The Price of Greed is Freedom

Amy Hamilton, Chief Editor, Craving Narnia News

March 30, 2020

The cost of choosing to make decisions based on greed and covetousness is the loss of conscience and values.

Upon examining the incredible fantasy novel, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, it was observed that similarly to the spine-chilling short story, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe, the overall outcome of making decisions based on greed and not accepting responsibility for actions is a descent into darkness. Demonstrated by the narrator in “The Black Cat” and Edmund in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, both people show the fragility of human nature and its susceptibility to not only make decisions that would solely benefit oneself, but to further blame outer circumstances and environments for the results of their actions which leads to their consciences being warped.

The warning message of the effects of greed and lack of taking responsibility for actions leading to a dangerous path is expressed through the symbolism of both authors. In “The Black Cat”, Poe portrays this important theme through the symbol of the narrator’s beloved cat, Pluto. As the narrator begins to make decisions that demonstrate a lust for power, the state of his once beloved cat physically shows the reader that the narrator is becoming altered and losing himself by blaming instead of taking ownership of his actions and greediness. After a drunk fit of rage, the narrator seeks to dominate the cat and does so by violently cutting out one of his pet’s eyes. After doing so, the narrator states, “the socket of the eye presented… a frightful appearance but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain” (Poe 2). By lightening the true burden of his power driven actions by dismissing the cats suffering, the narrator demonstrates the beginning of his loss of conscience. This continues throughout the work as the cat’s appearance becomes increasingly grotesque and eventually, after the narrator killed him, is reduced to a silhouette on a wall, it symbolizes a point of no return for the narrator’s conscience as the cat’s image cannot become beaten or harmed further.

In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Edmund symbolizes his own descent into greed and losing of a conscience through his physical appearance. After arriving in the land of Narnia, Edmund is at first only slightly cold because of the weather. This could be interpreted as a symbol of the slight guilt Edmund should have felt for going to such lengths to bully his sister, Lucy, out of need to overpower her. The narrator also demonstrates Edmund’s subtle deny of actually bullying by describing it as, “He wanted to go on teasing her” (Lewis 27) instead of directly stating that it is bullying. The major symbolistic change however, comes after Edmund meets the White Witch, who offers him enchanted food and drink. After gorging himself on Turkish Delight, Lewis states that, “His face had become very red and his mouth and fingers were sticky. He did not look clever or handsome” (Lewis 39). This demonstrates that as Edmund stuffed himself with more of the food, he became more uglier as well. The loss of conscience associated with this here is demonstrated more subtly, with the narrator suggesting that Edmund believed he was forced to join the Witch and stuff himself rather than just choosing to run away or avoid her. The same symbolism of loss of conscience continues throughout this section of the book as Edmund further torments Lucy and at the same time feels sick from consuming too many sweets.

Although these two pieces of literature share the same message and use of symbolism by the authors to get their point across, there is a key difference between the narrator and Edmund. The narrator, demonstrated through the symbol of the silhouette of the cat, reaches the point of no return for his succumbing to the blaming side of the dichotomy, however Edmund does not reach this point. Because of his greedy intentions not going as planned and him not being given the copious amount of Turkish Delights he so desired for bringing his siblings into Narnia for the White Witch, he reaches a shock. By the Witch preventing him from having all his heart’s desire and the title of ‘prince’ where he would no longer have to worry about taking responsibilities for his actions, Edmund is turned back in the right direction away from the bank of no return.

The same message and interpretation of these literary works demonstrates a key part of society today. As people tend to focus on what they do not have and make greedy decisions, numerous people enter the dark path of choosing to blame circumstances rather than themselves. Whether it be large companies who insist on harvesting large amounts of climate-harming gas because of the money it puts in their pockets and then further blaming it on ‘the demand’ or people making small mistakes fuelled by greed, it is obvious that the quicksand that is covetousness reaches almost everyone, however it is not too late to change. By becoming aware of one’s actions and choosing to not continue down the path of greed and irresponsibility, it is possible to avoid paying the price of greed and instead keeping the freedom of having a conscience.