Lilith

Lilith

            Lilith was an interesting read, wherein the main character – Mr. Vane – walks through a mirror and ends up in a fantasy land. There, he meets a Raven who happens to be his Librarian. The Raven offers him advice; however, Mr. Vane refuses the advice and instead does what he wants. This leads to quite a bit of craziness through the course of the story. This story has a very interesting theme of learning one’s identity and becoming really alive. MacDonald appears to believe that our lives right now aren’t really life but death, we need to sleep and die in order to become alive. There is also the theme of listening to our elders, because they know better. A lot of the things that happened to Mr. Vane would never have happened if he had just listened to Raven and Eve in the first place. Life is full of mistakes, but it always turns out alright in the end. That’s important to remember as well.

            Mr. Vane goes into the mirror not wanting to leave his home, and he takes this hard. He demands that Raven show him the way home, but Raven can’t help him because finding his way home is Mr. Vane’s job. Raven tells him he needs to be at home where he is and do something to make the land he is in his home. Mr. Vane doesn’t understand what he means exactly for a little while, then he eventually does become at home, after running from Raven and Eve and their Death House. He runs into the Little Ones and becomes good friends with the oldest, Lona. He leaves to try to help them, but he ends up hurting them more than if he had done as Raven had told him. I find this interesting.

Lilith has such a good theme, and so many of them, that I had trouble deciding on a theme to focus on, but I think I’ll focus on the personal and spiritual journey Mr. Vane goes on. He ultimately realizes that it is far wiser to listen to your elders and those wise people in your life, but that if you do not, it’s not the end of the world. The part that nearly killed me when reading this book was when Raven told him he would not be much help to the Little Ones if he did not sleep first. Instead he ignores Raven’s advice and leaves to help the Little Ones. If he had just listened, Lona might not have died.

I thought that overall the story, Lilith, was a good one, I really enjoyed it. It taught me a lot about life and obedience. Sometimes we might not enjoy obeying someone older or wiser than us, but ultimately greater good comes from doing as we’re told than from ignoring advice from someone older and wiser than us. Sometimes God is working through someone older and wiser and it is always wiser to listen to them.