We had such a great discussion this week! CS Lewis used the moon and water as majors themes in the Silver Chair. I was extremely pleased with how well the kids participated and picked out all the instances of water and luna-cy.
Lunacy was thought to be caused by the moon in the middle ages. Because the moon never stood still, as it moved across the sky and was constantly changing shape, it was associated with unstableness and madness. The "lunatics" in Silver Chair are Prince Rilian and the Head Mistress of Experiment House. There are references to forgetfulness, and trances caused by enchantments. Other moon references are sadness, owls, and coming back into the overland during the night.
Water can also be described as unstable because as a liquid, it doesn't hold a shape. The moon has influence over the water on earth. There are a ton of references to water in Sliver Chair. Rain, damp, wet, tears, a river, mist, fog, baths, fountain, waterfall, marsh, marshwiggle, "a wet blanket," snow, lake, and puddles, to name a few of them.
We lookied at pictures of the lions in Trafalgar square, as there is a reference to them in the book. Holy cow! Those suckers are huge!! We ended by drawing characters from the book.
Next week we are going to discuss the Christian symbolism in the Silver Chair. The students were encouraged to be thinking of one word that describes what the Silver Chair is about. To give you an idea, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is about redemption, Prince Caspian is about restoration, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about transformation.
Just for a heads up, The Horse and His Boy will be discussed on Feb 25th.
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