Reading Log of Silver Chair 12

May 13, 2021

Reading Log

Book: The Silver Chair

Writer: C.S Lewis

Chapter 12 The Queen of Underland

1. Why did Prince Rilian shiver when the Queen of the Underland spoke to him? What did he say? What did the Witch do in response to the Prince’s speech?

That’s because it was not easy to throw off the enchantment right away which had been keeping him for ten years. He told the Witch that he had now free from his sickness with the help of the travellers and he wants to go back to his country. She said nothing, but picked up the green powder and throw it into the fire. And she brought a weird instrument and started to play.

2. What darted into Jill’s head at once? What made her forget them? What did she feel like? Why? What did Puddleglum say? How did it affect the others?

Many think darted into Jill’s head, such as House, Adela Pennyfather, her own home, radio sets, cinemas, cars, aeroplanes. But, because of the magic and enchantment, everything started to feel far away. Also, the Witch’s soft voice and calming playing of the instrument made her forget about Jill’s memories. When she starts to allow Witch’s voice, she felt relieved. Suddenly, Puddleglum started to talk about Narnia, the sky, the stars, and the sun. And it awoke others from the magic for a moment.

3. How did the Prince try to explain the sun? How did Scrubb try to explain a lion? How did the Witch respond?

The Prince explained the sun as a brighter and bigger version of a candle. Scrubb explained the lion as a bigger and stronger version of the cat. The Witch responded and telling them they made up sun and lion from the candle and cat. Therefore, they are just imagining the things up from the real things and the Narnia, which they told to the Witch, is also the Imaginate world.

4. What brave thing did Puddleglum do? What happened all at once?

The Puddleglum went up to the fire and stamped the fire with his bare feet, which made the fire turned off and stopped the sweet smells of green powder. This made everyone awake from the magic and made the Witch angry.

5. What was happening to the Witch? What did she do? What did the Prince do? What did Scrubb and Puddleglum do?

The Witch started to turn into a huge green serpent from her feet. And quickly strapped the Prince Rillian with its body. The Prince grabbed its neck and swung his sword with Scrubb and Puddleglum. Scrubb’s sword didn’t really affect the serpent, but the Prince and Puddleglum could cut the serpents had off.

Reflection

The chapter was the climax of the Silver Chair, but I felt like the Witch’s magic works in the real world. I started to feel sleepy during reading this episode. After finishing this episode, I started to think actually the Jill and Scrubb was not the real main character of the Silver Chair and there is the real protagonist of Silver Chair is hidden in the storylines. In the Silver Chair, you will find one person who always tries to be careful, honest, thoughtful, optimistic, and strong enough to carry others from bad to good, which I think is Puddleglum. Even, he seems to look passive during the story, he was the one who tried to stop the kids from going to the Harphang and he was the one who tried to remember the Aslan’s signs for the last. Also, he was the one who figured out what trouble they were in at Harphang, and he was the one who didn’t lose the courage to walk inside the dark tunnel without losing his optimism and lastly, he breaks the Witch’s spell and free Prince Rillian. And the most respectful thing about him was he did everything with carrying those two annoying kids. I think the entire journey was a task that has been given to Puddleglum and he was the true main character in this Silver Chair.