have left them lost in other worlds forever.  

These same traits of Digory's come up again when the children discover the bell and hammer, with its warning rhyme, in the ruined palace in Charn.  Digory is curious and wants to ring the bell.  Polly tries to stop him, but being stubborn, bold, and rash, he wrestles with her and rings it anyway.  This is what awakens the evil Empress Jadis, releasing her on London and eventually, on Narnia. 

Digory's boldness and stubbornness come in handy later, when he must approach Jadis on her rearing horse in order to grab her ankle and put on the ring so as to get her out of London. 

Digory is skeptical enough not to just believe anything that he is told.  For example, when Uncle Andrew is telling Digory that as a magician, he (Uncle Andrew) is above the ordinary moral rules, adding, "Ours, my boy, is a high and lonely destiny," Digory realizes that Uncle Andrew simply means he should be able to do whatever he wants.  He recognizes this same attitude later in Jadis.  It is Digory's skepticism (and his loyalty to Polly) that later help him to resist Jadis when she tempts him in the hilltop garden. 

These traits of being curious, stubborn, bold, and skeptical are exactly what make Digory such a good researcher and philosopher in later years, when he grows up to be "Professor Kirk."  

Despite being somewhat rebellious, Digory has been well brought-up and he has a soft heart.  Thus, he loves his mother and keeps trying to save her.  He keeps his promise to Aslan, and though not impressed by just any adult (such as Uncle Andrew), he is able to submit to the authority and goodness of Aslan, recognizing that Aslan is worthy of his service.  After meeting Aslan, Digory will carry the lion's influence with him all his life. 

Digory Kirke—the protagonist in The Magician's Nephew—is a very lonely young boy. He has no brothers and sisters, his mother's sick, and his father's away in India. So when he encounters Polly Plummer, he jumps at the chance to make a new friend. This shows us that Digory's quite a sociable boy, who much prefers the company of others, especially those his own age. Palling around with Polly allows Digory to indulge his vivid imagination and explore the strange, enchanting world his Uncle Andrew conjures up for him. Digory's innate curiosity is closely allied to his impulsiveness; he tends not to think too much before trying out a new experience. Thank goodness the much more logical, sensible Polly is on hand to help him out of his various scrapes.

As a young boy, Digory inevitably lacks something in the way of maturity. His patronizing assertion of superiority over Polly just because she's a girl is an illustration of this. But there's no doubt that he grows up considerably throughout the course of the book. Digory is subject to numerous temptations during his adventures which might easily trap children of a similar age. We see this when Digory is sorely tempted to to eat the fruit from the land of youth. But he refrains from doing so. Instead of being selfish and thinking only of himself, he wonders whether the fruit might help his sick mother to recover from her serious illness. Here, Digory shows not just maturity and compassion, but a real understanding of right and wrong.

Digory Kirke is the protagonist and central character in The Magician's Nephew. At the beginning of the story, he is quite dismayed to have been brought to London to live "with an Aunt and an Uncle who's mad" because his father is "away in India" and his mother is dying. In the opening scene of the first chapter, Digory is portrayed as being sullen and weak, crying bitterly over the circumstances in which fate has placed him. To be fair, Digory really is in an undesirable situation. His Uncle Andrew is indeed a questionable character, a magician who considers himself better than the common individual in society, and so not accountable to the same rules. Uncle Andrew is experimenting with some magic rings which he has managed to secure, and thinks nothing of using children as guinea pigs in his procedures.

Digory himself is self-centered, impulsive, and immature in the beginning of the story. When he and his friend Polly are transported to the mysterious world of Charn by his Uncle Andrew's magic rings, he goes so far as to hurt Polly to satisfy his curiosity and ring the bell that releases the evil Jadis. As the narrative progresses, however, Digory begins to mature, learning to make better choices and to care more about the welfare of others. Digory's ability to discern the positive and negative aspects of the characters of others truthfully is shown when he admits that his Uncle Andrew is, in fact, "a wicked, cruel magician," and he eventually risks his own life when he purposefully follows Polly into the unknown in order to protect her.