Puddleglum

Infobox Narnia character
name=Puddleglum


caption=
race=Marsh-wiggle
nation=Narnia
gender=Male
title=
birthplace=Narnia
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parents=
children=
siblings=
otherFamily=
major1=The Silver Chair
major2=
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major4=
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film1= 1990 BBC miniseries: Tom Baker
film2= 1999 Radio Drama [http://www.radiotheatre.org/enternarnia/indexHome.html] : Ron Moody
film3=
film4=|

Puddleglum is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis. Puddleglum appears in "The Silver Chair" in which he is a principal character. He also appears in Aslans Country at the end of The Last Battle. 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".

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 describes their outlook on life.

Biographical summary

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." Harvard citation|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 (and a kiss) as they part company Puddleglum remarks, "Well, I wouldn't have dreamt of her doing that. Even though I "am" a good-looking chap." Harvard citation|Lewis|1952|pp=ch16

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, neither a great fighter nor a clever strategist. Yet he is instrumental in breaking the Emerald Witch's spell and releasing the Prince by stomping out her magical fire (badly injuring his foot in the process, though not as much as a normal human would, since his feet are webbed).

ource

Lewis said that his gardener Fred Paxford served as a model for Puddleglum. Harvard citation|Sammons|1979|pp=154

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." Harvard citation|Martindale|Root|1990|pp= 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." Harvard citation|Caughey|2005|pp=47

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" and by Bernard Cribbins in the BBC Radio adaptation of the same story.

*Douglas Gresham mentioned Andrew Adamson, director of the first two Walt Disney film adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia, as being an appropriate Puddleglum in a future adaptation.

Allusions/references from other works

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

Quotations

*"Puddleglum's my name. But it doesn't matter if you forget it. I can always tell you again."
*" [while drunk or pretending to be drunk] " "Nothing wrong with me. Not a frog. Nothing frog with me. I'm a respectabiggle " [respectable Marsh-wiggle] " . . . Reshpeckobiggle."
*"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."

References

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Additional reading

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