On The Subject Of Susan

On the Subject of Susan

I'm going to be a little blunt and my words may seem antagonistic here. But no hate, please. I'm just trying to analyze and provide my analysis based on the very simple facts. Now.

I've never quite understood the anger at C. S. Lewis for how he ended Susan's tale. Mainly, I suppose, because I had the whole story.

Everyone gets angry that Susan is "banned from Narnia" because she likes lipstick and nylon stockings and being a teenage girl in the 1940s, but no one seems to understand that that's not quite how it went, much less that Susan still has a chance.

Let me work backwards a moment and explain the latter. You see, to quote Lewis himself, in a letter to a girl called Marcela in 1955,

"...Haven’t you noticed in the two you have read that she is rather fond of being too grownup? I am sorry to say that side of her got stronger and she forgot about Narnia... ...She is left alive in this world at the end, having been turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there is plenty of time for her to mend, and perhaps she will get to Aslan’s country in the end—in her own way. I think that whatever she had seen in Narnia she could (if she was the sort that wanted to) persuade herself, as she grew up, that it was ‘all nonsense’”

Now, there's a lot to unpack here, but first and foremost, my point is quite simple. "Perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end-in her own way." It was always meant to be open ended, for Susan. Narnia is not forever closed to her, unless you and she choose so.

"But Peace!" I can hear you saying, "There's that whole 'too fond of being grownup' phrase!" Why yes, yes there is, how clever of you to notice. The whole point of the latter portion of Susan's arc is that she chose that- lipstick and nylons and "being grownup"- over Narnia. She grew and she chose to forget Narnia.

After all, what sort of modern teenage girl (in England, during WW2) would be so interested in medieval times and what they probably explained to their friends to be a good old game of pretend? No, no, she can't remember Narnia right now - she's going to the cinema with a few girl friends, she's going to a party, she's focusing on everything but there and inevitably, after pushing it away for so long, Narnia let her be.

You see, C. S. Lewis was a very Arminian (and yes, I spelled it correctly) Christian theologian. And while I'm sure most of you here on this hellsite would like to ignore that, it is relevant to how Lewis wrote his fiction. After all, it's at the core of his basic beliefs, despite his being a staunch atheist in college and into his adulthood, and despite what you may like to think, it crept into his writing even when he did not intend it. For example, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is called an allegory for the story of the Resurrection, despite Lewis' arguments to the contrary. He insisted that it be seen as what it is, very heavy symbolism. Very heavily used Christian symbolism, that is all over the Chronicles whether you like it or not.

Let me explain why this is relevant to Susan, what Arminianism even is, and how that term applies here. Susan is, so to speak, a symbol of an atheist left behind, after all of the Christians she called family died. In a situation where you regard Christianity as true, she is left on Earth while they have gone on to heaven. And this doesn't mean that the gates of heaven are closed to her, quite to the contrary! They would be closed on the day she died insisting that Jesus Christ was not Lord, plain and simple. She has a choice to make, so long as she is alive.

Now, to Calvinist theologians and Christians, Susan never had a choice. Either Aslan, the God symbol here, chose to bring her in, or he didn't. Calvinists believe in a thing called predestination, the concept that every believer that would ever be brought to heaven is chosen specifically by God. Arminianism declares the opposite. It's a whole thing in Christian theological circles, but that's irrelevant to this discussion. In any case, the core of Arminianism is that you and I have a choice in whether or not we believe in God, and in whether or not we go to heaven.

To an Arminian theologian, God, or Aslan in this symbolic case, can influence our choice, Susan's choice, up to a point. Once we reach that point, once Susan forgets, God, or Aslan, steps back. He accepts our choice, allows Susan to forget. It's up to us, up to Susan after that.

Lewis was an Arminian theologian. He made the point, repeatedly, in his theological works, about people having a choice.

He repeats that point with Susan.

One last thing, before you go. You see, there was another letter about Susan, after The Last Battle was released. He'd been asked if he ever intended to finish Susan's story.

This was his answer.

“I could not write that story myself. Not that I have no hope of Susan’s ever getting to Aslan’s country; but because I have a feeling that the story of her journey would be longer and more like a grown-up novel than I wanted to write. But I may be mistaken. Why not try it yourself?”

Well, my people? Now that you've heard what I had to say (and say through quite the essay, my apologies), why not? Go, do what you do and tell her story for yourself. The author has encouraged fanfiction, so go on! And don't worry about Christianity and symbolism too much. It may help you understand how and why Lewis wrote what he did, but unless you're determined to have your tale in his style and overlapping seamlessly with canon, it's unnecessary. Unless you choose to make it a part of your life, you don't have to be concerned about it.

Feel free to ask questions, and I'll answer to the best of my ability, with Google by my side!

Also, I nearly forgot. There are absolutely other problems with Susan being the last of her family, left alone in the aftermath of WW2. This is not the place to talk about those, however, merely to help you understand why she "is no longer a friend of Narnia" and to remind you that there's always hope.

Oh, and besides that, don't forget that I'm talking about the books and not the movies thank you very much, while The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was absolutely perfect to canon the other two were not and I'm not going to consider them in this post. I do appreciate them, but when dealing with book canon they're both nos.

Okay ran into aphantasia again and well whoops

I may or may not have not realized that visualization is literal and people actually see things in their heads

I do not.

Neither does my mother, or her mother for that matter.

It's weird. I come up with things but yeah no I close my eyes and imagine something I ain't seeing jack piddly squat. No wonder that I, imaginative youngling I am, have insomnia I'm basically just talking to myself all night long. When I imagine something, or try to remember something, I have the idea and knowledge of it and not much else. No mental hallucinations for me!

I have a knowledge of the images I want to make but after realizing this I finally understood why I can't draw any character consistently without a reference. It's because the idea I have of them in my head is descriptive and abstract, it's like using an AI and only giving it words to depict something. I don't remember images, either. Photos are important.

As a writer, I gravitate to more dialogue heavy storytelling, though I'm not too shabby with descriptions.

actually wait. i wanna see how many ppl out these share my struggles. ('visual artist' here being any form of art that requires visualization to create)

if you have aphantasia i would love to hear how that's shaped your experience with creating art in the tags!

Why must you hurt me this way

I have discovered a rarepair/crackship and it's criminal how underused the tag is on AO3, like, I get it, it can be a small fandom when it comes down to shipping sometimes, but even so... Only 7 works for a verified tag? It's disappointing.

Let me introduce you, Pokefans, curious bystanders, and that one person that just stumbled across my ramblings, to the wonder that is the

ship.

It's absolutely mad but at the same time, there's a certain inspiring brilliance to it. Only a mad genius could have thought of this.

It's so off the walls, I can scarce begin to guess at the line of thought that led to its existence, yet the ideas it brings are fun. Like the thought of Augustine Sycamore panicking over Ash after the Kalos Crisis, and panicked calls between French Zoologist Dad and Japanese Restaurant Mom when their Reckless Sporty Child jumps off of their equivalent of the Eiffel Tower after chasing down the family pet with rabies. Not to forget the Greenfield incident, where oh look your wife just got supernaturally kidnapped and you're an ocean away while your son fights something that looks like God to get her back.

Also, Alain and Ash being brothers and Delia having a romance for the ages with the Kalosian apprentice that Professor Oak had brought on in their young adulthood.

Yet again I have a wellspring of inspiration and it's because of a rarepair that under the right conditions can be a crackship.

...*sigh*

do you ever get just a little annoyed because people seem to ignore the books in fanfiction or is that just me?

it was Narnia this time, i have yet to find a fanfic with more than a subtle nod to the books.

i just want Susan/Caspian with the books and Peter and Caspian being friends and Caspian having known about the Narnians still living plz just look at book canon for a moment i am B E G G I N G

Resources

Su Cuy' gar! Olarom anade.

(Hello, welcome all)

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Mando'a.org

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Albertamando

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Memrise course by Mando'a lessons

Oyu'Baat

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