The Magician's Nephew

How is pride linked to destructive magic? How is selflessness linked to creative magic?

How does Charn serve as a warning to Polly and Digory about humankind?

How does Digory’s decision to ring the bell affect his life? How does it affect the lives of the people around him and those of people he hasn’t even met? Why might Lewis have chosen to introduce evil to Narnia in this way (i.e., from the outside rather than from within)?

How does Polly act as Digory’s moral compass? How are she and Digory similar? How are they different?

Talk about the different ways innocence is lost throughout the story. How do Digory and Polly lose innocence and gain wisdom?

Why does Uncle Andrew prefer to believe that Aslan and the Talking Beasts are wild animals instead of intelligent creatures?

How do the tree and fruit symbolize the Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden in the Bible? How does the Witch symbolize the serpent? Does Lewis deviate from the biblical story in any way? If so, what is the significance of that?

How does the novel depict the relationship between the Talking Beasts and the other animals, or Narnia’s rulers and their subjects? What does this suggest about how Lewis sees humanity’s relationship to the surrounding world?

Think about the way Aslan’s song affected each of the characters. Why do Digory, Polly, and the Cabby enjoy the song while Uncle Andrew and the Witch hated it?