1. Do you agree with Lucy that it would be better to have one's back to a closed door than an open one?Yes, that way nobody could sneak up behind one, especially if the door squeaks.
2. Which spell would you be most tempted to say? Why? Some spells had some obvious negative outcomes. What negative effects might the spell you chose have?The toothache spell might tempt me, but I don't really want to end up toothless just yet by magic, let alone by dentistry. I might also end up looking worse than beforehand.
3. Why does Lucy want to say the beauty spell?It isn't just that Susan got to go to America that might cause Lucy to be a trifle jealous of her luck which would tempt her to say the spell. It might well be because people are often thoughtless about little girls, habitually calling one the "pretty one" as has been mentioned about Susan in the first chapter. Even though continuing Susan's education was probably a waste of time, given her disinterest in schoolwork, and that might come against her later on, adults at the time wouldn't bother about things like that, thinking she would only get married anyway. The trouble is, that Lucy, still a child, is already old enough by then to be in her teens and to be aware that up to then she has been at the wrong end of such comparisons.
Princess Frances wrote:the beauty spell is what upsets me most about the movie version. It falls apart because Georgie Henley doesn't need it!
At least with BBC Lucy, you could believe that she might want a beauty spell. Movie Lucy, on the other hand, will have boys falling over her.
I wouldn't be too upset about how the movie Lucy was represented compared with the BBC tv program, produced over a much shorter period of time than the five years from LWW and VDT. The point of the book episode, on which both productions were based, is not really to portray how Lucy was the ugly younger (step) sister, but to emphasize how much younger sisters, like Lucy, might feel diminished by invidious comparisons with an attractive older sister, who is in her mid teens and who has been continually been the centre of attention. Later on in this chapter of VDT, when Lucy sees Aslan, for a moment she is every bit as beautiful as her sister, spell or not.
4. What flaws in Lucy's character do we see in this chapter? The mere fact she has been overlooked, or else compared with the older, more sophisticated Susan, has left Lucy prone to feel jealous of her older sister, even before Susan got to go to America. It hasn't helped that Susan tends to be bossy with her siblings, and to act more grown up than she has appeared so far in the books. Lucy tends as a consequence to be less confident and more insecure about how people feel about her.
5. Why was Aslan invisible but Lucy and the other were not? That is a quality of being human, I suspect. Not having been created in that world, humans aren't bound by the laws in operation in Narnia's world. And also, Lucy and friends weren't in Narnia at the time the original spell was said, let alone on that particular island.
6. Aslan agrees with Lucy that she will never be able to forget what she heard Marjorie say. Do you think this means any kind of relationship is over between the two girls or will they be able to salvage some kind of friendship?I don't think there need be any overt break in the friendship as Lucy isn't an unkind person, and Aslan has warned her of her friend's weakness. Marjorie isn't aware that Lucy knows about the conversation in the carriage with Adele Pennyfather, so it is purely up to Lucy whether her friendship continues with Marjorie or not. Lucy will be understandably more wary and distant with Marjorie, but will probably say nothing to disturb the status quo. The difficulty is if there is a falling-out, Lucy might say something that is only too accurate that will end any chance of any friendship continuing. The question is, what could Lucy do to get along better with Adele Pennyfather, until they all leave that school, anyway?