Summary
Chapter 1: The Wrong Door
Chapter One opens with the narrator setting the time of the story: in the days of Sherlock Holmes. This indicates that the story is set around the year 1900, in London, England. Polly Plummer and Digory Kirke meet one summer day in Polly's yard. When the two children meet, Digory has clearly been crying; Polly discovers that Digory is sad because his mother is dying. Digory lives next door to Polly with his Aunt and Uncle, who are caretakers for his sick mother while his father is away in India. Digory is lonely and has no playmates, and he is scared of his Uncle Andrew, who he believes is mad. He has come to this conclusion because Aunt Letty will never let Andrew speak with Digory, and Aunt Letty has forbidden Digory from going up to his uncle's attic laboratory; on top of that, Digory can hear Andrew's footsteps and occasional strange noises coming from the mysterious laboratory, which is above Digory's room.
Over the course of the summer, Digory and Polly become friends. They often play in Polly's attic, where Polly has built a small fort on the rafters in a narrow hidden passageway. Digory and Polly discover that they can walk through the passageway and reach the attics of the adjacent houses. Digory proposes they use this passageway to enter and explore the empty house two houses down. They make some hasty calculations of how far they would need to go to reach the abandoned house, and then set off down the narrow passageway. They eventually reach a door they believe will lead them inside the empty house.
However, when they go through the door, they realize they are in a furnished attic: it is Uncle Andrew's forbidden laboratory. Uncle Andrew locks to the door to the laboratory and blocks the door through which the children entered, preventing them from leaving. Digory and Polly are immediately scared. Uncle Andrew appears to be quite a strange man, talking of how he needs two children for an experiment he is doing. They beg Uncle Andrew to let them leave so they do not miss dinner. Uncle Andrew eventually agrees to let them go, but first offers Polly a yellow ring, from a set of yellow and green rings she has been admiring. She is mesmerized by the rings, which seem to make a humming noise, but Digory is wary. Before Digory can stop Polly, she has reached out to touch a yellow ring, and she disappears.
Chapter 2: Digory and His Uncle
Digory is angry with his Uncle Andrew for tricking Polly into touching the rings. After witnessing Polly's disappearance, Digory also realizes that magic is real. Digory wants to know where Polly is and if his uncle can make her reappear. In their ensuing argument, Uncle Andrew reveals his arrogant, cruel, and wicked nature. Digory realizes that Uncle Andrew has made Polly disappear on purpose.
To give Digory the history of how his experiments began, Uncle Andrew recounts how he came into possession of a box that contained dust from Atlantis. The box belonged to his godmother, who had wanted Uncle Andrew to burn the box upon her death. Instead, Uncle Andrew kept it and has been experimenting with the dust. He discovered that, in certain forms, the dust has the ability to send living things into another world, but it is not clear where this other world is located, or what might be there. Uncle Andrew does not have that knowledge because he has only experimented on guinea pigs, but never on himself or another human. Uncle Andrew has been able to make guinea pigs disappear to the "Other World" in his experiments; however, since none of the guinea pigs has ever been able to come back, and he feels he cannot go himself because he is too important, he decided to test the rings on Polly. Digory is enraged that his Uncle would test the rings on a little girl, when Uncle Andrew was too much of a coward to go himself.
Digory asks him again if Uncle Andrew can bring Polly back. Uncle Andrew answers his question by explaining that he is so far aware that the yellow rings work to transport living things to another place, by magic. He believes that the green rings work to bring them back. However, he has not been able to test the homeward journey without a human subject.
Digory points out that Polly does not have a green ring, which is exactly as Uncle Andrew intended it: Uncle Andrew has Digory in a trap. Uncle Andrew trusts that Digory will not let his friend Polly face an unknown magical world alone, and thus Digory must go in after her to bring her a green, homeward bound ring.
Thus, Digory prepares himself to go into the unknown Other World to rescue Polly. Uncle Andrew puts on gloves to hand Digory the rings, advising him that the rings only work when they are in contact with your skin. He gives Digory the green rings to carry in his pocket, and Digory puts on the yellow ring, transporting him into another world.
Analysis Chapters 1 - 2
The novel opens with key elements to orient the reader to the time and place of the novel. The author alludes to Sherlock Holmes, the eponymous hero of the famous British detective stories set in the late 1800s, in London. After setting the scene, the plot of the novel begins when the two main characters, Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, meet and form the basis of their friendship. Friendship is an important theme throughout the novel; together, Digory and Polly are able to accomplish more than they can accomplish separately. This adventurousness and joint bravery are demonstrated when the two of them, together, make the plan to travel through the passageway to explore an unknown house.
The situation of Digory’s mother is also introduced in these chapters. She is sick and dying, and this is the reason that Digory is sad when he meets Polly. Digory and Polly’s friendship serves as a source of strength for Digory during a very hard situation at home. C.S. Lewis’s mother was also sick and dying when Lewis was only ten years old; Digory Kirke’s story throughout the Narnia series seems to parallel, in many ways, the life of C.S. Lewis (Gamgee). The difference in their lives, however, is that in The Magician’s Nephew, Digory is given the power, through magic, to try and change his mother’s situation.
Chapters One and Two characterize Digory as the protagonist and hero of the story. In Chapter Two, Digory has the opportunity to take on the role of being a hero; he must go after Polly, who has been transported into the Other World. Up until this point, Digory has been characterized as brave and adventurous, although sometimes a bit too impulsive. When he recognizes the danger Polly is in, he realizes he must make the decision to help her, despite the risk. Thus begins the maturation of his character that continues throughout the novel.
Polly, in these chapters, is set up as one of the primary characters, who helps maintain the action of the plot of the story. Polly’s is solitary, practical, and intelligent; she does not believe that being a girl prevents her from adventuring or exploring, nor does it make her less smart or her opinions less valid. However, she is sometimes dazzled by beautiful things, such as the rings. When she touched the rings, she fell into the trap of temptation, a theme in the book that often furthers the plot, depending on whether the character gives in or resists temptation. In this instance, Polly's action has furthered the plot of the story by adding to the rising action, and the mood of mystery.
In Chapter Two, Uncle Andrew is revealed as villainous yet cowardly. These two qualities themselves make his character paradoxical; although he has the skill as a magician to find the entrance to other worlds, he does not have the courage to go there himself. His arrogance is also highlighted in his belief that his work as a magician is so important that he is willing to do immoral and dangerous things to reach his goals, yet is unwilling to put himself in danger.
Magic is also introduced in these initial chapters. By the end of the first chapter, Polly is transported from the attic to another world. Chapter Two also develops the origins of the magic, which is related to Atlantis, alluding to the myth of the Lost City of Atlantis. Atlantis is a mythical city described by the Greek philosopher Plato. In Plato's myth, Atlantis is a utopian city run by half-men, half-gods. It meets its downfall when the advanced society becomes greedy and immoral; the gods, as punishment, send the city to the bottom of the sea. Although Uncle Andrew was told to dispose of the dust that he has which is a remnant of this city, he instead pursued its origins—out of the same greed and immorality that led to Atlantis’ downfall. This allusion, therefore, holds an element of foreshadowing for Uncle Andrew; his arrogance, immorality and greed will be the cause of his downfall later in the novel.
