Comparing and contrasting the temptation of Digory and Eve

[ArdenZ]

I looked for a thread with this topic, but I didn't find it, so I guess I will start.

The scene in The Magician's Nephew in which Digory is tempted to eat the silver apple in the garden on the top of the green hill by Jadis' urgings has always intrigued me and I see somewhat a similarity to the temptation of Eve. Yet the two stories contrast because Digory ends up resisting the queen and bringing the apple to Aslan without tasting the fruit for himself. I know that that particular scene was not necessarily an allegory or symbol of the Fall, but I wanted to see what discussions and observations can be made by comparing the two.

So, what can you glean between the two stories?

[carol]

I think it's a very interesting and deliberate parallel.

Digory, after succumbing to the temptation of the bell, stands firm on this one, in spite of the very personal appeals Jadis makes - his mother's likely demise. I can imagine Lewis weeping over writing this one, since it was so close to his own heart. I often do, too, having lost my own mum as a 10 year old. I wonder how I would have fared, had I been offered such a chance? It is not a temptation if you are not offered something you very much want. The tempter is never an ignorant fool.

It would be interesting to compare it to the much longer, complex temptation narrative in Perelandra. I think Jack was very interested in the whole issue of temptation, fall, restoration and sacrifice.

[loeee]

I think it more closely parallels our own temptations. For one thing, Digory is not "unfallen." Even the temptation in Perelandra, while a picture of Eve's temptation, seems to me to be directed more to showing us the types of temptations we ourselves can expect in life.

[ArdenZ]

Both of you have very good points.

I think they very similar, yet with different outcomes. Lewis may have wanted to demonstrate that man can still resist temptation even after the fall, and that there is such a thing as redemption.

As sort of a mental visual, it is interesting to put them side-by-side and see where they are similar and where they branch away. Eve took the fruit for her selfish motives because she was told she would be like God, and then she offered it to Adam. Digory took the fruit for Aslan, not himself, and was tempted to eat the fruit, which would make him live forever. The queen also urged him to take it to his mother. The story lines split with the decisions and the outcomes. Eve disobeys God when Digory obeys Aslan's instructions. The eventual consequence for Eve was death, but the effect of Digory's actions is restoration of life to his mother and, effectively, he and his family through the joy of her healing.

[Coyote Goodfellow]