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Teaching Prince Caspian

C.S. Lewis strikes again.

Activities: 13
Quiz Questions: 74

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Description
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Prince Caspian is the action-packed sequel to C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Knowing he wanted to return to Narnia himself, C.S. Lewis began prolifically writing the sequels before The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was even published in 1950. This guide is here to help administer the Aslanian antics to both Lion fans and Lewis newbies alike.

In this guide, you'll find

an examination of characters' trust and faith in higher forces (this is C.S. Lewis, after all).
a magical-land narrative that compares appearances and reality.
comparing the book to an op-ed about defaulting on student loans. Why not?

We mean: what's better than finding a magical kingdom? Becoming its king or queen, duh. And what's better than becoming king or queen of a magical kingdom? Again, duh: being totally beloved by a host of talking animals and mythical creatures. So what's better than finding a magical kingdom, becoming its king or queen, and being totally beloved by a host of talking animals and mythical creatures?

Having Shmoop there to walk you through it, obviously.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching Prince Caspian?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.

Instructions for You

Objective: Power. Fame. Riches. There aren't many people out there who would shrug off the chance to become the next Bill Gates. In fact, some will go to great lengths to ensure that they become, or remain, the big cheese. King Miraz is an excellent example of a guy who pursues his desires in the scummiest ways.

To mix things up, students will explore the theme of pursuing goals and desires with integrity.

You can expect to spend about 80 minutes of class time on this, or a period and a half. However, the honest/dishonest step-by-step list assignment could be assigned as homework—freeing up class time and likely eliciting annoyed student groans.

Materials Needed: Link to New York Times article "Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans," clip from Aladdin, copies of Prince Caspian and/or Shmoop's summary page

Step 1: Have students raise their hands and throw out some examples of characters (from books, movies, etc.) who act immorally or dishonestly to accomplish some sort of end. Here are some examples:

Snow White (evil witch)
Harry Potter (Voldemort)
The Lorax (Mr. Narrator who thneeded too many Thneeds)

Discuss what normally becomes of these "bad" guys. Why do they think that the bad guy always end up worse off or dead in these stories? Might it have some moral implications?

Step 2: We just love comparative T-charts, so let's start there. On the board, create a T-chart comparing King Miraz and Prince Caspian's pursuits of kingliness. Here are some questions to get students going:

What does each man do in preparation to be king?
What kind of leader is each man?
What has each man done and what does it say about what type of people they are?

After the T-chart is complete, follow up with a brief chat about King Miraz and Prince Caspian, comparing the two.

The T-chart will likely be very black and white, since C.S. Lewis doesn't leave much gray area where good and evil are concerned. Miraz does a lot of crappy stuff in order to become and stay king. Prince Caspian is a moral, kind, and upstanding young chap.

What happens when good people do dishonest things? Are they bad now? What if a good guy does a bad thing for a good reason? Eek.

Step 3: To keep everyone on their feet, watch Aladdin's song about stealing and staying in places rent free.

Aladdin steals. He stays in a little fort, rent-free. His monkey is a straight-up thief, and we're guessing Aladdin doesn't have a permit to house exotic pets. However, Aladdin's nice. His motives are pure. Is it okay for him to steal, then? How does this all work? Have the class discuss.

Step 4: Now that we've gone down the Disney wormhole, the idea of pursuing goals with integrity ought to be addressed here in the 21st century.

Have students break into groups of three or four and read the New York Times op-ed "Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans."

As students read, have them write down answers in their notebooks to these questions:

What was the author's goal in deciding not to pay back his student loans?
What reasons does he give for deciding not to pay back the money?
What was his end state?
Even though he made the choice to take out the loan, is it okay that he didn't pay it back, given his reasons?

Each group will be sharing their findings with the class.

Step 5: Bring everyone back and guide students in making connections and comparisons. Here are some great questions to help students connect the dots:

If a person's goal is good, does it matter how he or she behaves to get there?
If King Miraz believed that he was best suited to be king, is it okay that he popped off all those people?
Is it only okay to act immorally or dishonestly if the person is good and means well?
Do good people act dishonestly?
Could Prince Caspian have done anything differently to ensure a better outcome?

Step 6: This last portion can be assigned in class or as homework.

Each student will write out an important future goal. Then, they will make two step-by-step lists. One list will focus on the honest ways to accomplish the goal. The other list will focus on the dishonest ways to accomplish the goal. Each list should have between eight and ten items. Because we love examples (and we know you do too) here's one to follow. You could always write your own to present as an example.

How I Plan to Complete My Goal to Climb Mount Everest

Honestly and with Integrity

Work two jobs during the summer and live with my parents to save up enough money
Research supplies needed
Budget my money and buy quality supplies. Don't want to forget the oxygen.
Beg my friend Ted to come with me in case I fall in a crevasse
Hug Ted when he agrees
Start pooling money with Ted for the rest of the summer
Work out two hours a day to be in tip-top shape for the climb
Hire a guide
Buy a plane ticket
Etc., etc., etc.

Dishonest/Immoral/Corrupt (whatever words you want to use)

Ask parents for a several thousand-dollar loan with no intention of paying it back
Sneak into Cabella's and steal a few tents and some cold weather gear. They won't even notice.
Force Ted to come with me so he can save me if I fall in a crevasse
Under my breath mutter, "That's right you will, you scum," when Ted nervously accepts
Hang out by the pool for the rest of the summer
Etc., etc., etc.

Step 7: Have some volunteers read their goals and their steps, and then hold a big ol' discussion about why we all root for the person who reaches goals with integrity, and why we want the sneaky peeps to meet their eventual demise. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer, but we hope that students make some connections between honesty, integrity, and success.

You can ask these thought-provoking questions:

Why do we root for people who are honest in their pursuits?
What's wrong with taking the "easy way" to accomplish our goals?
Do we hurt anyone when we are selfish, lie, cheat, steal, etc., even if it's something little (for example—cheating on tests, stealing a few bucks from your mom's purse)?
What does taking the honest road say about an individual?
How about the easy, dishonest way?

Heavy stuff, but you made it through.

Instructions for Your Students

There are many stories that center on the classic human dilemma of getting what we want the easy way or the hard way. Usually one way is easy because it doesn't take a lot of time or effort, and sometimes people use dishonest means to get there. We're looking at you, King Miraz.

Why does the bad guy always end up worse off or dead in so many stories about the pursuit of power? The bad guy doesn't care how he becomes powerful, just that he does. He'll cheat and steal his way to the top. Who wants to read a crummy story about the bad guy getting everything he wants?

However, real life is a little different. We're going to further explore the issues surrounding the pursuit of goals, and how we should go about doing so with integrity.

Step 1: First thing: a little discussion. What are some examples from movies, books, etc., of a character acting immorally or dishonestly to accomplish some sort of goal? What did each character do? (Hint: there are about a million examples.)

In all of these tales, after the "bad" guy immorally scrapes himself to the top, he eventually ends up alone, poor, dead, or zapped with his own rebounding Death Curse. Miraz is no different, but you probably already made that connection.

Step 2: Your teacher will draw our old favorite, the T-chart, on the board. Let's compare King Miraz with Prince Caspian. Answer the following questions:

What did King Miraz do in pursuit of becoming and staying king?
What about Prince Caspian?
What kind of leader is each man?
What has each man done and what does it say about what type of people they are?

Step 3: Let's talk about these two special guys. You'll notice that C.S. Lewis doesn't leave much gray area between good and evil. King Miraz does a lot of crummy and immoral stuff in order to stay in power. Prince Caspian is the unequivocal good guy. However, is life always so black and white?

Step 4: Take a couple minutes to kick back and watch the clip from Aladdin. Observe what he does.

Aladdin steals. He stays in a little fort, rent-free. His monkey is a straight-up thief, and we're guessing Aladdin doesn't have a permit to house exotic pets. However, Aladdin's nice and his motives are pure. Is it okay for him to steal, then? How does this all work? Chat it up.

Step 5: Your teacher will put you into groups of three or four. You're going to be reading a New York Times op-ed called "Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans."

As your group reads, discuss and jot down some answers to these questions:

What was the author's goal in deciding not to pay back his student loans?
What reasons does he give for deciding not to pay back the money?
What was his end state?
Even though he made the choice to take out the loan, is it okay not to pay it back, given his reasons?

Step 6: Time to make some connections. Discuss each of the following questions in your groups, and then share with the class.

If a person's goal is good, does it matter how he or she behaves to get there?
If King Miraz believed that he was best suited to be king, is it okay that he popped off all those people?
Is it only okay to act immorally if the person is good and means well?
Do good people act dishonestly?
Could Prince Caspian have done anything differently to ensure a better outcome?

Step 7: Finally, you're going to write a little about one of your life goals or desires in the form of two step-by-step lists. One list will be the honest steps you would take to reach your goal. You know, acting with integrity. The second list will be the dishonest way to reach your goal. You're going to need eight to ten items in each list. Here's our example: