Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Zach Wilson--Narnia 1--The Magician's Nephew

The connections between the Pandora myth and the rampage of Jadis in London as portrayed in the Magician's Nephew are quite strong and worth noting.  It is possible that Lewis, a fan of classical myth could have spun the tale into his own purposefully.  Pandora was the first woman created by the ancient Greek gods, and each of the gods gave her gifts.  She is presented to Epimetheus as a wife, and he receives her into his house.  She then opens the gift box which Zeus had given her as a wedding gift and released all the evil spirits within it, and these evil spirits forever would plague mankind.
At the creation of Narnia, Jadis was present, and was similar to the evil spirits within Pandora's box.  The children witnessing the creation of Narnia, with the control over the magic rings that controlled travel from Earth to Narnia had the power to choose to use them or not.  However when they interact with Jadis, they are powerless to her entering their world and making a scene.  My printing of The Magician's Nephew featured an illustration of Jadis wildly riding atop a taxi carriage.  This image brings to life the release of evil into the world and the interaction between the spiritual/mythical and the tangible/visible.
Of course there is a sort of breakdown in the fact that Jadis is ushered back into Narnia, and Pandora's spirits are released forever, but the connection is somewhat prevalent.  I immediately connected the two stories in my mind while reading, and it helped me to frame the rest of Jadis' character in my mind, as well as the terror she rained down on London.

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