1. Lewis’s wording in this chapter’s first sentence seems rather nuanced: “At about nine o’clock next morning three lonely figures might have been seen picking their way across the Shribble...”
A more conventional opening might have been something like “At about nine o’clock the next morning, the three travellers set out and began picking their way across the Shribble...”
How does this careful choice of words affect the atmosphere?C.S.Lewis' choice of words, compared with
Pattertwig's alternative, tends to ramp up the tension somewhat more. His words also emphasize that these three travellers really have only themselves to rely on for the duration of their expedition. Forget telephones if there are any problems, and forget about any help from others, even Glimfeather's owlish friends.
Also, each traveller hasn't yet found much reason to trust the other two yet in such an isolated area. Puddleglum, in the previous chapter, wasn't really joking about the conditions the travellers were likely to meet, nor was he being unduly pessimistic, even if they did get across the Shribble with no problems, and even if the first stage of their journey would be rather pleasant for then.
Contrast C.S.Lewis' words and Twig's alternatives with what I am saying here: "About nine o'clock next morning" accompanied by fellow club members, we three will travel on a hopefully well-serviced mini-bus to visit a volunteer marine rescue base....
The main difference in C.S.Lewis' words is that Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum are at the beginning of a long and arduous journey, that their only transport is shank's pony, that there aren't any known eateries along the way, nor any hospital or any other facilities to bail them out if they are injured, or meet with misadventure. Nor is there another soul in sight if they foul up in any way. Whereas the alternative just makes a bald statement of departure.
2. How does Jill confuse giants for rocks? That is easy for Jill to do. If you look in an atlas at the shape of Australia's mainland and turn it on its side, you may notice Australia's northern coastline looks vaguely like a man's face, with Cape Yorke Peninsula marking out the peak of that man's cap, and the northward blob of Northern Territory near Darwin marking his nose. Similarly, a line of hills or low mountains can look like a man's face if he was lying on his back. Or other things. Wind and water erosion can also do marvellous things with rock formations. Maybe having noticed this sort of thing before, Jill was more inclined to mistake actual giants for rock formations she has been aware of.
3. Lewis writes: “Jill rather envied Eustace for being able to shoot; he had learned it on his voyage with King Caspian.” What does this tell us about Jill?It tells me that Jill could see how valuable it would be to learn how to use a bow and arrows. Well might she envy Eustace, who of course had learned this sort of skill on the Dawn Treader. It also suggests that Jill, observing Eustace's VDT-gained skills, might be feeling a bit useless in comparison to Eustace and somewhat unskilled, herself, wishing she had more to contribute to the expedition.
Jill in LB has gone to guides, learned some useful orienteering skills and impressed Eustace quite considerably. She also is one of the archers at the Last Battle.
4. Why was Puddleglum suspicious of the Lady of the Green Kirtle and the Knight? Why weren’t the children suspicious of them? As Puddleglum said, "anyone they meet on the road is like as not to be an enemy". They haven't met anyone to speak to, up to that time, though they have bypassed, relatively unnoticed, some giants on Ettinsmoor. And though those giants don't seem all that bright, doesn't mean they weren't observed at all. The mere fact that they met anyone at all, afterwards, might be an indication that someone or other has already noticed the presence of the three travellers. After all, the three travellers aren't all that inconspicuous.
The children aren't as suspicious of passers by as they should be. Once they crossed the bridge, as dilapidated as it was, they acted as if they expected to meet passers by on the road, sooner or later. After seeing the splendour of Cair Paravel and the way the humans were dressed there, perhaps they rather expected to meet humans dressed like that. However, even a seemingly friendly lady out on a ride who seems eager to advertise a good place to stay at, might not be all what she seems. Exactly why, in that deserted landscape and mostly empty road, does her companion need to be wearing full armour? Is he/she just an accessory to her medieval look? Or is the suit of armour a good place to hide a heated rug?
If I were Jill I would not be so forthcoming about where the travellers were going and about finding the Ruined City. But then her behaviour might have fooled the Lady into believing Jill was not bright enough to be on any mission.
5. Do you think Lewis intended the reader to be suspicious of the Lady and the Knight or not? Of course. SC is written for children, after all, and it doesn't do to make the villain of the piece too plausible. Lewis picks his words just as carefully in that interview the Lady has with the children, as he does when describing our three travellers picking their way across the Shribble. And then there is something strange that in all their travels, the only persons they meet is a lady dressed all in green, just like the beautiful lady whom Drinian had seen before his disappearance. Accompanied by a knight in armour.
The Lady does describe accurately what is available at Harfang, but doesn't give away any information about the provenance of the supplies to be baked, roasted, etc etc. Just like the bloke who offers free steak knives with the bargains he advertises, the Lady might well be hiding a scam of some sort, something we, the readers, might have been aware of when so many past seekers of Prince Rilian vanished, according to Glimfeather.
And as we find out later, the Lady, who said she didn't know where the Ruined City was, was lying. It stands to reason that any place like Harfang, as she describes it, would be close to a city of some sort.6. Based on this chapter and previous chapters, do you think the children and Puddleglum should go to Harfang? Do you think Lewis intended the reader to side with the children or with Puddleglum? Why?No, I don't think they should go to Harfang, but in the long run, maybe they had little choice, since the Ruined City couldn't have been far from it. By now, they should be counting on their fingers all the different reasons for not trusting too far either the Lady or the giants. Puddleglum, at least, is an adult and has learned not to be too trusting, and it is a shame the two children don't take more notice of him. However, none of them seem to have thought that it was a bit strange to have somewhere to stay, like Harfang, in the middle of nowhere. Surely Jill and Eustace, having realised that the bridge crossing the gorge might indicate a road to the Ruined City, might have also noticed that places for travellers to stay, if they exist at all, tend to be on the approaches of even ruined cities.
7. Both Jill and Eustace did not like the idea of giants when Puddleglum first mentioned that they would meet giants. Why are they so eager to go to Harfang where there are giants?They have been gulled by the suggestion that not all giants in Narnia are bad, and that the Harfang giants might be all that is left of giants of previous times who built bridges and now-ruined buildings. They have been persuaded that giants might actually be "gentle", by the Lady. They have also been fooled by the seeming stupidity of the Ettinsmoor giants into thinking that giants might not be as dangerous as they feared. Both children by now are too hungry, tired, chilled to the bone and thirsty to want to believe anything else.
8. Discuss how this chapter should be adapted. (ex. what do you most want to see, what problems do you see, etc.)One of the themes of
Silver Chair and something Aslan also warns Jill to expect is that nothing appears as expected in her and her fellow travellers' quest. The more I read this chapter the more I suspect that "chance" encounter Jill and friends have with LOTGK on the road to the Ruined City. Was it really chance?
And were the giants on Ettinsmoor really as dumb as both she and Puddleglum say?
For example, the giants blended in with the scenery somewhat, until one of them moved. What could the giants have seen by the time Jill notices them? Would one of them have had adequate time to slip away to notify someone of the travellers going north? Was the game the giants played shying rocks against a cairn, really the only game they could play? Or was that game merely a distraction to passers by as well as a deterrent, which might accidentally on purpose net them dinner? And a disguise to overtly keep the peace whilst covertly monitoring who and what is travelling north? How did LOTGK know to be on the road at the exact time to meet our three travellers on the way to the Ruined City?
What I would like to see in the movie is more notice taken of what Eustace says to Puddleglum of how Caspian had beaten the giants to the north in VDT, and a bit more questioning of over-familiarity with giantish behaviour on Puddleglum's part. That part of the travellers' journey is definitely a hazard to be bypassed, and nothing less than tripping the alarm for their entering LOTGK's demesne.