One of the themes of The Magician's Nephew is the difference between practicality and good. At first Jadis speaks only to Digory: "In Charn, she [Jadis] took no notice of Polly (until the very end) because Digory was the one she wanted to make use of," however, once "she had Uncle Andrew, she took no notice of Digory. I expect most witches are like that. They are not interested in things or people unless they can use them; they are terribly practical." Have you ever wondered where the lamp-post in Narnia came from? Or how it got there? For that matter, how did the evil Jadis get there? Her lineage has no roots in Narnia, so how did she find her way there?

Harris, Aurand; Lewis, C.S.; Penn, William A. (1984). The magician's nephew: a dramatization. Dramatic Publishing. pp.4–5. ISBN 0-87129-541-5. They find a bell with a hammer, an inscription inviting the finder to strike the bell. Despite protests from Polly, Digory rings the bell. My son was an only child for 12 years, (before the Disney princesses, Pocahontas and Jasmine, arrived), and I read to him, every night, religiously, for an hour, including C.S. Lewis's Narnia collection. Long before the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 2) and the stories that followed it, C. S. Lewis presents the beginning of Narnia.

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They decide to explore the attic connecting the houses, but take the wrong door and surprise Digory's Uncle Andrew in his study. Parallels with events in the Book of Genesis include the forbidden fruit represented by an Apple of Life. Jadis tempts Digory to eat one of the forbidden apples in the garden, as the serpent tempts Eve into eating a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; unlike Eve however, Digory rejects the offer. (Lewis's Perelandra also features a re-enactment of the same Biblical story, which in that book also ends with the tempter foiled and the fall avoided.) It should be mentioned that it is likely that Mrs. Kirke's illness was likely inspired by, if not outright based upon, the real-life death of Lewis's mother when he was a very little boy. Lewis knew suffering, and that comes out in the character of Digory Kirke. The reader's heart breaks for the small boy, as his pain is so vivid. Book Review: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis". Jandy's Reading Room. Jandy's Books (JandysBooks.com) . Retrieved 13 June 2012.

My autistic-spectrum son Jonathan is fascinated by the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He wants to know what her motivation is. "Why is she always so angry?" he asks. "Why does she hate Aslan? Who is she like?" These are good questions. I have suggested that he should read The Magician's Nephew, but Jonathan only reads the books he wants to read and ignores recommendations. A pity, I would like to discuss it with him. Lewis is simply unable to put himself in another's shoes, which is very problematic for a writer or a theologian. He cannot understand the reasons or motivations for why someone would do something he considers 'evil'. Unlike Milton, he cannot create a tempting devil, a sympathetic devil, and so Lewis' devils are not dangerous, because no one would ever fall for them. Ward, Michael (2008). Planet Narnia: the seven heavens in the imagination of C. S. Lewis. Oxford University Press. The Lion’s singing has brought forth the stars, the sun, and now grasses and trees. The Witch hates the music and flees the Lion’s presence, but the children long to meet him. Suddenly, countless animals of different kinds burst forth from the ground. The Lion, Aslan, walks among the animals and touches noses with certain ones. The chosen animals gather around him, and he breathes into them the ability to think and speak. Aslan charges these Talking Beasts with the care of those who don’t speak. To an extent, Narnia is protected by the obliviousness of those who reject Aslan. “Son of Adam,’” Aslan tells Digory after he plants the protective Apple Tree, “‘you have sown well. And you, Narnians, let it be your first care to guard this Tree, for it is your Shield. […] [W]hile that Tree flourishes [ the Witch] will never come down into Narnia. She dare not come within a hundred miles of the Tree, for its smell, which is joy and life and health to you, is death and horror and despair to her.’” In other words, the overflowing life of this Tree—again, a kind of echo of Aslan’s own life—repels those who do not recognize Aslan’s beauty. The threat posed by Uncle Andrew can be disposed of more easily, because it’s a more naïve misreading of what Narnia is. The Witch’s threat, however, will require ongoing vigilance.Dorsett, Lyle (1995). Marjorie Lamp Mead (ed.). C. S. Lewis: Letters to Children. Touchstone. ISBN 978-0-684-82372-0. Aslan himself is a towering figure in The Magician's Nephew. His song brings form and shape to the world of Narnia, creating seas and lands, plants and animals. The song varies according to what he is creating, but its overall impression is one of joy and magnificence to everyone except Jadis and Uncle Andrew, who loath it. Jadis even throws a piece of a street lamp at Aslan, striking the golden lion in its head. Aslan pays it no notice, and it falls to the ground and grows into the street lamp that Lucy discovers in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which will always mark the Lantern Wastes of Narnia. The story begins in London during the summer of 1900. Two children, Digory and Polly, meet while playing in the adjacent gardens of a row of terraced houses.