Uncle Andrew and Aunt Letty.

C

CORIN THUNDERFIST II

Active member
As we know, whilst Aunt Letty was trying to run a household nurse Digory's mother, who was very ill, and look after her young nephew, Digory, her brother, Uncle Andrew, was dabbling in magic. I was wondering just how much his sister knew about his nefarious activities? Judging by her refusal to "lend" i.e give him any money to entertain Jadis, and her refusal to allow Digory to listen to him at the meal table talk about what he was doing, gives me the impression that she "wore the trousers" in that household, despite the fact that the late 19th and early 20th centuries were very much a patriarchal society, where women had few rights. That being so, I find it hard to believe that she would approve of what he was doing! Indeed, I consider it doubtful she would have tollerated such behaviour! What does anyone else think?
 
My impression is that she knew he was doing something relating to magic, but probably regarded as superstitious nonsense that wouldn't come to anything. He must have told her something about what he was up to, since she would say, "Don't worry the boy, Andrew," if he tried to speak to her at meal times. Also, he seems like the kind of person that would have to blab about what he was up to in order to let everyone else know how clever he'd been.

As to patriarchy / matriarchy, I think even in patriarchal cultures (perhaps especially there) women are pretty dominant within their own homes. Perhaps that's why Andrew was confined to his study in the attic. I'm sure Letty wouldn't have allowed him to do his stuff elsewhere in the house, but as an adult and (probably) named owner of the house, I would assume he would have to be allowed one small corner of his own within the house, from which she was forbidden.

Peeps
 
I agree with Peep. To me, this looks like the kind of détente one might expect from an older, unmarried brother-sister pair of the period. Letty managed the household affairs and (from her point of view) "took care of" her irresponsible brother Andrew. It's possible there was a family inheritance which Lewis alludes to Andrew somewhat squandering, so there was probably a tug-of-war somewhere along the line about who was going to control the resources. Undoubtedly care for Mabel further strained the household. My guess would be that Letty kept Andrew on a pretty tight leash, at least fiscally, and let him potter about his hobbies so long as he didn't interfere with the running of the home.

I do wonder whether Letty would have such as laissez-faire attitude if she'd known just how perilous Andrew's pottering was getting! She sure found out when Jadis showed up!
 
I don't think Letty knew anything about what her brother was doing, but was merely irritated that he didn't have his own house to do it in. I had the sensation that this was her house and particularly at this time in history, was embarrassed at having to take care of her brother. Their dynamics also were the result of their life-long sibling relationship.

MrBob
 
I think you've got the core of it, MrBob. She was clearly in charge of the house, and considered her brother an embarrassment. It's hard to be certain given that there's so little information about her, but her character seems like a typical 19th century rationalist who would have scoffed at the idea that supernatural activities even existed, much less that they were active in the attic. We're given a clue in how she reacted when Andrew tried to discuss matters with Digory at the table - cutting off the discussion in some manner - but that didn't mean she thought her brother's work had any validity or was an actual danger. Her response could be explained as that of an overtaxed woman trying to keep her crank brother from infecting her nephew with his odd views.
 
Some people have the gift, or the handicap, of being able to focus narrowly on what is within their power to do something about. Letty had both a loving duty, and good capability, to take care of her sister, and she focused on this. I think that this was part of the reason why she was unafraid when at last she met Jadis in person. An extraterrestrial witch was not part of the caregiving environment in which her mind was occupied, so she didn't have time to think about just HOW dangerous Jadis might be.
 
I appreciate the observations shared here, and just have one small observation to add. If Mrs. LeFay, Uncle Andrew's godmother, had been known to Digory's mother, quite possibly Aunt Letty knew of her too, and probably believed she was crazy or dangerous (for whatever had caused her to be imprisoned). Since Andrew was so close to Mrs. LeFay, maybe that was enough for Aunt Letty to have a low opinion of his experiments and disapprove of his talking to Digory much.
 
And that might also explain why Aunt Letty did not seem to take Uncle Andrew's pottering seriously--at least, it doesn't seem to enter her mind that he could actually accomplish something with his magic. Mrs. LeFay apparently played around with it, but it landed her in prison, not an asylum. If Letty heard the bit about her claim to fairy blood, she would likely have considered her a bit crazy, but the prison sentence likely made her think that magical dabbling led to criminal behavior and/or madness--not necessarily more magic.

I don't know that I'd call her a rationalist exactly; she just doesn't seem like she has a very big imagination. Plus, she's had to clean up after his mistakes so many times that she doesn't seem to take him seriously any longer. It doesn't matter whether he's trying to talk magic or not. When your brother makes no sense half the time because he's drinking, and has no common sense the rest of the time, you're not likely to believe anything he says. From Letty's point of view, at least Andrew conducts his experiments with his criminal godmother's things in the attic, instead of doing whatever she did to get picked up by the police.
 
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