The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — Chapter 5

Narration Prompt

Summarize the chapter's narrative arc, then identify the central tension and evaluate whether the author handles it honestly.

Discussion Questions

1. The Professor's trilemma is structurally identical to the Liar/Lunatic/Lord argument Lewis deploys in Mere Christianity to defend the divinity of Christ. In both cases, Lewis uses process of elimination to force a conclusion that reason alone might not reach. Evaluate the trilemma as a form of reasoning: is it logically valid, or does it achieve its persuasive force by artificially constraining the range of possibilities? Does embedding it in a children's story expose its strengths or its weaknesses?
2. The Professor's claim that nothing is more probable than other worlds represents a specific metaphysical position — not empiricism but something closer to what Lewis elsewhere calls supernaturalism, the conviction that the visible world does not exhaust reality. Evaluate whether the Professor's metaphysics is presented as a personal eccentricity, as the novel's operative worldview, or as Lewis's own philosophical commitment speaking through a character.

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