Lewis' use of Weather

Benisse

Perelandrian
Staff member
Royal Guard
The always winter and never Christmas suggests frigid enchantment and barrenness. Then when Aslan came the thaw and spring were signs of the White Witch's power weakening. What other uses of weather to reinforce the mood or plot do you see in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or in Lewis' other chronicles and books?
 
How about when Lucy first enters the wardrobe, well I should say when she sees Narnia for the first time. The music and the scenery to me seems peaceful and maybe enchanting. Despite the fact that a neverending winter in Narnia stands for the White Witch's reign and hold over Narnia it can have a beautiful part to it too, at least in my opinion.

I hope this was what you meant.
 
I like this topic. Lewis does use weather a lot to set the mood. It accentuates the spiritual dimension of the story.

One of my favorite moments is in The Horse and His Boy. Shasta, Aravis, Bree and Hwin have been on a long journey. They've plunged through salty inlets, scaled a spiraling city, and crossed a surreal and lifeless desert. All the while they've seen, heard and felt a lion in hot pursuit.

Enter the home of the Hermit of the Southern March. Shasta has already left to warn King Lune. Aravis awakens to fresh wounds on her back. She thinks she's been sleeping for a while because it looks like night. But it is the fog settling from Stormness Head. Although the Hermit refers to the weather as "foul," I find it particularly comforting at this moment. The travelers have made it to the mountain and at least for some of them, there is a brief respite. The mysterious fog is welcome. It resembles the protection Aslan is providing them from sight of the enemy. Soon it will lift to high roads with daring turns. The gang will find their way into open valleys and verdant pastures. There they will meet the Lion again.
 
In LWW, the first two times Lucy entered into the wardrobe, it was raining in England as an excuse for them to explore the house. However, it was also an interesting way to set the mood of being stuck inside a large mysterious house.

However, in Narnia, when Lucy first enters, it was a snowy night while she was led to the lantern by its light. When we follow Edmund in his first visit, it was a sunny morning. When the others go in, it was a cloudy day that threatened snow.

Interestingly, it was never stated that Lucy was cold in her first visit. Edmund was stated to be cold in his first visit, but Susan decided to use the coats to prevent them from getting cold.

MrBob
 
In LWW, the first two times Lucy entered into the wardrobe, it was raining in England as an excuse for them to explore the house. However, it was also an interesting way to set the mood of being stuck inside a large mysterious house.

However, in Narnia, when Lucy first enters, it was a snowy night while she was led to the lantern by its light. When we follow Edmund in his first visit, it was a sunny morning. When the others go in, it was a cloudy day that threatened snow.

Interestingly, it was never stated that Lucy was cold in her first visit. Edmund was stated to be cold in his first visit, but Susan decided to use the coats to prevent them from getting cold.

MrBob

I'd like to add a thought I had which adds to your thought. Maybe the reason why Edmund was cold was because it was a sort of a prediction of things to come. Since when Edmund meets the White Witch and later betrays his family and Aslan maybe it's the feeling of Evil, which makes him cold.

Maybe Lucy doesn't feel cold because she already feels the warmth of Aslan since she becomes one of his disciples in a sense.
 
And in LWW, during the course of the journey by Peter, Susan, Lucy, Mr And Mrs Beaver to the Stone table, and Edmund's very unpleasant trip with Jadis and her Dwarf, the weather changes from the bleakest of mid-winters to a lovely Spring. This seems to herald a rebirth from the tyranny and misery "enjoyed" under the reign of the White Witch, to the freedom and sheer happiness that Aslan alone can bring back to Narnia.
 
...

Interestingly, it was never stated that Lucy was cold in her first visit. Edmund was stated to be cold in his first visit, but Susan decided to use the coats to prevent them from getting cold.

MrBob

Like you, Mr Bob, I have often wondered why Lucy never complains of the cold when she goes into Narnia her first two visits... and why a faun would be walking about with a bare torso and only a red muffler and umbrella. Of course that is how Lewis visualized Tumnus in his mind to begin with, and perhaps fauns are simply more impervious to cold. I don't know.

On a different note, in The Last Battle, the grim, depressing presence of Tash is directly correlated with the lovely day in the Narnian forest suddenly becoming grey, oppressive, dank and stale.
 
Perhaps Lucy never complains of the cold because, being the most receptive of the children to Narnia, Aslan protects her from the worst effects of the wintry conditions. Similarly, Mr Tumnus is able to move around in the freezing conditions because having grown up during the reign of the White Witch, he and probably others have developed an immunity or at the very least, a certain amount of resistance to the terrible winter. I don't know whether this is the case, I'm just speculating.
 
How appropriate that the weather Jill, Puddleglum, and Eustace struggled with was bitter cold just as they were "getting cold" in terms of going pretty far off track of the Signs --and ending up at Harfang instead of going under the ancient ruins of the Giants.
 
It does seem as if Lewis preferred the Spring and Autumn. The winter was in effect in LWW and Jill, Eustace, and Puddle went through the cold wintry North in TSC.

A similar thing in H&HB in being in the desert (not sure what season) with the heat. The foursome then find their way into the pass into Archenland where they found plants growing again.

However, it was Spring (or at least we can assume it was) when Narnia was first created. Spring was the result of the White Witch's spell ending. It was Fall in PC (the apples in the trees were ripe) as well as when they started the trek in TSC.

MrBob
 
Weather was very important in That Hideous Strength.:)

to Timmy: Absolutely! For example at the climactic confrontation between the forces of good and evil the university town was enveloped in bad weather whereas where the friends of the eldil were it was indeed clear...

Thanks Mr. Bob for your thoughtful observations. Although the emergence of Rilian was during the Great Snow Dance, it does seem that winter generally accompanies evil times.
 
Well, winter weather is certainly unpleasant if you're trying to accomplish anything urgent--apart from its symbolism, which plays a major role in LWW. The Great Snow Dance shows what winter would normally be like in Narnia, though, which is one of the nice things about TSC. There's also a bit at the end of the book about the Narnians using the flooded caves of Underland as a pleasant summer getaway from the heat. It's one of the only times in the series that describes Narnians boating for fun.
 
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