The History Of Mr. Polly

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C.S. Lewis wrote seven connecting stories for children titled the “Chronicles of Narnia.” These stories are exceedingly similar to those found in the bible. Lewis used his religious background and beliefs to develop Narnia and it is characters, along with the conflicts and experiences that they go through. The stories instruct children biblical tales in a fun and stimulating new way and they do not even realize it is happening.

The introductory story written in “The Chronicles of Narnia” is “The Lion, The Witch, and Wardrobe.” This story introduces us to the world of Narnia. During World War II four siblings: Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy are sent to live with the interestingly odd Professor Kirke. The youngest child Lucy, when exploring the house, comes throughout a wardrobe in one of the rooms. She steps into the wardrobe and arrives in a snowy wooded area. This is Narnia. Narnia becomes a parallel universe for all that enter it. The world is filled with characters and situations that parallel the bible stories. This original story connects to the gospel stories in the bible from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

None of the children believe Lucy when she tells them when it comes to Narnia until one day when Edmond follows her into the wardrobe and encounters the White Witch. She feeds Edmond an enchanted Turkish Delight, which makes him crave chocolate. The Witch uses Edmonds greed to trick him into bringing his other siblings into Narnia. The witch may be equated to the devil allround the series. She tempts Edmond to manipulate him into doing things that are wrong.

Edmond still says that Lucy is ridiculous for believing in Narnia and one day the children hide in the wardrobe from a housekeeper and end up in Narnia. Lucy takes them to Tumnus’ house where they find that he has been arrested for treason. Tumnus was the introductory reputation Lucy met when she went to Narnia. The children set out on a mission to rescue Tumnus from the Witch and meet a doubtful Mr. Beaver who leads them to Aslan the lion. Edmond runs away to warn the Witch of his siblings plan and she is nervous because of an ancient prophecy that says four humans will overthrow the Witch and sovereignty over Narnia.

Edmond betrays his siblings much in the same way that Judas betrayed Jesus. “Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you more than willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They salaried him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an prospect to hand him over.” (Matthew 26:14) Judas was driven by his greed for cash when he betrayed Jesus, and Edmond is driven by his greed for Turkish Delite when he betrays his family, and more significantly Aslan, who’s reputation as we will see parallels Jesus.

The children race to beat the Witch to Stone Table and meet Aslan to end the spell. The Witch is desperate to reach the Stone Table and treats Edmond poorly on the way. Aslan promises to aid get Edmond back and Peter saves Susan from a wolf. Aslan sees another wolf and they follow it hoping it will lead them to Edmond and the Witch.

Peter may be equated to the disciple Peter because both seemed to take on the leadership role of their groups. Peter, alongside Aslan, helped his sisters out of disturb and led them to the Stone Table much as Peter, alongside Jesus, helped the other disciples and led them.

The group saves Edmond just before the Witch kills him, and she vanishes into the landscape. The witch and Aslan make a deal that makes him very sad and depressed. The girls walk with him to the Stone Table where he tells them they must turn around and go back. The girls do not leave, but rather watch as the Witch tortures and kills Aslan, who has sacrificed his life for Edmond. The girls stay with Aslan all night and awake to the Stone Table being broken open and find that Aslan has risen from the dead. Aslan takes the girls to the castle where the prisoners in stone are freed. Aslan proceeds to kill the Witch and Peter’s troops finish off her followers.

Anyone who has ever read the bible or heard the story of Jesus may effortlessly pick up on the parallel among Aslan sacrificing his life to save Edmond and Jesus sacrificing his life to save mankind. Aslan passed away and expunged Edmunds sin, permitting him to live. Christ passed away on the cross for the sins of humanity, permitting mankind to live. “The hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.” (Matthew 26:45) Aslan handed himself to the Witch as Jesus handed himself to the sinners.

The Stone Table played an important part in the story and references another primary person in biblical history. “Moses … wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” (Exodus 35:29) Moses brought the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments the persons to live by. When Aslan rises from the dead, in front of Susan and Lucy, and breaks the Stone Table it is a symbol of the old, cruel ways of our past being shattered and birth of the new, lighter times that lie ahead.

Susan and Lucy stay with Aslan all night after he dies and are there when he resurrects the next morning. For this they may be equated to Mary Magdeline and “the other Mary.” (Matthew 28:1) In both cases the two women were the initial to find out in regards to the resurrection and see the spirit of the saviors. “There was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.” (Matthew 28:2) Though it is not incisively alike, the correspondings are strikingly close. “At that moment they heard from behind them a earsplitting noise – a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant’s plate.” (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, pg158)

The story ends as the children grow up and sovereignty over Narnia, until one day they return to the lamp post and fall back into the real world where they find that they have not aged at all. They tell Professor Kirke and he assures them that they will visit Narnia again.

The second of Lewis’ works that was analyzed was “The Magicians Nephew.” This story tells the tale of Polly and Digory, two neighbors who become friends. They follow mystery caves and lead themselves to a house that they believe to be empty, but find that it is to the full or entire extent financed and a man called Uncle Andrew lives there. Curiosity and temptation drive this story along and develop an confederation amid today’s world and the biblical times.

Uncle Andrew tells them of an experiment he is running, and gives Polly a yellow ring before he sends her home for dinner. She disappears to another world. Digory is determined to find her and takes the two green rings, that will get them out of the substitute world, and a yellow ring to get him into it. He found himself in a wooded area, similar to what the children in the primary Narnia book entered into. Digory sees a girl underneath a tree, who says she has always been in this world, he likewise claims to be from the world. They see a guinea pig with a yellow ring and do not forget Uncle Andrew and the experiment.

This is the set up for the religious symbolism that is to show up for the remainder of the story. This book is equated to the book of Genesis from the bible. Uncle Andrew put a male and a female into a wooded area and had them thinking that they had always been there and that they were developed to live there. They are mystified by the new worlds they have been put into and choose to effort around and figure out where everything goes before they go home. Adam and Eve likewise ventured around and figured out their surroundings when their adventure led them to the Garden of Eden.

As the children look around they find themselves in a hall with wax statues of people. They turn from kind and tame to cruel and evil. The final figure is the most ferocious of all, finelooking but cruel. I believe Lewis is showing how at initial Eden was perfective for Adam and Eve, but tardily and surely as Satan continued to pursue them it turned. The final figure is the forbidden fruit that at long last led them to carry out the original sin and alter life on world forever.

Digory proposes that the pair check out a pillar in the center of the room. The pillar holds a little golden bell with a hammer to strike it. There is writing on the pillar proposing that if they strike the bell there could be danger, and if they do not then they would go crazy marveling what happens if they do ring the bell. Digory wants to do it, and even though Polly objects, he does it anyway. Immediately there is an unbearably piercing sound echoing allround the hall and elements of the ceiling collapsed until the aweinspiring sound ended. Adam and Eve had a similar experience. “The serpent asked the woman, ‘Did God genuinely tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?’ The woman answered the serpent: ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only with regards to the fruit in the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’” (Genesis 3:1) The serpent proceeded to tell them that, “No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.” (Genesis 3:5) Eve ate the apple as Digory did and altho the ceiling did not collapse, the world as they knew it surely did.

When the pair thinks the incident is over, the fiercely gorgeous creature rises from her chair and questions the children of her awakening. God found Adam and Eve after their incident and questions them of their awakening as well. “The Lord God said to the woman, why did you do such a thing?” (Genesis 3:13) The finelooking creature informs Digory that he is not of royal blood and wonders how he arrived there. Polly says it was by magic, and when Digory agrees she figures that he is not a magician, but has traveled on another’s magic. Uncle Andrew.

The Lion reputation of Aslan returns in this story, again as the Jesus or God figure. He sings a finelooking song that makes vegetation and animals get started to fill the wooded area and color the land. Everything that comes out of the ground hails the Lion, Aslan, knowing that he is in command. This is an evident reference to God creating the world. “God said, ‘Let the world fetch forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds.” (Genesis 1:24) “God likewise said: ‘See, I give you each seed bearing plant all over the world and each tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that creep on the ground, I give all the green plants for food.” (Genesis 1:29) God invented the world and it is vegetation, and Aslan brought vegetation to the land of Narnia.

Digory approaches Aslan in an undertake to learn a secret, perchance a miracle that could save his sick mother. Aslan says that Digory ought to undo what he has done (letting the Witch out) and Digory again says he needs aid for his mother, but sees that Aslan has tears in his eyes and shares his pain. This is a typical scene in the bible describing Jesus when asked for help. He always showed that he could feel the pain and that as those around him hurt, he also hurt.

For Digory to repair his fault he is told to travel to west of Narnia and pick an apple from a tree that grows in a garden there and return it to Aslan. Polly goes along with Digory on this mission and when they arrive at the garden there is a message saying that they will have to only take fruit for others, and not for themselves. Digory picks a silver apple from the tree and encounters the witch who tries to manipulate him into picking another apple for his dying mother. She claims that Aslan does not care when it comes to his mother and wants the apple for Himself. This is a clear depiction of when Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The interesting twist, however, is that Digory did not pick the extra apple but rather retreated and returned to Aslan to show that their task has been completed. Because Digory followed his directions he was competent to take an apple for his dying mother. When he returned home, he fed her the apple, and buried a great deal of of it in the back yard where another pretty apple tree grew. I believe Lewis did this because he wanted to update the story a little bit. It is possible to learn from the errors of the past and do the right thing in the future. Digory was tempted, but did not bite.

The story ends with a surprising connection to “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” The tree that Digory planted in his yard was knocked down by a storm, and he could not bear to see it cut up and burned as fire wood. He decisive to have it turned into a wardrobe to be placed in his old house in the country. Though he never knew that the tree genuinely did hold a great deal of magical properties a young girl in another story was sure to find it and travel amid London and Narnia and have adventures of her own.

The final work from C.S. Lewis to be discussed is “The Last Battle.” This is the final story in the series and brings the progress to a full circle. “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” was based on gospel stories, “The Magician’s Nephew” was inspired by Genesis, and “The Last Battle” follows suit as it parallels the book of Revelation. This final chapter in the “Chronicles” is darker than the other stories, but because of the biblical references it only makes sense that this is how the series would end.

The story begins with Puzzle the donkey and Shift the ape sitting around a pool. A lion skin flies into the pool and Shift tells Puzzle to wear it and pretend that he is Aslan so Narnian’s would listen to his each command. Shift manipulates Puzzle into wearing the suit and pretending to be Aslan. Puzzle is a prime example of the type of idol that the bible warns us against. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the world beneath” (Exodus 20:4)

The story continues, but the in truth interesting connections do not come until the end. Characters from the former books get started returning to Narnia. The final chapters of this book are closely identical to the final chapters in Revelations in the bible. In the story, Peter is told to lock the door to the old Narnia behind the group as they crusade forward with a key that he was given. The bible has a similar idea. “Then I saw an angel come down from heaven, keeping in his hand the key to the abyss … he seized the dragon, the ancient serphant, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss, which he locked over it and sealed, so that it could no longer lead the nations astray,” (Revelation 20:1) Peter plays the part of the angel and they both lock up the evils of the past as they move forward to a better future.

Narnia collapsed and was destroyed as it became not one thing more than deserted land. Water crashed over the land and covered the area that was once the beloved Narnia in front of Aslan, just as “the world and sky fled from his presence” in the bible. (Revelation 20:11) Aslan sat at the edge of this deserted area and all of the characters and creatures from Narnia, living and dead, ran to him to be judged and see if they would be sent to his left to vanish in his shadow evermore or separated to his right to carry on further up and further in. The bible reads, “I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life.” (Revelation 20:12) The book of life is how their fate was decisive just as looking into Aslan’s face was how Narnian’s fates were decided.

The characters followed through until they found themselves in a new Narnia. All realized that everything was more beauteous there. They saw England within England and could see Professor Kirke’s old house and even their parents. Again, the sameness is astounding. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former world had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Revelation 21:1)

They felt young again, as if they were children and could run around and do anything. They attempted to run to their parents, when Aslan appeared in front of them. Lucy voices concern in regards to returning to their real worlds, and Aslan tells them that they are dead and may stay forever. He then turns from a Lion into a more outstanding and more gorgeous form. The children move westward and come to a new Narnia where they climb a high mountain and find a golden bridge. They proceed through and galore intimate faces from Narnia watch them as they travel further up and further in.

In a section titled, The New Jerusalem, another comparison is formed. “He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.” (Revelation 21:9) In both cases they are journeying to the gates of heaven where they will enter and spend eternity.

The religious symbolism allround the chronicles is astounding. Lewis found a way to instruct children tales from the Bible through fantasy and epic storytelling. The books have kept through time and were found to be classics in children’s literature. The idea that the children passed from today’s world into a world when these issues were happening is both originative and impressive. Lewis formulated a way for children today to relate to the biblical stories and learn them without even realizing that they are doing it.

Works Cited

Lewis, C.S. The Last Battle. Macmillan Publishing. New York. 1956.

Lewis, C.S. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Macmillan Publishing. New York. 1950.

Lewis, C.S. The Magician’s Nephew. Macmillan Publishing. New York. 1955.

The New American Bible Saint Joseph, ed. Catholic Book Publishing, New York, 1970.

The History Of Mr Polly

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ReviewFans of H.G. Wells’s famous, genre-spawning science fiction novels may be startled to read his less-remembered but once bestselling The History of Mr. Polly. Its comically romping narrative voice is worlds away from the stern, melancholy tone of The Time Machine. Wells won fame for his apocalyptic, preachy books when it comes to the history of the future, but this history is strictly, as Mr. Polly would put it in his creatively cracked version of English, a series of “little accidentulous misadventures.”

Mr. Alfred Polly is a dyspeptic, miserably married shopkeeper in what he terms that “Beastly Silly Wheeze of a hole!”–Fishbourne, England. He is inclined to spark arguments and slapstick calamity wherever he goes. Education was lost on him: when he left school at 14, “his mind was in much the same state that you would be in, dear reader, if you were operated upon for appendicitis by a well-meaning, boldly enterprising, but rather overworked and underpaid butcher boy, who was superseded towards the climax of the operation by a left-handed clerk of high principles but intemperate habits… the operators had left, so to speak, all their sponges and ligatures in the mangled confusion.” Still, Polly’s mind burns with eccentric genius, and his thwarted romantic heart beats him senseless. His desperation results in the most funny suicide undertake this side of Lisa Alther’s novel Kinflicks. We won’t spoil the surprise by saying incisively how his system misfires–and beware: the introduction gives it away. Note that you can’t suppose Polly to do anything right, and of course he’ll become an inadvertent hero to the whole town. Then he promptly vanishes for further misadventure.

Many critics compare Mr. Polly‘s wide social satire to Dickens, but it smacks of Mark Twain and the dialect humor of Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley too. “I think it is one of my good books,” Wells opined. What makes it so is Polly’s heroic incompetence, his subversion of Edwardian propriety, and his bewildered unawareness that he is a revolutionary. –Tim Appelo

From the PublisherFounded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of humans at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic’s introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been exclusively restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading distinctive amid editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these outstanding texts with gorgeous contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman’s unambiguously low price. Each Everyman title offers these spacious materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have lasting binding, quality paper, and the most eminent editorial and scholarly standards.

About the AuthorHerbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946), normally known as H. G. Wells, was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. Wells and Jules Verne are each once in a while referred to as “The Father of Science Fiction”.

Most helpful customer reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Is it Me?
By Rodney Buhrsmith
A friend recommended this book to me after I explained how much fun I was having after leaving work in DC, returning to Minnesota, playing with my kids, joining a mountain biking team and genuinely enjoying my unemplyed status for 9 months. She said it was a philosophical book.

I spent the entire book trying to figure out why she thought of this book after I got through telling her how great my life was at the present. Mr. Polly clearly was not living a great life and always seemed to be on the wrong side of circumstance. It wasn’t until the very end of the book that I realized the context my friend applied to my happenings.

The book, for it’s strange accents and period vocabulary, was as riveting as any Grisham or Baldacci novel. I don’t really know why – but it was. And the last few pages makes one think very hard about the meaning of life, which even for an unemployed child-at-heart, is important to do now and again.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
tragi-comedy
By Gareth Vaughan
I finished reading this novella a few days ago. I must first admit that for the first 25 or so pages, I wasn’t particulaly tuned into what the book was about. It is, as Wells mentioned, a history, so I was rather thrown at the beginning. Once I got the gist of it, particularly the gist of Mr. Polly and his eccentricities, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The only other Wells book I had read was the Island of Dr. Moreau, which, like his other romantic science-fiction novels he is famous for, was somewhat plot-driven rather than character-driven. This book, is, as the title would lead you to suspect, character-driven.

We begin our read with the bored, frustrated Mr. Polly, what he is feeling and how he deals with his life in general. Then the actual history starts, and Wells’s beautiful, if somewhat excessive vocabulary answers the reader’s question of who this Mr. Polly is. I found him to a be a very refreshing hero, being rather ordinary, and dealing with the concerns of anyone’s life, particularly that of a middle-aged man. He does not “save the day” by perfoming any conventional (or even moral) acts, but this only makes him more real. Mr. Polly’s passion for epithet is absolutely delightful, and gave me a great sense of pleasure to watch him go about his transformation.

This was a terriffic, merry little book, with a central character worthy of some of the finest in literature, at least from the limited literature I have read. Don’t be fooled by the humorous facade however; there is a deeper message, one which will become relevant at some time in all our lives. It isn’t one of Wells’s most well known books, but it should be. A superb little gem.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
The Great Lost English Comic Novel
By Fuzzbottle
This one came out of nowhere. An absolutely brilliant comic novel. Like all great comic novels, it’s never patronizing. Though the narrator places himself at a distance from Mr. Polly, he’s never condescends. The tone is warm and witty, genuinely moving rather than sentimental. It’s an honest look at the middle class, cased in a Romantic (as in Knights and Quests) narrative. Really, really great. Definitely worth your time.

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