Posted by: @narnian78

 There is no mention of smoking as far as I know, although the old Professor Digory Kirke is sometimes shown in the movies and pictures with a pipe. 

 

Actually LWW specifically mentions the Professor lighting his pipe when Peter and Susan see him about Lucy. Later in the same book Mr Beaver lights a pipe after dinner. I think Trumpkin also smokes a pipe in PC and it mentions that Nikabrik is not a smoker. In SC Puddleglum smokes a pipe and in LB so does Poggin.

In MN I can't remember any actual smoking, although I think at one point it says Uncle Andrew smelt of cigars. In VDT the Scrubbs are described at vegetarians, teetotallers and non smokers so there is some pretty thinly veiled criticism of modern health fads; another reason both fundamentalists and progressives often have issues with Narnia

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

gluttony can also mean an addiction, like drugs, alcohol, candy, caffeine.

I thought that the only reason alcohol is wrong is because it can cause someone to neglect their duties, or cause them to break the law (i.e. DUI). Sugar and caffeine don't have any serious issues like that I'm aware of since they don't skew someone's judgment. Caffeine is also good for someone who has low energy levels. Sugar can lead to health issues, but it doesn't have any immediate problems.

Posted by: @hermit

Posted by: @narnian78

 There is no mention of smoking as far as I know, although the old Professor Digory Kirke is sometimes shown in the movies and pictures with a pipe. 

 

Actually LWW specifically mentions the Professor lighting his pipe when Peter and Susan see him about Lucy. Later in the same book Mr Beaver lights a pipe after dinner. I think Trumpkin also smokes a pipe in PC and it mentions that Nikabrik is not a smoker. In SC Puddleglum smokes a pipe and in LB so does Poggin.

In MN I can't remember any actual smoking, although I think at one point it says Uncle Andrew smelt of cigars. In VDT the Scrubbs are described at vegetarians, teetotallers and non smokers so there is some pretty thinly veiled criticism of modern health fads; another reason both fundamentalists and progressives often have issues with Narnia

@hermit 

I guess I had forgotten about the old professor’s habits. 🙂

I suppose that some people would criticize Lewis for his smoking and drinking, although I think I could forgive him for it. I have never never smoked except for one time when an adult wanted me to try a cigarette when I was child. It wasn’t enough to damage my lungs, and I never tried it again.  But that was long before people’s attitudes toward the habit changed. We can forgive Lewis for smoking since the damage to the human body was not known at that time.

A professor smoking a pipe was once considered something which gave him dignity at the time that Lewis lived. People often have a disparaging view of it today, although I don’t think Lewis is all to blame for something which may have shortened his life.  Apparently he did not drink excessively like his brother Warnie so he was able to control that habit enough and he didn’t have serious health issues until later in his life. It is sad that he didn’t live to a very old age.  His friend Tolkien outlived him, but he also smoked a pipe, which was a kind of personality trait for an old professor. I remember that at least two of my professors in college smoked, but that was in the 1970’s when it was still considered acceptable conduct. 

Posted by: @hermit

In VDT the Scrubbs are described at vegetarians, teetotallers and non smokers so there is some pretty thinly veiled criticism of modern health fads; another reason both fundamentalists and progressives often have issues with Narnia

I think the idea that "fundamentalists" often object to Narnia is exaggerated. Note that I used the word, exaggerated, not the word, untrue. There are some of them who are, of course. (There are some who object to just about everything.) But the majority of Christians either like or tolerate Narnia. People just bring up the ones who find it offensive to make Narnia seem more...evenhanded, I guess, like it offends people with opposite religious viewpoints so it must be nuanced. Or maybe because it makes Narnia seem edgier somehow. 

Or maybe I'm just cynical about anyone who uses the term "fundamentalist" because, in my experience, it doesn't really mean anything except "person who is either a Christian or a Muslim whom I find offensive" and, honestly, there are probably even people who apply it to certain atheists. It's just one of those annoying words like that. 

Maybe I'm also cynical about people who drink, like C. S. Lewis, because, from what I've observed, they're actually way more judgmental toward people who don't drink, like the Scrubbs, than those people are toward them.  

It's true that Eustace's parents were described as being vegetarians, non-smokers, and non-drinkers.

In speaking of, it does make me wonder if Eustace's eating lifestyle changed after he was converted. At the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he would be eating fish with Aslan, Edmund and Lucy. Before that, he would not have eaten fish. Even in The Silver Chair, he would be eating eel stew, a wild goose, roast turkey, and a stag (a talking one, which is a big no-no in Narnia). While his parents may have remained vegetarians, Eustace would have made his own choice in how to eat.

Anyone reading our forum here that are vegetarians or vegans, shout out to you for making that commitment.