Puddleglum

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Narnia character
Puddleglum
Race/Nation	Marsh-wiggle / Narnia
Gender	Male
Birthplace	Narnia
Major character in
The Silver Chair
Portrayals in Adaptations
1990 BBC miniseries: Tom Baker 1999 Radio Drama[1]: Ron Moody

Puddleglum is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Puddleglum only appears in The Silver Chair in which he is a principal character. Puddleglum is an uncommonly cheerful Marsh-wiggle; however Marsh-wiggles are most well-known for their pessimistic views on life. Thus a Marsh-wiggle's idea of cheerfulness is still a rather gloomy personality, and as such Eustace and Jill, fellow protagonists, initially thought of Puddleglum as a "wet blanket".

Contents 1 Name 2 Biographical summary 2.1 Character development 2.2 In The Silver Chair 3 Source 4 Christian elements 5 Portrayals 6 Allusions/references from other works 7 Quotations 8 References 9 Additional reading

[edit] Name

The name Puddleglum may be a typical Marsh-wiggle name, but it can also be viewed as a concatenation of "Puddle" for the wetland area where Marsh-wiggles live and "glum" which well describes their outlook on life.

[edit] Biographical summary

[edit] Character development

Nothing is known of Puddleglum's life before he appears in chapter 5 of The Silver Chair, where he first introduces himself by saying, "Puddleglum's my name. But it doesn't matter if you forget it." From then on, he is a caricature of pessimism and a bastion of gloomy fortitude: "I see you're making the best of a bad job. That's right. You've been well brought up , you have. You've learned to put a good face on things." (Lewis 1952, pp. ch5) But in the end Lewis gives us a small sign that maybe spending time with Eustace and Jill has had an effect on him. After Jill surprises him with a hug as they part company Puddleglum remarks, "Well, I wouldn't have dreamt of her doing that. Even though I am a good-looking chap." (Lewis 1952, pp. ch16)

[edit] In The Silver Chair

Puddleglum is the companion of Eustace and Jill as they search for Prince Rilian. He is a somewhat unique character in Lewis's works. He is neither dashing nor charming, a great fighter nor a clever strategist. Yet he is instrumental in breaking the Emerald Witch's spell and releasing the Prince.

[edit] Source

Lewis said that this gardener Fred Paxford served as a model for Puddleglum. (Sammons 1979, pp. 154)

[edit] Christian elements

Lewis, himself an expert on allegory, did not consider The Chronicles of Narnia allegory. He saw them as "suppositional" answering the question, "What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?' This is not allegory at all." (Martindale & Root 1990) While not allegorical, Narnia does present significant parallels with elements from Christianity.

Lewis is perhaps using Puddleglum to give a somewhat Existential statement of faith when he writes, "Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all of those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones." (Caughey 2005, pp. 47), although the view seems consistent with Lewis`s own view of literature.

[edit] Portrayals

• In the 1990 television serial produced by the BBC, The Silver Chair, Puddleglum was played by actor Tom Baker.

• The voice of Puddleglum was provided by Ron Moody on Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's dramatization of The Silver Chair.

[edit] Allusions/references from other works

The Christian rock band The Swift were formerly known as Puddleglum.

[edit] Quotations

• "Puddleglum's my name. But it doesn't matter if you forget it. I can always tell you again."
• [while drunk] "Nothing wrong with me. Not a frog. Nothing frog with me. I'm a respectabiggle [respectable Marshwiggle]."

[edit] References

• Lewis, C.S. (1953), The Silver Chair, London: Geoffrey Bles
• Martindale, Wayne & Root, Jerry (1990), The Quotable Lewis, Tyndale House, ISBN 0-8423-5115-9
• Sammons, Martha (1979), A Guide Through Narnia, Wheaton, Illinois: Harold Shaw, ISBN 0-87788-325-4
• Caughey, MShanna (2005), Revisiting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth and Religion in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles, Benbella Books, ISBN 1-932100-63-6

[edit] Additional reading

• Ford, Paul F. (2005), Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition, SanFrancisco: Harper, ISBN 0-06-079127-6
• Duriez, Colin (2004), A Field Guide to Narnia, InterVarsity Press, ISBN 0-8308-3207-6
• Wagner, Richard J. (2005), C.S. Lewis & Narnia For Dummies, For Dummies, ISBN 0-7645-8381-6