Does Susan go to the "New Narnia"?/Whatever happened to Susan?

CS Lewis said:
"The books don't tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then 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 — her own way."
--From "CS Lewis' Letters to Children"
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Lewis felt Lewis still might come to Aslan's country.

As for the confusion about "new Narnia." The "Old Narnia" in PC was the remnants of the original Narnia the Pevensies found in LWW, hidden away in the land the Telmarines now held. It has nothing to do with the "New Narnia" at the end of TLB, which can be seen as heaven, Narnia perfected, and from which no one ever has to leave ...
 
TolkienGoddess said:
From reading the HHB, I got the idea that only Susan, not Lucy, was being sought after as a bride. I don't know if it was here, or another Narnia forum that I read, but someone said that Susan could not come back to Narnia b/c she had been sexually active.
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I agree with ReepicheepFan here - there's no indication that Susan was promiscuous, either in Narnia or back in England (though Lewis had no illusions about just what girls who obsessed with "nylons and lipstick and invitations" were capable of). She was sought after because she was so beautiful - a point which was brought out in several books. Lucy was sought after, too ("all princes in those parts desired her to be their queen") - she just wasn't as interested.

Lewis would find it telling that someone would even think that sexual sin would be the "door-slammer" for Susan. In Mere Christianity he points out that though the modern world thinks that Christians believe sexual sin is "the biggie" - i.e. the worst sin - the fact is, it's not. The modern world hears a lot of chastisement regarding sexual sin because it violates those laws so flagrantly, but it's not the worst sin. Pride is, as he makes clear in the chapter The Great Sin. In fact, even if Susan were breaking God's laws regarding chastity, I don't think Lewis would have considered those her greatest offences. Her self-absorption, disregard for the blessings she had received, and obsession with lesser goods would have probably come before that, as well as her (probable) vanity.

If you can, see if you can run down a copy of a short story called The Shoddy Lands by Lewis. It's very interesting.
 
All through the books, Susan has been my favorite carecter. I can see a lot of myself in her. When I finished The Last Battle, I was so dissipionted. :eek: I thought Susan was a traitor. I am so glad to find out that some people think she still has a chance. :D

P.S. Sorry If I spelled anything wrong.....I hate spelling..
 
First off, let's get to the basics. The old Narnia was like old Earth. The new Narnia was like the New Heavens and Earth mentioned in Revelations. And yes all the lands were connected in the middle. So sayeth C.S. Lewis.

In the old Narnia the kids NEVER got in except when the animals couldn't handle things themselves. They were repairmen who never got to see the washing machine and stove unless it was on the fritz. Period. Susan was not invited back because she did not do good work with a wrench. She was undependable. What's more, she was an adult. So what's the hangup with adults here?

For one thing adults get tied down into complex relationships and commitments. Susan certainly did. What if she married and had a child of her own? Would such a person run to the front and shoot arrows or would they hang back for Dearest Ronald and little Jimmy? The reasoning here is similar to a Catholic Priest who is married to his vocation. The young Pevensies were married to their vocation. The older ones began to smell what we Scoutmasters call "the fumes"....gas fumes and perfumes....
 
In the old Narnia the kids NEVER got in except when the animals couldn't handle things themselves. They were repairmen who never got to see the washing machine and stove unless it was on the fritz. Period. Susan was not invited back because she did not do good work with a wrench. She was undependable. What's more, she was an adult. So what's the hangup with adults here?

For one thing adults get tied down into complex relationships and commitments. Susan certainly did. What if she married and had a child of her own? Would such a person run to the front and shoot arrows or would they hang back for Dearest Ronald and little Jimmy? The reasoning here is similar to a Catholic Priest who is married to his vocation. The young Pevensies were married to their vocation. The older ones began to smell what we Scoutmasters call "the fumes"....gas fumes and perfumes....
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And what of VODT?? It wasnt in dire need then. Children came when Aslan call, just as children of the Lord come when He calls.
And what of Peter?? What of Digory and Polly?? They all get there. Susan must wait until Aslan calls her. She will appear in the England that her parents did, thats where her heart was, thats where her parents who knew not of Narnia's hearts were, and thats wear the ended up. The others ended up in Narnia because they went to Narnia in order to know aslan better.
 
Silliness and conceit may have gotten the better of Susan as an adult, but I'm confident that Aslan's love is even more powerful than silliness and conceit. New Narnia accepts even such as these, even silly and conceited people like us, if Aslan vouches for us.

Besides, once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia.
 
Lewis once wrote in a letter that he had hope for Susan. I don't think we need to assume that she was particularly bad, just that she was too wrapped up in material things, which could easily have been resolved as she matured. Sure, she couldn't go back to Narnia after LB (there wasn't any non-heavenly Narnia to go back to), but she could still get to heaven like everyone else who never went to Narnia at all, and then presumably get to the new Narnia from there (just like the others could get to the heavenly England from the heavenly Narnia).
 
Lewis said he had hope for Susan - he may have seen her as a little like himself at that age (especially considering that he himself lost his mother when he was young, and then lost some friends in WWI when he was about Susan's age). Though her parents died in the accident (which I think was not just for the other kids' pleasure but to show the connection between the heavenly Narnia and the heavenly Earth), I think by then she may have been living on her own, anyway, so I don't think she moved in with the Scrubbs. As for the Rings, I always assumed that Aslan made sure they were irretirevably mixed up in the wreckage - after all, any emergency worker who tried to pick up a yellow one would be sent to the Wood with no way back, and the secret would eventually become common knowledge. I think Susan probably matured past her superficiality in LB (especially considering the tragedy that happened to her) and then lived a relatively normal life after that.

By the way, to the Tisroc, I just want to say that the BBC probably shouldn't have put that comment in its set, because it is depressing when you hear about it that way, but when you find out in LB like Lewis intended, it's actually more of a positive thing.
 
SapphireOfSeptember said:
I know but Why did she disappear? It's so weird! I mean, her siblings don't even mention her at the end of The Last Battle, if you know what I mean.
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Ah, but they do. They don't talk about it a lot, because it clearly distresses them, but their point is that she chose other things in her life - things that ultimately displaced her love for Narnia.
 
It was like "new Narnia" or the perfected Narnia, and the parents turned up in the "new England" or perfected England. Lewis' concept about heaven was that the best things of the nations or homes we love would never perish, they would be waiting for us in this perfected state. That's why Susan might still get in, if she returns to faith in Aslan before she crosses over.
 
Susan's fate????? (contains Last Battle spoilers!)

What do you think will happen with Susan now as the rest of the Pevensie's have died?????
(only just finished the Last battle ;p)
 
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I guess she'll do what many others do when they go into grieving. She'll grieve for some amount of time (weeks, months, years...) and the hurt will stay with her, because her siblings are gone and not coming back, but eventually she will find she can move on with her life despite the pain of losing those she loved. But that's just what I think.
 
C.S. Lewis wrote a child who asked what would happen to Susan, and you can find this in another thread, I'm not quite sure which one, but C.S Lewis said that Susan was still alive in our world, and that she could return to the belief in Aslan, and that if that happened, she would join the others in Aslan's country. :)
 
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