Susan Pevensee

[Ian]

The Last Battle is rather uneven in quality. Its greatest flaw, for me, is its account of Susan as having fallen from grace. She already grew up in Narnia and was known as Queen Susan the Gentle. I've never been able to accept the notion that after growing up again in England she rejected Narnia and became that Lewis bugbear, a modern minx. It just doesn't fit.

[C. J.]

I know some think she lost her salvation but I don't think so. I feel that she would one day enter that greater Narnia. She was consistently a "doubter" of the four and this time the weakness had a consequence, as seemingly large it turned out to be.

[Stephen]

Although it made me sad that one of the close siblings was lost to Narnia, I think it was an interesting development. It showed that though while one is within the world of Narnia that person's interest is absorbed by it, when one leaves that enchanted retreat and reenters our commonplace society one's memory of the nobility and grandeur fades. If you don't like the metaphor of losing faith, replace it with that of the adolescent forgetting the outright commitment to imagination that he had in childhood.

[John]

Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called "The Problem of Susan" about the fate of Susan Pevensie. I'm not sure the actual story can be found anywhere but a google search reveals quite a bit of info about it.

[Eli]

I want to look into that Neil Gaiman short story.

I saw it coming about Susan in Prince Caspian. I believe she was the last one to see Aslan when he was hiding himself from them. I always thought that her not making it into the last book was because she turned to agnosticism or atheism. As an agnostic/atheist, it didn't make me agitated or offended or anything. I guess I feel indifferent to her not making it there.

[Janet]

I thought that Susan represented the child raised to believe, but who loses faith as an adult. I would hjope that she would gain it back, but if forever lost, would she regain it again. It's all a matter of personal theology.

[Ruby]

I always read it as it was written- she wanted to be grown up and forget about the "childish games" she used to play (sort of like the kids in Peter Pan). It might be something about her not being religious anymore, but I think it's probably a mix of both so that both young and older audiences could read into it.

[Victoria]

Why do nylons and lipsticks become a measure of Susan's worth?
Because that was, or appeared to be, all she thought about. Nothing wrong with taking an interest in one's appearance, but it shouldn't be one's only interest.

But whatever Susan's faults, she didn't deserve to have her whole family wiped out and be left alone. That's one of the reasons why The Last Battle is my least favourite Narnia book, by a long way.

I find the religious parallels really too heavy handed, and I don't like the fact that the younger characters are taken into 'Heaven' and are supposed to be happy about being dead, when they haven't had a chance to live out their lives in this world. I suppose Lewis, as a committed Christian, saw it as a happy ending, but I don't.

[Ian]

She must come back. After all, "Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia."

[L.M.]

I always felt that the "lipstick and nylons" comment was simply a reference to Susan's attitude that Narnia was just a childish game to her, and that once she reached adolescence she felt it was silly. I don't read it as any kind of slam on her sexuality, but rather that she turned to the interests of a teenage girl and no longer wanted to play "let's pretend" as the others did. Remember that she was the one who had more doubts than the others did. With the passage of time she forgot about Narnia altogether.

[[deleted user]]

John wrote: "Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called "The Problem of Susan" about the fate of Susan Pevensie. I'm not sure the actual story can be found anywhere but a google search reveals quite a bit of info a..."

The Problem of Susan can be found in the short story collection Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders.

[John]

Pigletto wrote: "John wrote: "Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called "The Problem of Susan" about the fate of Susan Pevensie. I'm not sure the actual story can be found anywhere but a google search reveals quite a ..."

Thanks! I've not read this book although I'm aware of it---I did not realize it actually included this story!