Sunday, October 3, 2010

Never Shut Yourself In A Wardrobe

"Edmund can be so rude! Lucy, Peter, and Susan seem so sweet, but Edmund is like the odd person out."
"What's up with the whole, 'don't shut the wardrobe door' thing? Is it bad luck? Lucy and Peter haven't shut the wardrobe, but Edmund has...more 'odd one out'? Or symbolism tying into that? It's mentioned so much."
If you ever read the book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, you would probably notice that all the kids that the Professor had adopted had good manners, were sensible, and were fairly nice to one another. Except for Edmund.
Consistently throughout the book I see situations where Edmund is left being the odd one out. First, he's horribly mean to Lucy when she tells them about Narnia. Even after he went there himself, he still pretends that she's making it up. Peter and Susan, however, make the effort to beleive that Lucy is telling the truth by consulting the Professor.
Next, he closed the wardrobe door. Now, at first this may not seem like a big deal (it didn't to me either), but since C.S. Lewis mentions the fact that one should never oneself in a wardrobe time after time, I've come to the conclusion that it must mean something. although I haven't figured out what yet.
So while Peter and Lucy sensibly did not close the wardrobe door on themselves when the went inside the wardrobe, Edmund immediately shut it, obviously not knowing any better. This is another example of him being the odd one out. You can't say that he didn't know any better because he isn't as old as Peter, but Lucy is younger than him, and yet she knows not to shut the wardrobe. I keep wondering why he closed the wardrobe. I mean, they all grew up in the same family, Peter the longest and Lucy the shortest, so why don't they all know not to shut a wardrobe behind them?
Another reason that Edmund is the 'odd one out' out of the four siblings is the most obvious reason in the whole book: he went against all of them to be a spy for the white witch. I mean, who does that? Who goes against their siblings (no matter how much you think they're the rude and stuck up people when you are) and basically hands them a piece of paper with their death sentence on it?
Edmund is nothing like his three siblings. While they are nice, understanding, and trustworthy, he turns his back on them, Aslan, and the creatures of Narnia for the witch and her stupid enhanced and enchanted Turkish delight.
I think that throughout the book, Edmund changes though. Even though in the beginning of their stay in Narnia he betrays them to the white witch, by the end of their stay he is one of the two kings if Narnia, one of the people that helped fight against the witch, and has fought countless battles against evil forces that may have still been lurking.
I don't that Edmund will ever be exactly like his siblings, because there is always one odd one out, but through his journeys in Narnia he gained trust, loyalty, friends, and the right to be named one of the kings of Narnia. Long live the Queens and Kings!

1 comment:

  1. Wow, you took something, the basis of an idea, that I'd never really thought too hard about, and were able to write a fully entry building off of that idea- nice job! You make some good points.
    p.s. I also really like the title of this entry!

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