Katelyn Joyce- The Magician's Nephew & Biblical Parallels

 When reading The Magician's Nephew, I am not sure why I was so shocked at all of the connections that can be made back to scripture. As this is a common occurrence in Lewis’ writing, it should not surprise and excite me as much as it does when I first grasp what is being said and I begin to make those connections. I think it will always catch me off guard and amaze me how intertwined the two storylines can be without them being identical. This is especially true in The Magician’s Nephew. You can see a clear parallel between this book and the book of Genesis in the Bible. Digory is sent to an area of Narnia closed off from the rest and surrounded by a golden gate to retrieve a fruit. He is tempted to use the powers of this fruit to his benefit, but he does the right thing and presents it to Aslan as requested of him. This is similar to the trees and the fruit in the Garden of Eden. There lies a tree with the power to give understanding to good and evil. Eve is tempted and takes this fruit to gain the power that it holds and shared it with Adam. Because God asked them not to do this, they were cursed and the tree of life, which allowed them to live forever was taken away from them. I loved seeing the parallels of the trees without it being simply a retelling of the biblical story. It takes another perspective to see how one would react to desiring the fruit with powers of healing as opposed to that of knowledge of good and evil. Reading this also made me wonder, what would be different if he did take the fruit back for his ill mother as the temptation was leading him to? Aslan touched on this a bit at the end, but it would have been interesting to see how Aslan would have responded and handled the situation. Also, it made me wonder what could have happened if he acted in an entirely selfish manner and saved it for himself? I would be curious to hear anyone else’s thoughts regarding this.