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Narnian apples have the power to bestow unending life—a tempting prospect that reveals the selfishness or unselfishness of characters’ hearts. Therefore, apples symbolize the choice to serve others or to satisfy oneself. After Digory releases the Witch from enchantment, allowing her evil to infiltrate Narnia, Aslan commands Digory to undo the harm he’s caused by journeying to a remote garden and retrieving a magical silver apple. When Digory does so, he discovers that the Witch has beat him there. She eats one of the apples herself, obtaining endless life, and tempts Digory to steal an apple to save his ailing mother. Digory ultimately refuses and brings his apple back to Narnia, where it’s planted to become a protective tree for the creatures there. Because of his obedience, Digory is allowed to pick another apple to take back to London. Though its magic isn’t as potent in the “ordinary” world, it does heal Digory’s mother’s illness, suggesting that a selfless sacrifice in the short term will ultimately pay off in the long term.
Apple Quotes in The Magician’s Nephew
The The Magician’s Nephew quotes below all refer to the symbol of Apple. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 13
Quotes
He knew which was the right tree at once, partly because it stood in the very center and partly because the great silver apples with which it was loaded shone so and cast a light of their own down on the shadowy places where the sunlight did not reach. He walked straight across to it, picked an apple, and put it in the breast pocket of his Norfolk jacket. But he couldn’t help looking at it and smelling it before he put it away.
It would have been better if he had not. A terrible thirst and hunger came over him and a longing to taste that fruit. He put it hastily into his pocket; but there were plenty of others. Could it be wrong to taste one? After all, he thought, the notice on the gate might not have been exactly an order; it might have been only a piece of advice—and who cares about advice? Or even if it were an order, would he be disobeying it by eating an apple? He had already obeyed the part about taking one “for others.”
Related Characters:
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Get the entire The Magician’s Nephew LitChart as a printable PDF.
Apple Symbol Timeline in The Magician’s Nephew
The timeline below shows where the symbol Apple appears in The Magician’s Nephew. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 12
...of a lake in the valley he will find a garden. Digory must pluck an apple from a tree in the center of the garden and bring it back to Aslan.
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Chapter 13
...smell. Digory immediately recognizes the tree Aslan had spoken of—it’s loaded down with shining silver apples. He immediately plucks an apple and can’t help smelling it before he puts it in...
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...perhaps “Do Not Steal” was sufficiently impressed upon him that he wouldn’t have eaten the apple anyway.
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...to see the Witch standing just a few yards away. She has just eaten an apple. Digory realizes she must have climbed over the wall. She looks proud, triumphant, and as...
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...woods last night. She understands his errand. She tells him he’s foolish for taking the apple back to Aslan, untasted: it is “the apple of youth.” She herself has tasted it...
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Digory refuses that offer, but then the Witch points out that one bite of the apple would cure Digory’s mother. All he has to do is use his ring to return...
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...at sunset. A crowd of creatures makes way for Digory as he approaches Aslan with apple in hand.
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Chapter 14
...about that. He just feels content in Aslan’s approval. Aslan instructs Digory to toss the apple onto the soft ground along the riverbank, and he does so.
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Just then, everyone notices that a sweet-smelling tree laden with silver apples has quietly spring up. Aslan charges the Narnians to guard this tree, which is their...
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Polly speaks up to explain that the Witch has already eaten one of the apples from the tree. Aslan explains that this is why the Witch now finds the tree...
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Digory confesses that the Witch tempted him to eat an apple, too. Aslan says that the same fate would have befallen Digory—and that if he had...
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...his mother, but trusting Aslan’s words. But Aslan quietly gives Digory permission to pluck another apple. It will not give his mother endless life, but it will heal her for now....
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Chapter 15
Digory sits by his mother’s bed. When he takes out the apple, its brightness overpowers everything else in the room. He peels and slices the apple for...
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That night, Digory buries the apple core in the Ketterleys’ garden. The next morning, he hears the Doctor telling Aunt Letty,...
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The tree in Digory’s backyard grew into a wonderful tree, though its apples aren’t fully magical. When Digory later became a learned professor, he inherited the Ketterleys’ house....
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