Chronicles of Narnia Unit Study

Chapter 7: What Happened at the Front Door

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Summary

 
Queen Jadis is very impatient. She demands to know from Andrew how long she must wait for her chariot. He realizes how ridiculous he is for even imagining she'd have some kind of romantic attraction or affection for him.  By now Aunt Letty is wanting to know who is this person in her home. Uncle Andrew says she is a "distinguished foreigner, important person" to which Aunt Letty replies, "Rubbish!"
 
Aunt Letty then tells Jadis to get out of her house, calling her a shameless hussy (on account of her bare arms). Jadis tells her to get down on her knees, before she 'blasts' her. Aunt Letty tells her to not use strong language in her home.
 
Jadis then tries to do the same arm-throwing gesture that had caused the great doors from her former world to crumble, only this time NOTHING happens. She doesn't have the same powers in this world. After which attempt Aunt Letty makes a comment to the effect of the witch being drunk and not even being able to speak clearly. Moments later, Jadis picks up Aunt Letty and throws her across the room. Meanwhile, the housemaid announces from the door that the "'ansom's" come.
 
Jadis orders Uncle Andrew to lead on, which he does. The housemaid then tells Digory to check on Aunt Letty. Aunt Letty is alright because she had landed on the mattress she'd been mending. She tells the housemaid to alert the police that there is a lunatic on the loose. Letty then takes lunch up to Digory's mother.
 
Digory is worried and thinking. He's thinking that his mother cannot see this creature-she might scare his mother to death. He's thinking that they need to get her back to her own world, or at the very least, out of their world...Digory does not realize that she has lost her powers by coming to this world so he imagines that policemen have already been reduced to dust. He imagines her on her quest to rule the world.  He realizes he won't be able to leave the house, and even if he had the money, he doesn't have the slightest idea of where to begin looking for the witch. He wonders if his uncle is with her.
 
So Digory decides to wait for their return, by the window which overlooks the entrance to the house. He wonders how Polly is doing. Meanwhile, Polly has gotten into trouble with her parents; she was home late for dinner with wet stockings and shoes, couldn't give a straightforward answer as to her whereabouts, and scolded and warned she'd not be allowed to play with Digory if this ever happened again. She was sent to bed for two hours, after having dinner without dessert.
 
A lady comes to Digory's door, starts talking to Aunt Letty, gives Aunt Letty grapes to give to Digory's mother. She makes a comment  about how nothing from 'this world' can make Digory's mother better. Digory overhears this conversation and it gets him to thinking about if maybe perhaps there is a world that is a Land of Youth, that perhaps he may be able to find a cure for his mother.
 
Digory all of a sudden hears the sound of a fire engine and the sound of galloping. It is Jadis, standing on a carriage with no driver. She is terrifying in all her glory; teeth bared, eyes shining like fire, long hair "streamed out like a comet's tail," whipping the horse mercilessly.  The hansom crashes into pieces as the horse rears up. Jadis manages to jump just in time to avoid being hurt, and lands on the horse's back. She says things in the horse's ear that seems to drive it crazy. The horse freaks out but Jadis manages to stay on its back.
 
A police hansom arrives shortly thereafter and by now everyone on the street is either looking out the window or observing streetside. There is quite a curious crowd.  Uncle Andrew finally lifts himself out of the mess that is the first hansom.
 
A fat man tells the constable to arrest Jadis for stealing from his shop, and giving him a black eye. The policeman tells Uncle Andrew to take off his hat, but he's having a hard time with it, since it's been bashed down over his head. Two other policemen force it off of him, he thanks them and asks if they might have some brandy for him.
 
A policeman takes out a big notebook and asks Uncle Andrew if he's in charge of Jadis. Suddenly someone yells, "Look  out!" and the policeman gets out of the way just in time as Jadis' horse nearly kills him with an almost-deadly kick. Jadis has a long knife in her hand, which she had used to set the horse free from the hansom.
 
During this time Digory is trying his hardest to devise a way to touch her and his yellow ring at the same time, however the positioning of the horse prevents this from happening at this time.
 
The owner of the horse that Jadis is sitting upon steps forward and tries to convince Jadis to stop all the nonsense, and he reaches out to his horse, Strawberry. Jadis then refers to him as a "dog" and orders him to unhand the royal charger, "we are Empress Jadis."