What ever happened to Susan?
By Inkspot!
**Spoilers – The Last Battle**
At the end of the final installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, Susan is the only one of the Pevensies not present in the “true” Narnia – even the Pevensie parents, who have had no role whatever in the adventures, are there, just across the way, apparently in the “true England.” The catch, of course, is that all have apparently perished in a railway accident in our world; making this Lewis’ presentation of heaven: new and perfect lands where old things we treasured and lost are once again waiting for us.
That’s not a bad idea at all. The only discordant note in this scene: Queen Susan of Narnia is not present. She is still adrift in the shadow-lands, apparently very “grown-up” for her age and completely uninterested in Narnia.
Throughout the Chronicles, Susan has been the one character among the humans most likely to advise turning back or to wish she had not come at all. Her first response to Narnia, when the children find Mr. Tumnus’ cave abandoned and ransacked:
“I wonder if there’s any point in going on,” said Susan. “I mean it doesn’t seem particularly safe here, and it looks as if it won’t be much fun either … What about just going home?”
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Into the Forest
The other children convince her to stay, she meets Aslan and reigns for years as Queen Susan with her brothers and sisters in Narnia – yet even when she has come into her own, this attitude of hesitancy still plagues her.
When the monarchs are chasing the White Stag at the end of the book, and it disappears into the woods, her advice is, “Wherefore by my counsel we shall lightly return to our horses and follow this White Stag no further” (LWW, The Hunting of the White Stag).
She was reluctant to leave our world, and then is reluctant to return, because Susan fears the unknown and desires to control her own destiny. She does not want the adventure she is sent, she does not want any adventure. It might be dangerous, it might be uncomfortable, she might not be able to control it. When things begin to happen that do not fit with her idea of what should happen, she wants to withdraw from them.
It’s not only Susan who feels that way. How many times have you thought, or said, to yourself, “If only …”
If only I looked like that …
If only I could sing like that …
If only I had a car like that …
If only I weren’t so short …
If only I had more money …
In our world, our Lady and Mother Eve fell victim to “if only,” too. If only she could eat that fruit, she would know the difference between good and evil, and be like God. Her husband, our King and Father Adam, too, desired something more, something different than what God had given him. He stood with Eve while she conversed with the serpent and ate the fruit Eve gave him.
This is how we learned to draw back from what God offers us. Our First parents did it.
Susan was no better and no worse than Eve, or than you or me – she wished for something different than what God had in mind for her. She didn’t want to plunge into the adventure at hand because she feared it. At its root, this attitude reflects a lack of faith in God to provide for us. When we feel this way, we are saying that we cannot trust in God to take care of us.
At the end of The Last Battle, Lewis tells us Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia, so she does not arrive in Aslan’s country with the others. But does that mean she never gets there? I don’t think so.
In the other books, whenever Susan was doubtful and hesitant, her companions gave her strength, and her own integrity stood firm, despite her doubts. In the beginning of the stories, she wanted to go home because Mr. Tumnus’ cave had been vandalized, and Tumnus himself taken away by the police – but then Lucy said he must have been arrested for helping her, and they ought to try to rescue him. Reluctantly, Susan chose to do the right thing, despite her fears:
“I’ve a horrid feeling that Lu is right,” said Susan. “I don’t want to go a step further and I wish we’d never come. But I think we must try to do something for Mr. Whatever-his-name-is – I mean the faun.”
LWW, Into the Forest
If she remained true to her character even after the series ending, I think Susan may yet have chosen to take the adventure as it came, rediscover her love for Aslan – in our world – and find her way into his country at last.