Chris's review of Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian (Lions S.)
by C.S. Lewis

Chris's review

rating:

bookshelves: fantasy

status: Read in March, 2006

And now the publication order is starting to make more sense.

This book takes place roughly one year after the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Pevensie kids have been away from Narnia for a while, and now Narnia wants them back. In what appears at first to be sloppy storytelling, but makes sense later, the kids are almost literally sucked off a train platform back into their old fantasy land. How and why this should be, they do not know. What they soon realize, though, is that for the year that passed in their world, thousands had passed in Narnia. Their great kingdom was overrun by trees and ivy, the treasures of Cair Paravel were covered in dust, and the once-famous names of High King Peter, Queen Susan, Kind Edmund and Queen Lucy had passed into the obscurity of legend.

A new power was ruling Narnia now, from across the sea, and it brought suspicion, fear and superstition with...more And now the publication order is starting to make more sense.

This book takes place roughly one year after the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Pevensie kids have been away from Narnia for a while, and now Narnia wants them back. In what appears at first to be sloppy storytelling, but makes sense later, the kids are almost literally sucked off a train platform back into their old fantasy land. How and why this should be, they do not know. What they soon realize, though, is that for the year that passed in their world, thousands had passed in Narnia. Their great kingdom was overrun by trees and ivy, the treasures of Cair Paravel were covered in dust, and the once-famous names of High King Peter, Queen Susan, Kind Edmund and Queen Lucy had passed into the obscurity of legend.

A new power was ruling Narnia now, from across the sea, and it brought suspicion, fear and superstition with it. The true king of these people, these Telmarines, is a boy named Caspian the Tenth, though he only goes by the title of Prince. His uncle Miraz holds the throne, with every intention of seeing young Caspian dead. The boy's only chance for survival lies with the magical creatures of Narnia and its legendary kings and queens, the very ones he had been beaten out of believing.

There's a lot of people who read things into C.S. Lewis' works, and to be fair, I think Lewis knew what he was doing when he wrote them. A big reason his stories have survived as long as they have is their multi-layered complexity. A recurring theme of the Narnia books is, of course, that of the Savior. Aslan as a Jesus substitute is a well known example. In this book, Caspian becomes the savior of Narnia, but he in turn needs to be saved by Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. I'm not quite sure what the message might be just yet.

Lots of people have co-opted Narnia as a Christian allegory, at least in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but for the rest of it, I'm not convinced. Aslan encourages people to save themselves throughout the books. Except for putting himself in Edmund's place at the Stone Table, he consistently tries to get people to live up to their own potential and to use the talents and abilities that he knows they have. It doesn't quite mesh with the "give your life to Jesus" message that I am familiar with, unless Lewis was working with a different perspective on Christianity. Besides, it's very clearly spelled out that Narnia is only really complete when it is ruled by Sons of Adam and/or Daughters of Eve. Evoking Adam and Eve, the committers of Original Sin, from which Jesus apparently tried to save all of us, is an interesting move. It suggests a certain embracing of humanity's flaws, rather than a blanket condemnation of them, a point of view for which Christianity - indeed most major religions - is not famous.

I don't know, it's getting late and by this point I'm pretty much just writing whatever comes into my head. Plus, I have a Sims game going and I'm waiting rather impatiently for a pair of my Progenitor Sims to die of old age.

Anyway, Aslan usually consents to be the Savior of last resort. Whenever people or Beasts can save themselves without his intervention, he seems happy. If he has to nudge them from time to time, though, so be it.......less

Like this review? yes flag

comments (showing 1-3 of 3)

newest »

date

message 1: by Blandine

09/19/2008 05:58AM

The children's family name is Pevensie, not Peverly. ;)

flag *

message 2: by Chris (last edited 09/19/2008 06:12AM)

09/19/2008 06:07AM

Whoops. Where'd I get Peverly from? Hmmm....

Fixed - thanks for the heads-up. *smile*

flag *

message 3: by Dacia

09/21/2008 07:03PM

Have you read "Mere Christianity" by Lewis yet? It might help you understand why his "Christian Allegory" isn't quite as obvious. Lewis is, most definitely, Christian. However, since he came the Christianity later in life after spending many years as an atheist in an intellectual community, his views are very different than those of most lay Christians.

The funny thing for me is that I read the series in my non-Christian phase and got just as much out of them, spiritually, at that age as I do now as a Christian. When you say the stories are multi-layer, you're not kidding! There are so many layers that even though I've read them at least a dozen times by now, I find new ideas, hints, and meanings every single time.

Just for the record, I prefer to read the books in order of publication rather than in Narnia Chronological order. The reason for this is simple. The C.S. Lewis who wrote "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" was not exactly the same man who wrote, "The Last Battle". He was still learning, growing, and changing throughout his entire life. I find that the philosophy in the stories grows in a more meaningful way if you read them in publication order. Reading them in chronological order, while fun for some of the story points, distorts many of the spiritual themes.

flag *

Chris's review of Prince Caspian

comments (showing 1-3 of 3)

flag abuse