Nombre: Liza Mariana Zazueta Peña

Matrícula: 229160
Semestre: 5°
Materia: Inglés Competente
Instructor: Enrique Martínez

Book Report

The Magician’s Nephew

Introduction

The book chosen was The Magician’s Nephew, a family book, from the writer C.S.
Lewis published in 1955 because it is part of the story of the classic movies
Chronicles of Narnia and it explains a lot of this magic world that didn’t make it to the
films since it is its prequel. I personally have always liked these movies because they
show you the idea of a whole new world beyond our own and how the kids escape to
be part of it. Even though this book is a prequel from the original story, it still has all
the fantasy and action that were very special on the films.

Body

Theme

The theme of the Magician’s Nephew is good vs evil and how all our actions
and decisions have consequences. I can assume these since it is a children’s
fantasy book and that is what most of them are about, and also in the first few
chapters it already presents you the “evil” characters, mostly adults and the
good ones, the children.

The Setting

The story is set in the winter of 1900 in London, England, where the main
event passes in just one day, but also in The Narnia fantasy world where the
time is unknown.

Ciudad Obregón, Sonora; 19 de agosto de 2024

Characters

Digory Kirke

The main character or protagonist of this story is Digory Kirke, a 12-year-old

boy that eventually appears in the original Narnia story’s as Professor Kirke,
the one that shows Lucy the wardrobe to Narnia. Digory is a young boy that is
forced to live with his aunt and uncle in London after his mother gets sick. He
isn’t physically described in the books but in the illustrations made for it we can
presume he has brown hair. He is extremely curious and that causes him to
become good friends with his neighbor Polly and to make many mischiefs and
discoveries together. He is really stubborn which also causes him to get in
trouble all the time. He is very keen to his sick mother and he is always
thinking of her and trying to help her in any way he can. He is really brave, but
he sometimes lets his ego get in the way causing him to not think straight and
make some mistakes, although he always manages to solve them.

Polly Plummer

Polly Plummer is an 11-year-old girl and Digory’s neighbor and friend who is
also extremely curious like him and really brave, but she is much more
reasonable and less compulsive when real danger comes. She isn’t physically
described either but thanks to the book illustrations we can presume she is
blonde. She is Digory’s closest friend who accompanies him in any adventure
but knows when to retreat or calms him down whenever he gets too full of
himself. She is the reasonable voice between the two of them and most of the
time she manages to save them both from trouble. She has a strong temper
whenever Digory or anyone else attempts to do something wrong and she
never stops from saying what she is thinking.
Uncle Andrew Ketterley

Andrew Ketterley is Digory’s uncle with whom he stays in London. He is a sixty

something man and magician who at first seems to be a reserved and
mysterious person but is later revealed to be a selfish, cruel, coward and
tempered man who only cares about his own needs and tricks and lies to
people to achieve them. He is described as an untidy and worn out man with a
sharply pointed nose, extremely bright eyes and a great tousled mop of grey
hair. He could be considered one of the main antagonists of the story that often
frustrates Digory’s plans and needs.

Queen Jadis

Queen Jadis is the other main antagonist of the book who is described as an
extremely tall (7 ft.) and white as paper, richly dressed, beautiful and imposing
woman who used to be queen in another world before she destroyed it. She is
evil, cruel and arrogant and only cares about ruling worlds. She bosses
everyone around expecting them to obey her and she has an unnatural force in
her body that uses to bully people around. Just like Uncle Andrew, she messes
with Digory’s plans since she only wants to help herself.

Aslan

Aslan is a talking lion that creates Narnia and that helps Digory and everyone
any way he can. He is described as a huge, shaggy and bright lion who doesn’t
seem to be affected by physical harm. He is wise, patient and kind but also
brave and determine to protect his people and doing what’s right. He would be
like the hero in the story thanks to his authoritarian personality although not
much in known about him. Everyone seems to be keen to him and don’t mind
follow him, except the ones with a poor soul.
Plot

The main event of this story is how Digory and Polly travel to other worlds
before arriving to the creation of Narnia. It all starts when Digory meets Polly in
her back garden and almost immediately become friends. Digory talks about
how he came to London and now has to stay with his aunt and uncle, whom he
rarely sees, and his sick mother that sleeps all day.

When days passed to winter, they started playing and exploring indoors and
Polly tells him about a secret long tunnel that she discovered in her attic. By
accident, they reach the forbidden study of Digory’s uncle where he passes
most of his time and get scared of being scolded, but Uncle Andrew actually
wanted them to stay and tricks Polly into touching a yellow ring that makes her
disappear out of the sudden. When Digory demands an explanation, his uncle
reveals to him that he is a magician and that he has been practicing how to go
to another world in his study, but hadn’t actually tried it with anyone human.
Digory tells him to bring back Polly but Uncle Andrew says he can’t unless she
is wearing a green ring and when Digory realizes that she doesn’t have one he
comprehends that his uncle wants him to go there himself with another yellow
ring and two green ones to he take her back.

When Digory disappears and travels to the other world, he finds himself to be
underwater. Once he rises, he looks around and see that he is in the woods.
After looking for Polly he finds her to have completely forgotten who she is and
starts to forget himself, but when they notice each other rings they remember
everything again. They realized that they arrived through the pool of water and
jump into it, but it was the wrong one and they traveled to a dark and somber
world that seems to be inhabited and destroyed. There they found, among
many frozen figures, the figure of a beautiful and tall woman. They also found a
bell with a note that warned them about ringing it, but Digory ignores it despite
Polly’s protests and wakes up the woman. She turned out to be an evil witch
that actually destroyed the world they were in and when they tried to escape
her using the rings, she took Polly’s hair and transported herself with them
back to the woods. Once there she became weaker, but managed to grab
Digory’s ear when jumping to their home pool.

Back in London the witch ordered Uncle Andrew to find her transport so she
could go and dethrone whoever was in charge and rule the world. After making
many people angry and being accused of being crazy the witch was
transported back to the woods between worlds by Digory and Polly alongside
Uncle Andrew, a cabby and his horse that were in touch with someone or by
someone with the rings of the children. Once there the horse took a drink of a
pool and transported them to a world completely black that little by little started
to form thanks to the singing of a lion. There the witch escaped from the lion
and the goodness of the place, Uncle Andrew passed out due to his fear of all
the animals created by the lion and the cabby turned out to be a person with a
great heart and was named the 1st king of that new world. The lion, Aslan,
made his wife appear and named her the 1st queen too. He named the new
world Narnia and sent Digory, Polly and the horse to retreat a special apple
that would make sure that the witch doesn’t go anywhere near Narnia for a
long time. They planted it and an apple tree grew up that marked where the
witch wouldn’t be able to cross. Aslan gave the same fruit from the tree to
Digory so his mother would be cured and sent them back to their world
alongside a passed-out Uncle Andrew.

Digory gave the apple to his mother and cured her, and when he buried the
seed in his backyard the same kind of tree grew up. Years later when the tree
fell off he made a wardrobe out of it’s wood which created a direct access to
Narnia that the new generation of children discovered, making their own great
adventures.