Chapter 4: Turkish Delight

Narnia Read-Along Vol. 1, Issue 5

Pauline Baynes illustration of the dwarf offering Edmund the magical drink

Inspiration: “Turkish Delight”

In Defense of Turkish Delight

One of the great disappointments in the life of a Narnia fan is the first taste of Turkish delight. This is what Edmund betrayed his family over?

I imagine there were scores of disappointed British children in 2005, as sales of the candy jumped 200% in the United Kingdom after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie. I bought some on Amazon for the people in a Narnia class I taught. No one asked for seconds.

If you’ve never had Turkish delight, it’s extremely sweet and sticky gelatinous pieces rolled in powered sugar. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who enjoys it, but, as the subtitle of this section illustrates, I want to defend Turkish delight. To be clear, I want to defend Lewis’ use of Turkish delight as Edmund’s temptation, not defend the sickeningly sweet candy itself.

So why use Turkish delight as the treat that makes Edmund turn traitor? The reasons to use it are the very reasons most people dislike it—it’s overly sweet and lacking substance.

First, consider when C.S. Lewis was writing and publishing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe—during rationing in the U.K. Around World War II, a host of other foods, including sugar, were rationed. The limits on purchasing sugar began in 1940 and didn’t end until 1953. Frequently in his letters, Lewis would thank friends and readers for sending him sugar because the ration was “never sufficient, and has to be ‘nursed.’”

Imagine life as a child during that time. The limits on sugar would’ve made candy more prized than ever. Having anything sweet would’ve been a lasting highlight. In addition, many children were taken from their homes and families as a part of evacuations due to Nazi bombing.

None of this makes Turkish delight any more desirable for us, but it may help us understand why Edmund chose it when the White Witch offered him whatever he’d like best to eat. What a scared boy far from home who finds himself in yet another strange place in a dangerous situation wants most of all is to have something that reminds him of before. Life before the rationing, the evacuation, the war, and now the mysterious woods inside of a wardrobe. A cloying candy rolled in powdered sugar would’ve been the most impossible to find treat in their present world but may serve as a reminder of what life used to be like.

So we can be a bit more sympathetic toward the choice of Turkish delight, but Lewis doesn’t really want us to let Edmund completely off the hook here. Due to its lack of substance, that specific candy gives us a perfect illustration of sin and temptation.