Talking Rat wrote:Sure, Susan could actually physically see Aslan and Narnia, but she couldn't once she left. Actually, back in England, she had less proof of Narnia than we do of God on an everyday basis.
Which brings me to something else: Aslan said that she and Peter had to find out who he was in their world. I wonder, did Susan look for him in her world? It seems to me that, considering her character, she would have given it some thought but not have pursued it very far. Maybe that was where she went wrong.
No, I don't think that we ever learn what Aslan told Susan and Peter. Unlike the conversation Aslan had with Eustace, Edmund and Lucy, we weren't there to hear what was said. We only have Susan and Peter's word for it, even in the book. But yes, I agree with you that 'in England she had less proof of Narnia than we do of God on an everyday basis'.
220CT wrote:You mentioned Susan's horn. She didn't summon help in her world, did she? She never acted like she needed help. She never learned to depend on others in the spiritual and emotional realms. Too much independence.
Odd! I wouldn't have said Susan had 'too much independence', even in the spiritual way, and especially in the emotional sense. Far from it, I thought she was too dependent on what she knew of England, what adults said, and of what she regarded as certainties, right from the beginning. May I explain?
1.In LWW, she didn't believe Lucy, full stop. In fact she never believes her baby sister Lucy, if she can help it. Furthermore, after Edmund's mean trick on Lucy, denying they had both been in Narnia, she even thought that Lucy was needing psychiatric help. When Susan and Peter went to see the Professor, it wasn't Peter who argued with the Professor. It was the 'non-scholastic' Susan, instead. Mind you, elder sisters are famous for despising younger sisters, especially younger sisters whose welfare they have been made responsible for.
2. Yes Susan accompanied Lucy and Aslan and witnessed something she should have paid more heed to. But I think that she couldn't see beyond safety and the safety strength brings. She saw Aslan killed and then resurrected, accompanying him and Lucy to the Witch's castle, the reviving of the statues and then back to the battle, where her brother Edmund lay dying, after smashing the White Witch's wand. I expect that turned her ideas of safety and strength upside down. Aslan did a lot, but when the Beavers said Aslan wasn't a
tame lion, and that he wasn't safe, did Susan interpret that as being unreliable?
3. At the end of LWW we learn that she becomes 'Susan the Gentle', a beautiful queen in her own right (Queen regnant like Elizabeth 1 and Elizabeth 2 not Queen consort, like the Queen Mother who died in 2002). Kings sought her hand in marriage, though some also fancied Lucy. It isn't until HHB that we get the story of the most dangerous of her suitors, and why taking at face value a tall dark and handsome suitor who at first appears charming, falling in line with Susan's likely reading material, might not have been a good idea.
It was Tumnus, Edmund, and Shasta and friends who got her out of the Tashbaan mess, whilst Susan was sobbing and wringing her hands, in true uselessly dependent female stereotype fashion. More Mary Queen of Scots than Elizabeth 1st, I fear. By the way, did Aslan at any time appear to Susan in HHB? Of course not. Even though he was happy to appear to Edmund, Shasta, Aravis etc.
4. And then there was the return to Narnia. Again Susan doesn't believe Lucy, or that Aslan is around, though she believes the discomfort of her surroundings fast enough. She follows Peter, because he is older than her, without analysing whether he is right or not, and what is more, is more insistent on Peter's point of view than he is, himself. I agree that pride might play a part, but I think, too, she 'had been listening to fears'. At the end of PC she got a taste of a very nice party which she undoubtedly enjoyed. Bacchus wasn't safe either to be around. But Susan enjoyed being part of the crowd, even though, unlike Lucy, she may not have been particularly aware of the things Aslan was doing for others. And then she goes back to England.
5. Then she goes to America, which people in WW2 seemed to think of as a huge party by comparison with the rest of the world. Hollywood sometimes portrays America like that, also. Even during WW2, America tended to be less affected than other parts of the world. You could get nylons there, go to the movies, dress stylishly, and more. The rest of the world, as grateful as they were for American troops, often thought of their servicemen as 'Overpaid, oversexed and over here', whilst they, themselves, struggled with rationing or worse. I'm not surprised then that by 1949 Susan still finds it more exciting and enjoyable to go along with the crowd than reminiscing with her siblings. Maybe she even wanted to forget the discomforts of not only post war England but also of Narnia as well.
There are all sorts of independences. The best sort of independence is to be able to fend for oneself without expecting others to make the hard decisions, to understand the likely consequences of a course of action, to be able to minimise as far as possible whatever discomfort must be endured, to keep in mind what one's goals should be, to know what needs to be done for the group as a whole and to do it without needing reminders all the time. Except initially when she shot the Telmarine soldiers who held Trumpkin captive, or identified the chessman, or helped with the rowing, Susan never struck me as exercising any sort of independent courage. Unlike Jill, Aravis or even Lucy.
Thank you for your forbearance,
220CT . I agree that there is a lot to dislike in that piece Gaiman wrote, but I drew your attention to it because it does make some useful points.
Rail disasters are undoubtedly traumatic. We had
one such incident in 1977. Whatever Susan was up to when she lost her whole family she must have suffered immensely. Without her family to depend on, Susan might have well found life somewhat different to what she would have expected. Gone are her parents, her two brothers, even the sister she thought she was superior to. Perhaps in the end, there really was only One she could finally depend on.
By the way, Susan did use the horn to summon help at first, when she and Lucy were attacked by Fenris Ulf (Maugrim). Then the horn was used again to summon her. I'd love to think that at the end of her life, the horn sounds a third time, to summon her back to be with Aslan and her long lost family.