This forum has been archived. Please visit the new forum at https://community.narniaweb.com/

Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

The cultures, creatures, geography — anything about the books!

Moderators: DiGoRyKiRkE, Varnafinde

Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby ClvrEttinsmoorGiant » Sep 10, 2009 5:47 pm

I just thought it would be cool to have a thread to talk about little details that aren’t enough to make into a whole different thread. Here are my little things.

One thing I noticed is that in the Horse and his Boy Edmund says “Maybe Apes will grow honest, Sister. I just thought that was interesting considering Shift in the LB.

Where did the painting of the Dawn Treader come from? Polly was a painterJ? Who was it that Alberta didn’t want to offend? Did they go to Narnia too?

In SC Jill and Eustace are on a mountain when they first get to Narnia. Did anyone else notice that it said it was in Aslan’s country? I started thinking about it and then kept reading and it actually says that’s where they are. Because I listened to the audio a lot I didn’t catch that until I read the book.
Where there are two Narnia Webbers there are three opinions.
User avatar
ClvrEttinsmoorGiant
NarniaWeb Regular
 
Posts: 33
Joined: Jun 08, 2009
Location: Western Wild
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Pattertwigs Pal » Sep 11, 2009 8:47 am

Great idea for a thread.
ClvrEttinsmoorGiant wrote:Where did the painting of the Dawn Treader come from? Polly was a painterJ? Who was it that Alberta didn’t want to offend? Did they go to Narnia too?

I have often wondered who painted the picture. Personally, I like to think that it was Polly, although there really isn't any evidence for that. I doubt the person Alberta didn't want to offend went to Narnia; they probably just bought the picture somewhere.

As far as I can remember, I've always know that the mountain is in Aslan's Country.

I've been wondering if the robin in LWW was Aslan or just a plain robin. I can't help but wonder what a robin was doing in Narnia in the middle of winter since they usually fly south. Since Lewis wrote “You couldn’t have found a robin with a redder chest or brighter eyes,” I concluded that it was not ordinary robin. I could be and likely about completely nuts to think it. (The one person I asked about it thought I was nuts 8-} ) Anyway, I thought I’d post it here. Feel free to agree with me or tell me I’m nuts. (I’m used to being call (whether verbal or by looks) nuts, crazy, and weird by now. ;) )
Image
Silver Chair Reading Group
NW sister to Movie Aristotle & daughter of the King
User avatar
Pattertwigs Pal
Moderator
Cookie Queen of NarniaWeb
 
Posts: 5262
Joined: May 16, 2009
Location: U.S.A.
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby narnian1 » Sep 11, 2009 7:40 pm

Pattertwigs Pal wrote:Great idea for a thread.
ClvrEttinsmoorGiant wrote:Where did the painting of the Dawn Treader come from? Polly was a painterJ? Who was it that Alberta didn’t want to offend? Did they go to Narnia too?

I have often wondered who painted the picture. Personally, I like to think that it was Polly, although there really isn't any evidence for that.

I've been wondering if the robin in LWW was Aslan or just a plain robin. Since Lewis wrote “You couldn’t have found a robin with a redder chest or brighter eyes,”



the painting:
I never guessed on Polly, but the evidence is vague of course.
Say it was her though, how could she draw a painting of a ship that was "recently" made, after all she visited Narnia in its early days, long before Caspian was even born? Still, it is a rather interesting theory.

The robin,
I had never thought about that. While I don't think it was Aslan myself, it's not totally random either. I guess there is *some* support in the quote you gave.
User avatar
narnian1
NarniaWeb Guru
 
Posts: 1983
Joined: Apr 26, 2008
Gender: Male

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby TheGeneral » Sep 11, 2009 10:14 pm

I always wondered about that, where the painting came from. But not knowing makes it better ;)
Image
User avatar
TheGeneral
NarniaWeb Junkie
 
Posts: 566
Joined: Sep 06, 2009
Location: Playing hockey
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Pattertwigs Pal » Sep 13, 2009 11:16 am

narnian1 wrote:the painting:
I never guessed on Polly, but the evidence is vague of course.
Say it was her though, how could she draw a painting of a ship that was "recently" made, after all she visited Narnia in its early days, long before Caspian was even born? Still, it is a rather interesting theory.

The robin,
I had never thought about that. While I don't think it was Aslan myself, it's not totally random either. I guess there is *some* support in the quote you gave.

I did think of what you mentioned about Polly. Lucy and Edmund were able to recognize it as being Narnian, and when they were in Narnia last Narnia was more Telmarine than Narnian. Maybe there is something innately Narnian that stays through all the ages which people who visit Narnia pick up on. It probably has something to do with the air. ;) Maybe since she had been there, Aslan used her to paint the picture and gave her the inspiration. The question you asked can be modified to ask “How could anyone draw a painting of a ship that hadn’t been made yet?” (If Albert got it as a wedding present, the painting would have had to been done before the ship was built or had even been planned by Caspian (unless of course she got married within the last year, which seems highly unlikely ;) ). I know time is different in Narnia, but I’m pretty sure it always goes forward, so the picture would have had to be painted before the ship was built.

I know there is very little support (if any) for the robin theory. Lewis could just have meant that we couldn’t find a robin like that in our world. Whether the robin was Aslan or not, I’m sure he had something to do with its being there.
Image
Silver Chair Reading Group
NW sister to Movie Aristotle & daughter of the King
User avatar
Pattertwigs Pal
Moderator
Cookie Queen of NarniaWeb
 
Posts: 5262
Joined: May 16, 2009
Location: U.S.A.
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby NaiadWaker » Sep 13, 2009 4:48 pm

ClvrEttinsmoorGiant wrote: Where did the painting of the Dawn Treader come from? Polly was a painterJ? Who was it that Alberta didn’t want to offend? Did they go to Narnia too?


Well, I thought that the painting was just bought as a normal painting. Only when Edmund and Lucy came over to Eustace's house did it really become magical, thanks to Aslan.

I didn't realize that the mountain was in Aslan's counrty until I decided to read the book instead of listening to the Radio Drama. I thought it was very odd for Eustace and Jill to be in Aslan's country, because it's like they ended up in heaven for some time!
User avatar
NaiadWaker
NarniaWeb Junkie
 
Posts: 572
Joined: Jun 29, 2009
Location: Gabi-town
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Sendit2Sue » Sep 20, 2009 10:19 pm

I agree with TheGeneral, not knowing where the painting comes from makes it so much better! It's a lot more fun to wonder and try to figure out the answer on your own than if Lewis had just explained it for us. It's like watching a magician's trick - it's a lot more fun when you don't know how it works. Gives you the chance to wonder. I like to think Lewis left that detail a mystery on purpose.
"Where there's cake, there's hope. And there's always cake."
Sendit2Sue
NarniaWeb Newbie
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Aug 30, 2009
Location: at the Pico Mundo Grill
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby IloveFauns » Sep 29, 2009 6:04 pm

I thought it was a bit weird that the war was already over a year later.
User avatar
IloveFauns
NarniaWeb Zealot
 
Posts: 6435
Joined: Aug 22, 2008
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby lostin1800 » Sep 30, 2009 9:12 am

I totally agree on the war over in a year thing. The timeline ingeneral doesn't make sense to me really. I mean in LB they are all 16 and most above 20 but its stilll the 40's and the book starts in the 40's...... :-??
*We three kings of Orient are; bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star...*
~Merry Christmas From Lostin1800~
User avatar
lostin1800
NarniaWeb Nut
 
Posts: 461
Joined: Sep 30, 2008
Location: England
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Alyosha » Oct 10, 2009 8:05 pm

Also in LB Eustace or someone says they've been gone "more than a year" even though the timeline says it's been seven. ???

The war being over in a year thing doesn't bother me as much, because the Blitz ended in 1941. The Pevensies wouldn't be affected by the war as much after that especially if they were shipped off to boarding schools in the country later, so it might make sense that they think of "the war years" as being the time when the war was in their backyard. Can't account for the "years," though. /:) Jill mentions rationing in SC, but maybe that doesn't count because the rationing went on for so long after the war...

And it's summer in LWW, even though the Blitz began in September 1940 and ended the next May. Maybe they were evacuated before the bombing actually started, but that always annoyed me. ;)) I would like to think that LWW happened in 1944 or '45 (during the doodlebug raids--a few children were evacuated then too), PC a year later, and then VDT and SC fit nicely in after the war, but that's wishful thinking on my part :P

Really I don't think Lewis put a lot of thought into it. I have though, waaayy too much. :ymblushing:
Image
signature by Starsy
User avatar
Alyosha
Moderator Emeritus
 
Posts: 4776
Joined: Mar 10, 2005
Location: Canada

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Deadman » Oct 11, 2009 7:08 am

Pattertwigs Pal said:
I can't help but wonder what a robin was doing in Narnia in the middle of winter since they usually fly south.

Robins in Britain usually stay at home during the winter; only a small minority, usually female, migrate to southern Europe. Scandinavian and Russian Robins, however, do migrate for the winter—to Britain and western Europe.
Because robins stay in Britain for the winter they have come to be associated with Christmas. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, when Christmas cards were invented, they have often featured on Christmas cards and are, accordingly, associated (importantly in the context of LWW) with receiving welcome Christmas messages.
User avatar
Deadman
NarniaWeb Regular
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Oct 11, 2009
Location: Van Diemen’s Land
Gender: Male

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Pattertwigs Pal » Oct 18, 2009 11:22 am

Thanks for the info about robins, Deadman. I can see how Lewis might be using a robin in its Christmas connection. Yet, I can't see any robin staying around for years and years of winter.
Image
Silver Chair Reading Group
NW sister to Movie Aristotle & daughter of the King
User avatar
Pattertwigs Pal
Moderator
Cookie Queen of NarniaWeb
 
Posts: 5262
Joined: May 16, 2009
Location: U.S.A.
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby polly plummer » Nov 03, 2009 3:52 pm

I always thought it was interesting that they celebrate Christmas in Narnia. I know obviously that the Chronicles have a lot of Christian symbolism but this goes a bit further - after all Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. Do you suppose Christmas is something Helen and Frank took with them as a tradition when they came to Narnia from our world.
polly plummer
NarniaWeb Regular
 
Posts: 82
Joined: Oct 18, 2009
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Valiant_Lucy » Nov 03, 2009 4:45 pm

Polly plummer---hm, good question. I'm guessing you're right about Helen and Frank bringing that tradition with them. Why wouldn't they? It's a fun season, and I bet it would be exciting to introduce it to all the Narnians. :D
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." Marilyn Monroe
User avatar
Valiant_Lucy
Moderator Emeritus
The IMAR&NB mod
 
Posts: 9142
Joined: Jan 13, 2006
Location: Canada
Gender: Female

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby Watziznehm » Nov 03, 2009 5:05 pm

ClvrEttinsmoorGiant wrote:Where did the painting of the Dawn Treader come from? Polly was a painterJ


It doesn't make sense for Polly to have painted it because ships weren't in Narnia at the time when she went there.

On thing I have noticed is that in the LWW Aslan had a crown on his head and walked like a human. This is kind of interesting to me because in all the rest of the books he is not like this. If you read the books in the order in which they were written you can definitely tell the evolution of the writer and how his thoughts and views changed.
Image
Sig by greenleaf23.
User avatar
Watziznehm
NarniaWeb Junkie
 
Posts: 893
Joined: Oct 25, 2009
Location: Canada
Gender: Male

Re: Interesting things you noticed while reading the books

Postby RileyTea » Nov 03, 2009 7:37 pm

Watziznehm wrote:On thing I have noticed is that in the LWW Aslan had a crown on his head and walked like a human.


Say what? I don't remember ever reading that in LWW.... (if that really happened, well then, my hat's off to you sir! :) )
Image
Sig by marshwigglebee
User avatar
RileyTea
NarniaWeb Regular
 
Posts: 37
Joined: Oct 14, 2009
Location: At the Ceili
Gender: Female

Next

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests