Chapter 1: The First Years
- Lewis introduces the story he going to tell in Surprised by Joy.
- He explains that this book will be a sort of spiritual autobiography and begins to explain his concept of "Joy."
- This chapter is important because it lays the ground for what is to follow, particularly for Lewis' discussion of Joy which is key to understanding so much of what he has written not only here but in many other places.
- In this chapter Lewis discusses his days at the boarding school and concludes with a discussion about his father.
- Lewis hated the boarding school which run by a cruel headmaster and did not receive a very good education there with exception geometry which he credits with helping become a better thinker.
- This chapter explains many of the early influences in that shaped who Lewis become later in life especially with respect to faith--it was during these years he "first became an effective believer."
Notable Quotes:
On coming to faith in the high Anglo-Catholic church: "Unconsciously, I suspect, the candles and incense, the vestments and the hymns sung on our knees, may have had a considerable . . . effect on me. But I do not think they were the most important thing. What really mattered was that I here heard the doctrines of Christianity (as distinct from general "uplifit") taught by men who obviously believed them. As I had no skepticism, the effect was to bring to life what I would already have said that I believed" (33).
On life at the boarding school: "There was also a great decline in my imaginative life. For many years Joy (as I have defined it) was not only absent but forgotten" (34).
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