to change at the school that Jill and Eustace attended, even though the Head didn't deserve her promotions!


4. What was your favorite line or scene in the whole book? If you've read the other books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, how does this one rank in your opinion?

Well I would say anything that had Puddleglum in it, but I did so love his speeches in chapter 12 where he was fighting the enchantment of the witch and standing up for Aslan and Narnia. And his willingness to do whatever it took to wake them all up. I think my favorite of the series will always be The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, with Puddleglum being my favorite character, but The Silver Chair ranking way down the list in favorites. 

How about you? Have you read the Narnia series? I would love to hear your thoughts on the series. Do you read the series thinking about the spiritual applications, or do you read the series for the fun of it and enjoy it at face-value. Which honestly, I do most of the time with my reading! I've enjoyed the read-along and in March Amber is going to host another read-along with the book Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery. Hope to see you then!