Prince Caspian

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Where are the Pevensie siblings before they find themselves transported to Narnia?

2. What kind of food do the children find to eat on the island?

3. What important objects do the children find in Cair Paravel’s old treasure chamber?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What makes Peter realize that the castle ruin is actually Cair Paravel?

2. How do the discoveries in Cair Paravel’s treasure chamber impact the Pevensies?

3. What does the dwarf’s surprise at seeing the castle ruins suggest about Narnian history?

Paired Resource

“dvergar”

• This article from Pantheon discusses dwarfs in Norse mythology, one of the sources Lewis likely borrowed from in writing the Narnia series.
• What sorts of characteristics does Norse myth associate with dwarfs? Do you see evidence of those traits in the dwarf the Pevensie siblings meet in Chapter 3? What might the inclusion of mythical beings like dwarfs add to this novel or the Narnia series generally?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. Why does King Miraz send Prince Caspian’s nurse away?

2. According to Doctor Cornelius, who “silenced the beasts and the trees and the fountains?”

3. What present does Doctor Cornelius give to Prince Caspian?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Doctor Cornelius insist on speaking with Prince Caspian in secret?

2. Explain the disagreement between Nikabrik, Trumpkin, and Trufflehunter when they first meet Prince Caspian in the woods.

3. Who is Pattertwig, and how does he react to Prince Caspian?

Paired Resource

“Luke Meets Yoda for the First Time”

• This clip from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back shows the protagonist and hero, Luke Skywalker, meeting Jedi Master Yoga, who will become his mentor.
• Compare Yoda and Doctor Cornelius. Why might both Lewis and Lucas have chosen to make their mentor figures physically small? How does this relate to Yoda’s remark that “wars not make one great”? Does Caspian learn anything similar from Cornelius?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. Who threatens to kill Doctor Cornelius when he surprises the Old Narnians’ meeting?

2. Where do Prince Caspian and his friends flee to?

3. Whom does Prince Caspian send as his messengers to the Pevensie children?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Prince Caspian respond to the arrival of Doctor Cornelius at the council?

2. Why does Lucy call Trumpkin “stupid”?

3. Why does Edmund side with Lucy when she claims to have seen Aslan?

Paired Resource

“Religion and the Environment”

• This short PBS video discusses how different faith traditions view humans’ responsibilities to the natural world.
• This connects to the theme of Spirituality and Humanity’s Relationship to Nature.
• What impact has Telmarine rule had on Narnia’s natural world? How does the Telmarine attitude toward nature reflect broader moral (or, in the novel’s terms, spiritual) failings? What point do you think Lewis is making about nature and the divine?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. What beings does Lucy sense are “almost awake” when she goes to meet Aslan?

2. What does Aslan do to help restore Susan’s courage?

3. Whom does Nikabrik invite to meet Prince Caspian?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Aslan suggest Lucy should have done when her siblings did not believe her account of seeing him?

2. How does Aslan greet Trumpkin?

3. How does Nikabrik’s attitude toward Aslan compare to Trufflehunter’s?

Paired Resource

“C. S. Lewis”  

• This brief biography of C. S. Lewis provides key information about the author of Prince Caspian.
• This connects to themes of The Process of Sin, Forgiveness, and Redemption and The Triumph of Faith and Courage.
• According to his biography, what sorts of themes appear in Lewis’s work? How do these themes appear in “Prince Caspian”?

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. Who suggests challenging King Miraz to single combat?

2. Who kills King Miraz?

3. How does Reepicheep the mouse survive his wounds?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does King Miraz become angry with his advisors?

2. How does Aslan break the river’s chains?

3. Why does Aslan believe that Prince Caspian will make a good king of Narnia?

Recommended Next Reads

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the sequel to Prince Caspian and the fifth book chronologically in the Narnia series. In it, Edmund, Lucy, with their cousin Eustace rejoin Prince Caspian on his quest across the ocean to find the seven lords of Narnia.
• Shared themes include The Process of Sin, Forgiveness, and Redemption and The Triumph of Faith and Courage.
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader on SuperSummary

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

• This is the first book in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, which he wrote in part as a response to the Christian themes of the Narnia series.
• The Golden Compass on SuperSummary