The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis – Episode 64
The Buddies venture into the world of Narnia, rereading a child hood favorite, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. They touched on some interesting topics, such as: is this book is suitable for kids, is this book a religious indoctrination story, and is Turkish Delight more addictive than heroine. Find out all the answers to these important questions in the most recent episode. So pack your winter jacket, your Christmas wish list, your sword and shield, and fawn/faun over this book with us.
Intro: (0:00-2:50)
Stock Up/Down (2:511-25:54)
Love/Hate (25:55-36:09)
Conclusion (36:10-38:13)
Next Book: WOOL by HUGH HOWEY
Transcript for SEO purposes 🙂
Alright. Welcome to book club, The buddy book club, that is. I’m Dylan here with the son of Adam, who is also the man I fawn over. Keith, what’s up, buddy? How we doing?
You see what I did there with Fawn? You know, Fawn? I know. That was nice. The d man, the Keith, and the podcast.
That’s that’s all it is right there. We’re breaking down some bestsellers and this week we’ll be discussing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe of which I have a hard copy sitting in my hands by CS Lewis. Classic, a literary classic. Technically, the second in the Chronicles of Narnia series, but the first one that was released. If you like to recommend a book for us to read or reach out to us in many past episodes, you can visit our website, buddy book hub dot com, or slide into our DMs on Twitter or Instagram, buddy book hub podcast.
You can listen to us on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, so please download and subscribe. Keith, we got a children’s fairy tale here, and we finally found a book that’s within our reading level, which is what I’m most excited about. That sounds alright. Right? Yeah.
Is this probably the book slated for the youngest reader? We read Hatchet. That’s probably about the same age. Holes is probably similar. Holes might be a little bit younger, actually, I feel like.
Oh, yeah. I think this is they’re they’re all on the same realm. Yeah. It’s probably, like, middle school book. I think they’re probably maybe they’re the same reading level, but, like, Holes is less dark than than this.
Or Hole’s gotta deal with, like, some bigger themes, though. Yeah. I guess that’s true. And kids do die in holes, don’t they? No.
But they’re like child labor laws. Yeah. No one’s getting, like, stabbed on a stone table kinda thing. I mean, I did just rewatch first Indiana Jones. Oh.
That’s a kid’s movie, and that is it’ll be rated r in, like, today’s age. It’s like there’s some gruesome scene Raiders of the Lost Ark? Yeah. Oh, that’s funny. I actually just recently rewatched, The Last Crusade.
Such a great flick. Temple of Doom, I haven’t seen in a while, and honestly, I don’t I don’t think it’s great. Is that the one where they take the guy’s heart out? Yeah. That’s whatever it remembers.
That’s it. And then you can just skip the Shia Labeouf one because that one was terrible. It was so bad. I heard the new one is is, just mediocre, essentially. I just remember in the Shiloh Buffalo when it, like, opens with, like, a nuclear bomb going off, and he just, like, jumps in a refrigerator, closes the door, and then, like, winds up 4 miles away and gets out of the refrigerator.
And don’t get me wrong. I understand that you have to suspend disbelief with Indiana Jones. A lot of the stuff is out there which I appreciate it’s fun that that was like okay you just jump in a refrigerator for a nuclear bomb and come on. It checks out to me. I don’t know.
What’s the issue? I I appreciate just close your eyes when the ark of the covenant’s open and you’ll be fine. You know, that’s more of my speed. Like, stuff I don’t understand. Nuclear bombs, I have a somewhat of an understanding that, yeah, you’re probably fucked in a, in a refrigerator.
Alright. Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We’re not talking about Indiana Jones, and let’s go ahead and read some comic books, which we could do. But, Keith, what do you have for stock up Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Stock up?
Heroin? Oh, go on. Tell me more. I know it’s supposed to be this terrible drug that’s highly addictive that ruins lives and whatnot. But is it really that bad?
I mean, it doesn’t even compare it to Turkish delight. Mhmm. I mean, Turkish delight Yeah. You get one taste and you’re ready to murder your your family. You know, you’re ready to turn your whole family over.
This is just one taste you get out of it. My brothers and sisters, I don’t give a shit about them. As long as I can have some more Turkish delight, that’s all I care about. They immediately get a look in their eye when they have it Mhmm. Where it’s like, oh, yeah, that person’s that person’s donezo.
They got that Turkish delight donezo look. Cheat, lie, steal, whatever you whatever you gotta do to get another taste. And instead of chasing the dragon, d man, it’s you’re chasing the next Thanksgiving dinner, turkey, Turkish. Oh. Alright.
I’ll see my way out. Alright. Have you ever had Turkish delight? Pretty sure I have. It’s kinda like, I I don’t think it was called that, but I think it’s basically, like, almost like that gelatin, like sweet candy thing.
Yeah. It’s like jelly with, like, powdered sugar on it. Yeah. I’ve had it before. I I didn’t like it.
You didn’t care for it. Yeah. No. I was gonna have a little little stock down to our boy, Edmund, so we’ll just get this out of the way. Because if you had a witch in front of you, right, she can conjure anything.
She asks him, tell me what you want to eat. Like, legitimately anything. And he goes for Turkish delight. Like, I know it’s a it’s a different time period here we’re dealing with. You know, we’re talking like early forties, maybe late thirties.
I just could think of so many better sweets that I would have. Like, just give me a box of Sour Patch Kid watermelons or, like, Endless Sour Patch Kid watermelons. Like, those things just are delicious. That’s like the new Turkish Delight. Kinda.
Yeah. Essentially what it is. Yeah. And that’s why I was thinking about it because I was like, what is kind of like a Turkish Delight, but it’s so much better? Instead of weird powdered sugar on a jelly thing, you got some citric acid sugar on it, and it has this delicious fake watermelon flavor to it.
Like, it checks out where the Turkish delight I’ve had has just been, like, very meh. But even instead of that, I would go I would personally go more savory. I was thinking it’s winter, so I probably wouldn’t want, like, heaping bowls of ice cream sundaes, which would probably be my number 1, just bottomless. They used to have a place by us called Chadwick’s. It’s it’s closed down.
But they had a thing called the belly buster. And if you finished it, you, like, got a prize or something. But it was 26 scoops of ice cream and, like, you know, 4 bananas sliced on it and, like, all this other stuff. It was, like, my dream. It reminded me of that scene from blank check.
They go to the ice cream place, and they just give them the ice cream in, like, in, like, a trash pail. It almost looks like a gardening bucket. And when I was a kid, I was like, that would be the coolest thing ever. Because when we had ice cream, it was like, my mom would be like, alright. 2 scoops.
Like, that’s it. That’s your ration. You want the all you can eat? I just want the all you can eat. I want the all you can eat buffet.
What would be your choice for food, do you think, if if a witch if a white witch came up to you and said, you know, pick any food you want? The savory department, I think I just go pizza. I just think you can’t go wrong. But dessert wise, there’s nothing worse. There’s literally just nothing worse than when you eat something that’s, like, really unhealthy, and it’s just terrible.
Mhmm. I feel like I’ve had Turkish delight before. Been into it and I was like, that’s not really good. They’re like, oh, well, that’s just pure sugar. You just literally ate a cube of sugar and you’re like, that was that?
Like Yeah. If you think about, like, a fruit roll up, that’s pure sugar and it’s kinda small, and it’s the it’s like crack. You know? It’s probably what sugar slice should be. Yeah.
Exactly. But that that, you you know, like, oh, no. I’m getting my bill here. I’m getting my sugar out of this. Whereas, like, that thing you bite into it and you just be, like, my teeth hurt from the sugar, but, like, I don’t taste anything.
Yeah. I would honestly rather be, like, eating spoonfuls of sugar, like, straight up. The one thing I really really like have you ever had caramellos? Have I ever? Yes.
Big fan of caramellos. Unfortunately, and that’s one of those things now, speaking of teeth hurting, that I can’t eat because the next day I brush my teeth and it’ll hurt because they’re, like, too it’s too much caramel. And, like, oh, I I still eat it. It’s kinda like pizza in that same sense where it ruins my stomach, but I still eat it. So, yeah, those are the 2 answers.
You like the, like, almost liquid type caramel as opposed to, like, a Oh, yeah. A Rolo caramel, which has, like, a little more chew to it. Rolo is, like, kinda stick to your teeth, but you have to, like, actually pry it off. Like, you have to, like No. Whereas the caramel sticks to your teeth, and it’s got a good stick.
Yeah. Okay. Got you. Because I feel like it’s, like, caramello, Rolo, and then you’re getting into the toffee type caramels, which are actually really sticking into your teeth. They’re hard to bite into.
Ghirardelli’s too. I have good good caramel to one too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’m with you there.
I’m with you with heroin. There’s actually there’s actually a doctor, like, back in the early 1900 or something along these lines. I think he was addicted to cocaine, and I think they stole this for the show, The Nick, the Soderbergh Show. I don’t know if you ever seen that, but it’s it’s a good show, with Clive Owen. They stole this idea.
But there was a doctor who was basically addicted to cocaine. He had a serious problem. And his other buddy doctors were like, we’re gonna we’re gonna fix this. Don’t worry. They took him away, like, on a boat for, like, 14 days and came back, and he was totally fine and lived out the rest of his life as a doctor.
No problem. It turns out at the end, what they had actually done was they got him off cocaine, but they got him on to morphine. And, like, morphine is actually not supposedly, like, not that bad for you if you take it appropriately and, like, dose it out, whatever the case is. So he just lived a normal life as a morphine addict as opposed to a crazy life as a cokehead. So, yeah.
This is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a children’s fairy tale novel. Alright. My first stock up is, Snitches Get Stitches. People always say that, snitches get stitches. And unless I’m watching Oz, it never happens.
Snitches, in fact, don’t get stitches. And I’ve been watching Suits recently, as I’ve told you before, and there’s lots of stitches on there and they rarely get stitches. They get a little quip from Harvey Spector, but never stitches. So CS Lewis here decided to take it to the next level and snitches don’t get stitches. They get turned to stone, which I appreciate even more.
What’s up with their boy, Tumnus? Mister Tumnus. You know, everyone’s like, oh, he’s a kind, fawn, this, that, the other thing. He just sold out, Lucy. Like, straight up.
No questions asked. Had never met a daughter of Eve. I assume in the story, like, there’s some understanding, because they seem to know everyone seems to know these, like, ideas, these rules or whatever that govern the land. And they’ve been living in this hellish winter for who knows how long, and they kinda know, okay, if a daughter of Eve or a son of Adam is seen, it’s it’s probably gonna be a good thing. And Thomas is like, nah.
I’m selling them straight out to the witch. Doesn’t matter. Wait. He didn’t sell her out. Out.
Yeah. He did. He sold Lucy out. I mean, he eventually turned around and said, like, okay. You can you can get out of here.
He said he was going to, and he was like, I’m not gonna let you know. That’s what I’m saying. He didn’t know how bad she she could’ve been worse than the wish. So he he’s like, oh, you’re you’re a pretty good person. Never mind.
I’m not gonna turn you in. Yeah. But at the same time, he was he was 90% there. He wasn’t an admin. Doesn’t matter.
I think he deserved to be turned turned to stone. I honestly think he deserved to be turned to stone. And he got, arrested or whatever and turned to stone for not telling. So he he got punished anyways. Yeah.
Well, you know what? That’s what happens. That’s what happens. So just thinking something now is a is a penalty in your mind? Yes.
Thought police. Alright? Oh, okay. 1984. Heard of it?
Yeah. Just that thing alone is, is basically is is frowned upon. Exact and this book does have a lot of Christian underlying or whatever thing, connotations, whatever you wanna say. But I remember when I was a kid, I don’t know who told me this, maybe like a CCD teacher because I grew up Catholic. You grew up Catholic.
My CCD teacher in school, I think it was her, always said, like, oh, God doesn’t listen to your thoughts. It’s, like, what you say and do. You know? Oh, exactly. I can think, like, the most fucked up shit, and it’s not gonna matter, which is fine.
Because then I was thinking, like, oh, if I thought something terrible, would I then be turned to stone like mister Tumnus? So, so, yeah, I I think that CS Lewis interpreted that god could understand your thoughts, and hence, mister Thomas is screwed. He deserved. Okay. Fair enough.
He deserved his stitches. Yeah. What else do you have for stock up? Stock up, letting kids watch brutal murders. So Lucy and Susan are like, oh, this awesome dude’s kind of it seems out of the down the dumps.
And then they see him leaving the camp and they’re like, alright, we’re gonna fall and see what’s up. And he turns around, he’s like, hey, you guys can’t fall. I mean, they’re like, come on. He’s like, alright, that’s fair enough. But here’s the one rule, once I tell you to stop and leave, you gotta do that.
And then so they get to the place where he’s about to turn himself in to to the witch and all the the kind of gang And then he’s, like, alright. Stop here and find a good hiding place to watch. I’m, like, wait. Wait. What?
No. No. You didn’t get it exactly right. He said Okay. Stop here.
Here’s some popcorn. See you in your mince. Chill out. Enjoy the Some caramellos, watermelon, Sour Patch Kids. Yep.
And he’s, like, shit’s about to go down. He essentially says that to them. So they watch him get mutilated. They start crying for a full day. He’s basically just tortured.
No PTSD. No no, no issues. He comes back to life, and they bounce back pretty quickly. No issues. No no, you know, nothing that no nightmares apparently later in life.
Yeah. He does seem to give them, like, a, hey. Just, like, it’s gonna be fine. I know this is gonna be fucked up for a couple of minutes, but I’m gonna come back. You know, he can tell them.
There’s nothing wrong with him telling them. It’s not breaking any rules with him just telling them that. Yeah. Also, I just don’t know why they needed to be there for it. They need to witness it.
I have some questions with Aslan himself because he also just gives Peter a sword who has no training. That’s what I’m saying. Santa. Oh, excuse me. Santa gives Peter the sword.
But Aslan’s like, okay. Go kill that wolf. Like, you need you need your first blood kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah.
I gotta get it. How does how does he how does he know that he’s gonna kill him? Like, you know, maybe give the boy some pointers first. He’s not, like, he’s not a a lion who was born with predatory instincts. He’s just a boy.
So maybe that’s a sign that, like, man is born with predatory instincts. Do you think he licked the blood off the knife after the first blood? I have no idea, but Aslan was very serious about him needing to clean that blade. I’ve never seen a lot of serious about that. Yeah.
He’s like, clean the blade. Peter starts putting it in the grass. He’s like, no. No. No.
No. Lick the blood off. Lucy, Susan, come over here and watch. First blood. That’s how you’re supposed to do it.
So that’s a throwback to, like, episode 4. We talked about that. Did we? Yeah. What?
It’s a tradition when you get your first kill as a hunter that you would drink some of the blood from the animal. Mhmm. You did what do you think I was talking about? Yeah. That.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That.
Totally. But, yeah, it’s okay to show your kids horror films, torture, brutal murders. It’s gonna be fine. They’ll brush it off quickly. Not a big deal.
Yeah. Okay. My last stock up was shipping your kids out to the countryside because it worked out for these guys. Were you aware that that was like a big thing during World War 2? After we read, the The the Rose Code.
The Rose Code. Yeah. It’s kinda educated me on that, honestly. I mean, it makes a lot of sense. It’s pretty genius, especially with a small country like the UK.
Like, the cities are getting bombed, so you send your kids out to the countryside and, like, you know, other folks take kids in. And it worked out for Susan, Lucy, Peter, and Edmund here because they ended up people say, like, time is the most precious thing. You know, time’s something you can’t get back. These guys went into the wardrobe, lived an entire life and a regal life at that Mhmm. In Narnia, and then came right back out of the wardrobe and their kids again.
So now they got, like, all that experience under them. They can live their another full life or just, like, go because the professor kinda says you’ll find ways back into Narnia. Like, they could just continue to do this thing and jump right back in. Yeah. Yeah.
In that dream, yeah. Little bit. Not bad. So, yeah, I I dug that. And supposedly, CS Lewis got a lot of the not a lot, but got some of the ideas for this book because during World War 2, he was, harboring some I think, like, his niece or something like that.
I don’t know. He was harboring some children. Maybe not even related to him. I don’t even know the points. I should probably have flipped them up.
But yeah. So he was, like, keeping some kids and was like, oh, like, kids are pretty cool. Like, I can dig it and then fancied himself at the professor, I guess, and and included that in the story. So I like how you include some real life things in there. So, yeah, stock up.
What you know, if your kids if there was a war going on, just ship your kids away. Simple as that. Everyone’s, like, the allegory or whatever for religious themes. Couldn’t the witch be Hitler in this instance? You know?
Like, turn everyone to stone and, like, being just a terrible person? Seems like that would be more sense. Right? But she wasn’t, like, let’s kill all the squirrels or something like that. You know?
Like, she didn’t have it out for, like, one one group necessarily. What’d you have for Stockton? Stockton, wardrobes and closets. Wait. Wardrobes and closets?
Yeah. Both of them. Because I I didn’t when I was a kid, I didn’t know the difference. I I just really don’t know difference now, honestly. I I’m not really sure of the difference.
Wardrobe’s like a piece of furniture. Right. Well, as a kid, I I didn’t understand that. But this is the first book I ever remember being read to. I was gonna ask you that because I think I think it’s up there for me too.
Like, besides, like, a children’s book, like, a kid’s book or whatever. Yeah. Right. Right. It had a very big impact on me because I remember distinctly every closet that was big.
I mean, because I don’t think I’ve ever even witnessed a wardrobe now that I think about it. Every closet that was like a a closet you could, like, walk into, a walk in closet, I was always looking for the fucking Narnia. I was always getting in the back being, like, alright, it’s probably gonna open up here at some point, you know? Yeah. Nice.
And nothing has been more disappointing to me in my life than realizing there is no Narnia. Like, I haven’t or at least I haven’t I haven’t been able to get into it. Yeah. That’s the right answer. It’s bullshit.
I don’t like hanging up clothes to this day. My first two apartments didn’t even have closets. Probably got rid of this when I was, like, 6. And ever since then, I’ve just been Really? Jesus.
Been upset about closets and and in general, wardrobes. So stock down above those things. Fuck them. Yeah. Well, it’s interesting that you said, like, Narnia doesn’t exist and then you, you know, change it to, like, you haven’t found it yet, which I appreciate.
Well, we also talked about in the last episode when people come at you and say, like, oh, I’m in a time loop or whatever, and you’d immediately be like, no. That’s just not possible or whatever the case was. Professor is the opposite way. Oh, Oh, yeah. The press is awesome.
The kids read to him, like, oh, like, Lucy’s making up stories. And it’s like, no. Let’s talk about logic here. Like, does does Lucy lie? It’s like, no.
She never lies. It’s like, okay. Does Edmond lie? It’s like, yeah. He lies all the time.
She’s like, cool. Narine exists. Simple as that. What what do you need? The professor was the best.
Yeah. I I had the exact same point. It was like, it’s it’s so refreshing to find a character that’s like, I think that checks out to me. Like, I don’t care that you’re kids. I don’t care about any of this.
It all checks out. Because, like, at the end, when they’re telling him the whole story, he believes them. He then has all these, like, points about Narnia. Don’t look for it. Like, it’ll find you.
Don’t talk about it. All this stuff, it’s like, you know, if you did if you were in the know, you could’ve just told them, like, a 100% Lucy’s right. Like, I know. Like, you guys are supposed to go back there. What you don’t realize is that this professor is that same professor that was the Kokat that you’re talking about, doctor, and he’s just morphined out so heavily.
He’s like, yo, man. I’ve been to Narnia multiple times, if you know what I mean. He’s like, you can’t look for it, man. You don’t chase it. You guys gotta you just gotta feel it.
Yeah. He’s like, just intravenous Narnia all the time. So my first stock down and this one’s gonna be tough for a lot of people out there. But Santa Claus, is he a sexist slash misogynist? Yes.
That’s pretty much the same same wavelength. I I don’t have the quote in front of me. Do you have it? No. But I just had I had I had some issues with his gifting, but go on.
And I’m gonna try to find it when you’re talking because, I have the book in front of me, as I said. Are you talking about when he was, like, well, women can’t fight? Yeah. That’s basically the gist of it. He was like, he was like, oh, where’s my sword?
It’s like, women don’t fight. But then he goes against Lucy a dagger. But he’s, oh, no. He was like, Susan, you stayed at the back. And it was like, Lucy, yeah.
Like, you won’t be part of this fight. You guys can watch Brutal Torture, but you can’t be on the front lines fighting, whatever you do. Also, like, Santa? Really? Stick to your lane, Santa.
Alright? You give gifts and bring merriment. Like, don’t go setting who can do what and, you know, some moral and social guidelines. Like, we don’t need that from you. So stick to your lane, give the gifts, and then get out of there.
It was a it was a little much. Sorry, Santa. But, you know, I had to say because the hero of the story was kinda Lucy. So it did did kinda go counter to what the the whole book narrative was. Yeah.
A 100%. And Peter’s like the guy that he’s like the red ranger who has just no hangout ability. You know? He’s just, like, not a good hang. He seems like he’s just, like, in his own hang on the fire rangers.
A black ranger, obviously. The black ranger is a good hang. Even Billy was a good hang. Billy, he was too nerdy, you know. He leaned into it way too heavily.
Well, Tommy was definitely a good hang. RIP, by the way. Oh, yeah. Tommy was the fucking man. Green Ranger?
Oh, when he was a Green Ranger and he was, like, kinda bad, I was, like, bad boy Tommy? I’m, like, damn. Yeah. He was fucking crazy. And he had that dagger flute.
Like Yo, god. And he has he has his own dinosaur, which is pretty fucking sick too. Well, they all I think they all did it. No. The other ones combined together, but Tommy had his own thing that could fight them, like that big one combined.
He was like a pterodactyl, I think. No. That’s the pink ranger. Come on, kid. Grow up, would you?
Sorry. Come Talk about my girl Kimberly? Come correct next time. Now Tommy had the best weapon too. He had the axe slash gun.
I was like, so that’s the best weapon by far. Right? Everyone else had, like, a, like, a bow and arrow or, like, a a sword, and he’s, like, I can shoot people and fucking rip rip them apart with an axe. Is that what he had? Because I thought I thought Zack had the ax.
Who’s Zack? Blue Ranger? The Black Ranger. No. That’s what I’m saying.
The Black Ranger. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. You have the best You said Tommy. But Oh, so yeah. Sorry. No.
No. Yeah. Black Ranger. Yeah. Zack had it nice for sure.
I I used to the Super Nintendo game is great, by the way. Yeah. Santa, like you said, talk about who’s coming correct. Santa, you gotta come correct. Fuck you.
I’m out on Santa. Well, I I have the exact same stock down. Mine was more around the gifts themselves. All the gifts are pretty cool, I thought. Swords and shields and healing potions and Felix Felicia, whatever that, horn was.
Yeah. It was like the lucky charm horn or whatever. And then we get to the Beavers and mister Beaver, everything that he has to work on fixed. So he gets the house fixed. He gets, like, the dam fixed.
He gets, like, all this stuff that he’s working on. He gets time. Yeah. He gets time back. Yeah.
Which I was like, oh, great. So missus Beaver, I assume she’s gonna get, like, the pantry restock because she was cooking and doing all this stuff, all that stuff that she had it has to do for chores. You know, maybe, some nice winter, you know, sweaters, things like that where she could do it. It’s like, no. She gets stuck with a fucking sewing machine, so she has to do more work now.
Now. I was like, what kinda shitty gift was that? That’d be like giving mister Beaver, like, an ax or something or to, like, to help him build quicker, but you fixed all of his problems. He doesn’t have any problems anymore. And now you’re giving her more work?
I I just didn’t care for it. I didn’t like it at all. Once again, he’s like, alright, male, you can go lounge. Like, you’re done. Your work’s done.
Woman, you go back to work. Stay away from the fight. Go back to work. I’m surprised he didn’t because he delivered this sewing machine to her, which was nice. I’m surprised he didn’t just, like, plop it on her back and be like, carry it with you.
Alright. Show your worth. How dare you? Like, what’s where’s missus Claus? Is she in a cage somewhere?
Like, what is this what is this depiction of Santa Claus? I just did not Father Christmas. Like it at all. My final stock down is just standard Christian indoctrination, church and stuff. I hated it.
You go there to the tent gospels, all this bullshit. It’s like, oh my god. Just get me out of here. Get me to the donuts. Like, just get me to the donuts.
They’re coming after this thing. Don’t worry about it. Why instead didn’t they just, instead of the gospel, just read these books or something like that? Instead of doing the story of Christ and all that stuff, why don’t you hide it behind some, like, fun animals playing in the woods and then later in life, do the Jesus thing. So then in your own head, you already have these positive vibes to the idea.
And then when they pull Jesus in, you’re just like, oh, Jesus is like Aslan. Like Right. That’s cool for me. Instead, they just pound the Jesus thing in you, and didn’t work that way. So I think the better way is to just create children’s stories about moral and mythical ideas that involve religion and then you turn them at some point into, like, the religion thing and then people are hooked.
Minus Aslan’s weird ideas, a couple of them, throwing Peter at the wolf, letting the girls see his grisly murder. I was all in. You know? He seemed majestic and amazing. Yeah.
And his sacrifice was wonderful. Really good idea. You know, it was cunning in a in a good way, not in, like, a weird scheming way. It was like, here’s how I can get one up on this witch. Yeah.
I think the the whole Christianity has gotta figure it out. You know? And CCD class was terrible. Instead, just be like, hey. We’re gonna read Chronicles of Narnia.
I’d be like, I’m in. Or watch the movies and stuff like that. You know, in the end, be like, oh, by the way, this movie this is how it ties into Jesus, by the way. Yeah. Cool.
Everyone be nice, everyone. See you later. That’s it. You know? Perfect.
So so we we basically want a movie club is what I’m looking at or book club. So that makes sense. For kids to indoctrinate them into Jesus. Well, it’s funny because I was reading, the Wikipedia page, the reception. I was like, oh, I’m guessing this had, like, great reception because it was, like, ahead of its time, you know.
Mhmm. But some reviewers considered the tale overly moralistic or the Christian elements overstated attempts to indoctrinate children, which the whole book is literally about fighting for what you’re you believe in and is good. That’s like a good thing to do. Kindness and forgiveness are important. Like they forgive their brother immediately.
It’s not like old time Christianity, like, eye for eye or, like, fear God stuff. It’s, like, very, like, just be a good person and fight for good things. Yeah. It’s it’s not Old Testament. It’s New Testament stuff.
This is, like, every basis of almost every story. So I don’t really know how that’s necessary to that Christian. Also, the other thing is I watched The Lion King when I was growing up. That was like my favorite Disney movie, that and Aladdin. I wasn’t like holy shit, Shakespeare is the a god after I got older and started listening.
Like, I wasn’t indoctrinated to Shakespeare because of that. Like, that makes no sense, you know. It’s just like what you like as a story. Who cares? You just loved Hamlet after that.
There was a point in the lioness in the wardrobe when Aslan takes Peter up and, like, shows him his kingdom, and it had very strong Lion King vibes going on. So it’s really just Shakespeare. That’s what it is. Alright. Yeah.
Because he, like, takes him up to the top of the mountain, and he’s like, oh, everything you see here, like, this is your thing. Everything that touches the light? I was like, fuck it’s Simba. Don’t go over to the elephant graveyard. Watch out.
Alright. What’d you love about Lion Witch Wardrobe? You already mentioned the professor, and that’s really my my favorite character. You mentioned it perfectly. Like, the last book, they’re like, you’re crazy for thinking yes to the bugs.
And he’s like, no, that’s that’s crazy not to think that that this world exists, honestly. Like, it sounds too too real to be true like, not made up. Right? He also had an unreal quote. He says, my dear young lady, said the professor, there is one plan which no one has yet suggested and which is well worth trying.
Susan says, what’s that? And he says, we might all try minding our own business. I started clapping. I was, like, yes. That’s that’s just mind your fucking own business.
I was like, I love that. Dude, that’s a great quote. So the professor is awesome. Yeah. I can dig it.
Well, my first love, and I think I have to say this and get this out of the way, is my local library Because I went to get this book on Libby, and it was a wait. And I’m, like, it’s like a 150 page children’s book. Like, I’m not gonna get this on Audible. It just it seems crazy. Yeah.
Yeah. Here’s a little hint, by the way, for our listeners and yourself for future reference. Yeah. You can just YouTube these classics. They’re all on YouTube.
Oh, good to know. But yeah. So instead I just the wife and I took a drive down to a local library branch that we hadn’t been to yet. It’s just like a real small one. Mhmm.
And it was such a cute little library. Like, just it was great. It was peaceful. It was wonderful. There were some women in there playing like mahjong or something.
They were playing some sort of like something. I couldn’t really tell. But they seem to be having a ball. And Did you use the Dewey Decimal system? No.
I just looked at my author’s last name. Oh, I don’t know what that is, Phil, but I I like saying the word. Do it as a It was odd going into, like, the children’s section, and we’re the only one in the library. It’s, like, middle of day, in the middle of the week. And the librarian’s, like, can I help you?
And I was just, like, no. I think I can I’m looking for a book. I think I can find it. Like, I’m okay. You guys have the wife come with you for that.
Right? Yeah. Yeah. She’s like, you’re looking for a book in the children’s section? But, they also had like and this is even a small branch.
They had, like, tons of DVDs. They had, like, Top Gun Maverick and, like, all, like, new DVDs, like, the Avatar movie and stuff. I was like, what the why are we paying subscription services? We could just we used to all love going to the movie store as kids because you can like go there, shop around and pick stuff out. The library is the same thing now but it’s free as opposed to surfing online and be like, oh, what movie are we gonna watch?
It happens every night, like, we’re like, oh, what movie are we gonna watch? It’s like, not this one. Not that one. It’s like, no, we already have the d v d. Like we’re ready to go.
Like we got it from libraries. Actually, I have like newer title. Because I remember I used to library and I was always ecstatic. I was like, oh my god, they have movies here? And then I’d go and it’d be like taming of the shrew or some weird old movies.
You know, there wasn’t anything good. Mutiny on the Bounty. No. They had a bunch of new stuff and like I just perused through it quickly and just like tons of great movies in there. I was like, wow, this is sick.
And additionally, they also had a whole section of board games, which I thought was really fun. I I love a good board game myself. And board games are all those things, like, you can’t try it. You know, you just have to buy it or go to someone’s house and play it there and then decide you wanna buy it. Well, the library, like, you just go try it on.
If you like it, then you can go and buy it. And they had good ones. They had Ticket to Ride. They had this Dune game that I’ve heard that’s really good. They had 7 Wonders.
It’s it’s amazing, you know, that these that these things exist and are free and, you know, people don’t, use them because, damn, it was fun. Let me ask you this, if we could establish a public internet access, so everyone has high speed access internet, I mean, at this point it’s very important to have, but we had to get rid of all our libraries. We cut all the costs there. Would you do that or would you think that it’s better to continue to just to have the library establishments? Yeah.
I’m a big brick and mortar guy. Mortar or motor? Mortar. I know how to say that every time I have to look it up. And I work on good companies that have for good mortars.
I just I just like the idea of going in and, like, the tangibility of it makes it really nice. I wouldn’t take the high speed Internet thing for that. I would hope there’s a way that let’s get rid of other stuff besides libraries. Okay. What else do you love?
I really like the saying. The beaver is, like, making something or I think he provides food, and they’re like, oh, this is this is awesome. This is so great. And he says, merely a trifle. Merely a trifle.
Merely a trifle. I don’t know what it means or how it means or whatnot, but that was that’s just a great line. It’s like a better way to say no worries kind of or like Yeah. You’re welcome or thanks. So yeah.
I I like it as well. I think the last thing I love, just the read aloud ability, if that’s a word. And if it’s not, I’m inventing it. It’s a long word. But the read aloud ability of of this book, and it’s made that way.
It’s made to be read aloud. The author who’s, like, telling like, the narrator is like, breaks the 4th wall or whatever a couple times. You know? Like, oh, this part’s too scary, so I won’t let you listen to it or else your parents won’t read you. I like how he’s like, I can’t describe the people that are there because they’re too scary, but here is someone getting his after their Yeah.
Exactly. But even the way, like, the book starts is, like, once there were 4 children whose names are Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, Their story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of air raids. The way it opens, I immediately felt like it was being read to me even though I was reading it to myself. My internal monologue was reading it and maybe that’s because it was read to me as a kid. But I feel like this is just a great book to read to kids, not only because it’s built that way, but also because there’s the perfect amount of options for voices.
And I’m a big, if you read aloud, you have to do the voices kind of person. Mhmm. And I like that there’s not a ton of characters. So like you don’t have to make up a ton of voices but additionally they’re mostly animals so you can kind of freewheel it. You know, you don’t have to have a specific voice be like, oh, like, this is a big strong gruff guy or whatever the case is.
Like, oh, this is a squirrel. Like, this is what a squirrel is gonna sound like in my head. So, yeah, it it seems like a fun a fun time to read. So people with kids out there, if you what what age would you say that this is appropriate for children? I also think you could skip some of the torture scene.
So I don’t think I think you just be like, and then he was killed by them, and then Killed? I don’t know. Even that’s could be Well, I mean, then the the risen from the dead thing is just I don’t know what he’s after that. He went to sleep and then he Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. I guess so. I I don’t remember how young I was when I was read this too. I think I was like 6 or 7. 7.
So and you said you were young too. Right? Like I was definitely young, but I don’t know how you I was I don’t think I’ve having books read to me when I was, like, 10. It was definitely well before then. Yeah.
I’d say I was probably in, like, 3rd grade or so. I got so, like, 9, 8, 9. It is interesting that both of us had this book read to us and both of us are now really into into fantasy as well as hard drugs. So, yeah, I think that’s really And furries, which is weird. Did you have any answer, love?
Just that we wanted to say that it held up fantasy wise. I thought it was pretty, impressive. So go read go back and read it. Even though it’s a kid’s book, it definitely held up. And it it did kinda remind me a little bit of Lord of the Flies in terms of the writing style, but Yeah.
It definitely holds up. Alright. What about Hates? The ending or and just it was just a shorter book overall. I think this most times I like say books are too long.
I think this one could have been an hour longer, that maybe the the ending a little bit more robust. It seems like it wrapped up pretty quickly. And they’re like, and then 30 years later, there’s still that you know, there’s just kinda, like, jumped times and things. So it just seems to to speed up really quickly, which sometimes it’s good. And this, I was like, I could’ve gone for another.
You know. I’m already invested at this point. You know, might as well make this a little bit longer. Yeah. I agree with you a 100%.
It didn’t go super fast until, like, the stone table situation. And then after Aslan gets resurrected, it was, like, on hyper speed. The battle is, like, 2 pages. I rewind multiple times the witch dying because I didn’t I didn’t catch that. There, like, I was there was I read a sentence.
I was like, and then the witch is dead. I was like, wait, when did that happen? Like, I thought they were fighting so. What if I Like, Aslan jumps in and, like, fights her, but they don’t say anything. It was just like, he ran after her.
And then it’s like, yeah. The witch was dead, so they all ran away. Like, wait. What? What happened?
Yeah. What? So yeah. And then after that, it was like, now they’re kings and queens. They walk through the woods, white stag, back in the thing.
Professor says, what’s up? It’s like, oh, shit. So, yeah, I agree. It wrapped up rather quickly. That was really mine, which is how quickly it wound down.
I thought it ended well, and it did make me interested to see, like, what other adventures they would have in Narnia. Because they do meant they do, you know, mention these other lands and, like, other stuff going on. So so I dug that. I guess I didn’t really understand the difference between a fawn and a satyr after our Percy Jackson situation. I was a bit confused.
Yeah. Well, we know the difference. Trust me. So I I Googled it, and fawns born with horns. Satyrs have to earn them.
Okay. Simple enough. Fawns are Greek. Satyrs are Roman. Fawns are more foolish and carefree, which I didn’t feel like mister Tumnus was that carefree considering he tried to screw Lucy over.
Definitely foolish in that in that regard. Seders often possess more intelligence, definitely smarter than Mr. Tumnus who tried to screw over a child. But the key difference is that seders are, and I quote, often womanizers with their big old donkey dicks. Gotcha.
Gotcha. Alright. Checks out. What’s the satyrs that from Percy Jackson? They, like, apparently have a full erection at all times or something.
What is it? I forget. It was honestly it was, like, super creepy when I read into it. I was like, what the heck? And then trying to tie it to, like, his buddy and Percy Jackson just gave me all these weird images in my head, so I just moved on.
It’s a a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse as well as a permanent exaggerated erection. There you go. Yeah. Goddamn it. Perfect.
Classic. So I get why the satyrs are bad in this book because no way Aslan Jesus is teaming up with some satyrs with spears. Well, language of the wardrobe, Keith, would you recommend it to our listeners of all ages? I’m not just saying children’s books of all ages. I think it’s a good entry into to fantasy.
You haven’t read fantasy before? If you’re you’re want wanting to get your mind open a little bit, it’s a quick read. I would recommend it and read it to any of young kids. Yeah. Why not?
Yeah. I agree. It’s it’s great. I mean, talk about, like, it’s a 180 pages. Get it from your library.
Go read it to your kid. It’s great. I would say, like, 10, though. I don’t know. Keep the because you gotta keep the murder in.
You know? But, kids can handle it. They’re much more resilient than we’re we’re making them out to be. We can’t baby these kids these days. Yeah.
So When when I read it, when I think again, I think it’s 6 or 7. What the biggest takeaway for me was that closets should have Narnia in it. Yeah. Being murdered on a, table, that’s normal. We’re interested in Jesus getting crucified when you’re 6.
Yeah. That’s true. That’s a good point. That is a good point. It’s like, whatever.
Who yeah. You didn’t get thorns in his head? Like, what was this guy a pussy? Like, what’s the deal? Yeah.
I would I would definitely recommend it. It was great. It was great. It was a fun trip back down memory lane. I used to have all these books.
It was fun. And I think if if you hadn’t read it, it’s like, yeah. What are you doing? The audiobook’s 4 hours, so it’ll take you 3 hours to read Yeah. Basically the case.
Alright. Cool. What do we got coming up next? Well, by Hugh. He’s got an alliterative name.
Hugh Howie. Wool by Hugh Howie. I yeah. I thought he was a famous author just because it does sound like a good author name. Yeah.
It’s just a good name. But yeah. There’s an Amazon series. We were referenced at last pod. There’s Amazon series right now out called Silo.
It’s the first book of a Silo series. So we’re getting into it and then we’re gonna probably watch the show too. At least I’m gonna Yeah. I think so. So.
I think it’s a good idea. Pick it up. We’ll bring that to you next. Everyone, enjoy 4th. I think we’re releasing this on 4th.
So yep. Yeah. Giddy up. Enjoy 4th. I’m excited for, I’m excited for Will.
This is right up your alley, so dystopian bullshit, I love it. It’s not bullshit, it’s real life, kid. Alright. That’s it for Lion of the Witchwood Wardrobe by CS Lewis. We’ll catch you next time.
Keith, enjoy the 4th. You too. Alright. Bye now. Bye now.
