The Silver Chair: Chapter 14 “The Bottom of the World”

C.S. Lewis Read-Along, Vol. 4, Issue 15

Background: Once freed from slavery, the gnomes find their voice, begin to celebrate, and long for home. That sounds like our experience of freedom in Christ.

Quote:

We didn’t know who we were or where we belonged. We couldn’t do anything, or think anything, except what she put into our heads. And it was glum and gloomy things she put there all those years. I’ve nearly forgotten how to make a joke or dance or jig. But the moment the bang came and the chasm opened and the sea began rising, it all came back. And of course we all set off as quick as we could to get down the crack and home to our own place.

Pauline Baynes illustration

We’ve experienced the story of the Witch’s death through the eyes of Rilian, Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill. Now, as they’ve captured Golg, they hear the gnomes’ perspective.

While the gnomes were going about their “sad and silent” work, they heard a loud noise. After this, “everyone says to himself, I haven’t had a song or a dance or let off a squib for a long time; why’s that?” The moment the enchantment ends, they’re drawn to displays of joy.

In the previous chapter, when they hear the commotion outside, Rilian tells the others, “By the Lion, it seems this silent land has found its tongue at last.” We hear echoes of the biblical truth of creation. Paul tells us that right now all creation groans,¹ but the Psalms remind us that one day all creation will sing.²

But not only that, Rilian speaks more truth than he realizes. The land found its voice, and it happened “by the Lion.” Aslan has brought about the change. If there is joy, it is because Aslan is on the move.

In a 1951 letter, Lewis shared how he came to experience a deeper understanding of God’s forgiveness of our sins. In describing that moment, he wrote, “A great joy has befallen me.” Similar to J.R.R. Tolkien’s idea of the eucatastrophe, Lewis credits God with the unexpected moments of joy in his life and in Narnia.

Golg tells the others that the Witch had put “glum and gloomy things” in the gnomes’ heads. “I had nearly forgotten how to make a joke or dance a jig. … And you can see them over there all letting off rockets and standing on their heads for joy.”

The idea of joy is closely connected with Lewis based on his spiritual autobiography, Surprised by Joy. But, we miss his point if we turn joy into some intellectual idea fit only for analytical discussion. He explains more in Letters to Malcolm.