In light of the C.S. Lewis quotation...

…I have begun walking my boys through the long land of Narnia.  I would say leading them, but I have never been here before (only on short journeys).  Spurgeon said the best education is an education in the best things.  Literature is one of those lands that is easily neglected, and we lose the benefits when it is not present.  In fact, I hope that literature has a profound presence and influence on my boys.  The lessons we can learn in Narnia can have significant implications in molding men.  Positive and negative traits can be internalized and learned.

So we begin in the chronological beginning.  We’re three chapters into a very long adventure.  Karsten is 4.  Haddon will be three on Sunday.  Lincoln will be one next week.  I know my boys will profit, though they will profit more when we read it through again and again.

At the same time I am appreciating Lewis’ colorful and precise descriptions and engaging setting and build-up, my boys are meeting a boy named Digory, who is showing them a pattern of doing right because he ought to.  While Uncle Andrew shows me my own menacing, self-serving pride, he shows my boys an evil, repulsive, unkind, woman-despising bent.

Uncle Andrew in typical  haughty and despicable language says…

“‘Rotten?’ said Uncle Andrew with a puzzled look. ‘Oh, I see.  You mean that little boys ought to keep their promises.  Very true: most right and proper, I’m sure, and I’m very glad you have been taught to do it.  But of course you must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys–and servants–and women–and even people in general, can’t possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages.  No, Digory.  Men like me, who posses hidden wisdom, are freed from common rules just as we are cut off from common pleasures.  Ours, my boys, is a high and lonely destiny.’”