Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb stumble into Aslan's World while trying to escape from their school bullies. From there, the lion Aslan sends them on a quest to find Rilian, prince of Narnia.
Morality
For the most part, the good characters act morally and the bad characters do not. Jill causes Eustace to fall off a cliff because she was showing off at the beginning; children at the English school bully Jill. This behavior is portrayed as wrong and corrected in the tale.
Spiritual Content
Like the other Chronicles of Narnia, this book has strong allegorical ties to the Bible; one such tie is between Jill meeting Aslan and the woman at the well meeting Christ.
Aslan, the lion, portrays Christ; magic is used by the Lady of the Green Kirtle in things such as turning from a lady to a snake and charming Jill and Eustace into forgetfulness.
Violence
A snake bites the hand of Rilian's mother, killing her. Rilian battles the Lady of the Green Kirtle when she is disguised as a serpent; some giants come close to hitting Puddleglum with large boulders. Other giants are said to eat man and talking beasts.
Drug and Alcohol Content
Puddleglum gets intoxicated by accidentally having too much wine. The incident is fairly glossed over, however.
Sexual Content
The Lady of the Green Kirtle plans to make a man her husband, but nothing untoward is mentioned or done.
Crude or Profane Language or Content
Jill and Eustace call their guide, Puddleglum, a 'wet blanket'. Eustace says "Oh bother," "Lor," "Golly," and "By Jove."
Conclusion
The Silver Chair has a good plot line, well-developed characters, and beautiful parallels to Scripture. The whole tale captures the heart and makes it dear to older readers than it was written for.
The violence in the story is not graphic or unsuited to most children at or above the age the book was written for, and this is an ideal read-aloud.
This review is brought to you by Jeanne.
