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He listened against it. Far away, a lion roared. 

He unlocked the door and opened it. Just before he stepped inside, he heard a faraway scream. And then another roar from the lions, which subsided quickly. 

He stepped into Africa…It seemed that, at a distance, for the past month, he had heard lions roaring, and smelled their strong odor seeping as far away as his study door. But, being busy, he had paid it no attention.

The door to the nursery is a literal dividing line between worlds that symbolizes the thin line between civilization and savagery. George occupies himself in his study where he lives a totally protected life free from violence and hunger. But just down the hall, behind an unlocked door, is a place where the death and violence of the wilderness are the norm. This juxtaposition also mirrors Peter’s psyche, whose animalistic savagery lies just behind the doors of his mind, waiting to emerge.

Now the lions were done feeding. They moved to the water hole to drink. 

A shadow flickered over Mr. McClean’s hot face. Many shadows flickered. The vultures were dropping down the blazing sky. 

“A cup of tea?” asked Wendy in the silence.

The terrifying scene of the children calmly sipping tea just after seeing their parents mauled, killed, and eaten by lions is a powerful image, one that symbolizes the theme of civilization vs. savagery. It proves that the children have become sociopaths and monsters, but that they cover this fact with a thin veneer of civilization. Mr. McClean stands on the thin line between civilization and savagery as he takes in the scene of the children’s seemingly commonplace and cultured ritual while the shadows of the brutish vultures move across his face.

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