December 06, 2005
C.S. Lewis for President
I've been reading "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" to Caleb and Eli in the evenings. Caleb has been on the edge of his seat during parts of it, wondering if the Witch will turn Edmund to stone, if Aslan will die, if the Witch eats children.
We finished the book last night, and in the closing pages was this wonderful passage which I'd forgotten:
"And they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down, and liberated young dwarfs and young satyrs from being sent to school, and generally stopped busybodies and interferers and encouraged ordinary people who wanted to live and let live."
If I ever run for office, there's my platform.
Posted by Woodlief on December 06, 2005 at 09:09 AM
In my humble opinion, your second best post.
Posted by: Mary Ann at December 6, 2005 9:24 AM
I read the entire CON over a weekend recently (and then gave away the book, natch), but, yes, SITG Author for President any day on that platform. ;)
Posted by: MMM at December 6, 2005 9:36 AM
Can I be your Vice President?
Tony:
When you were young and your heart was an open book, you used to say live and let live but in this ever changing world in which we live in, makes you give in and cry, to LIVE AND LET DIE!!!!!!
That's what I'm talkin about.
Sir Paul McCartney
Posted by: Michael Musante at December 6, 2005 9:39 AM
Why would young satyr's need to go to school? They should pretty much know what to do "naturally".
I also just finished TLTWTW myself. I had never read the whole book, just abridged versions to my son. I recently saw a preview of the movie on the Disney channel. It showed Mr. Beaver getting "mauled" by one of the Witch's wolves (while the group was running to the stone table), and I kept thinking "That wasn't in the book."
Like the "Passion" last year, many of us will be going into the movie seeing how faithful they were to the book and what kind of artistic liberties they took. Lewis' stepson has said that they stay true to the author's "vision", yet I wonder how much extra junk they will bring in to the movie to jazz it up.
Posted by: MarcV at December 6, 2005 2:07 PM
Posted by: Tim McNabb at December 6, 2005 4:46 PM
Having also just read that book two boys (ages 5 & 7), I must ask you... what is your secret? We considered tying them up, but resigned to allowing them to wriggle and pace while listening.
Posted by: Amy at December 6, 2005 6:57 PM
I just finished reading TLTWTW to 10 year-old the same night. That passage also caught me. Although I must admit I'm a busybody, so I was a little offended. Oh, to be a child.
(the "regal language" the children used in the last chapter was just hilarious)
I also read Lewis' stepsons interview, and the best thing he said was not to look for too much symbolism. Basically, just sit back and enjoy. I intend to.
Posted by: dave at December 6, 2005 7:32 PM
Hey isnt C.S. Leiws dead?
Posted by: sandpiper at December 19, 2005 9:26 AM
No, C.S. Lewis isn't dead. He lives on, albeit in another world. I look forward to joining him there.
Posted by: Mark Lenz at December 22, 2005 11:52 AM
