Susan, the Forgotten Pevensie

MrBob

MrBob

Well-known member
I was thinking about how Lewis treated Susan in his writings. In the two books where Susan was a main character, she seems to be overshadowed by her siblings. And why not? She isn't the oldest, nor is she the youngest. And of the two middle children, Edmund got the adventures.

What did Susan get? Not much.

Peter was made High King. He was, in fact, being groomed to be so in LWW. Yes, Susan was with Aslan during the sacrifice and then back to the Witch's house, but Lucy was with her as well and seemed to get the most attention. And of course, Edmund was the one who committed treason and had to overcome that. Lucy was the one who first came to Narnia and the reason why they stayed.

Even in PC, other than the arrow-shooting contest, she really didn't do much on her own. She was again with Lucy when they were with Aslan and, of course, she was the last one to see Aslan.

Lewis wrote the book for Lucy and she seemed to be the main girl he could write for. Notice how in no other book he has more than one girl, and the girl is always around 9-12 years-old. I think he much preferred to keep his girl characters captured in his little Lucy Barfield ideal and just couldn't write for older girls. Look how different the characters of Lucy, Polly, Aravis, and Jill are compared to Susan.

MrBob
 
MrBob said:
I was thinking about how Lewis treated Susan in his writings. In the two books where Susan was a main character, she seems to be overshadowed by her siblings. And why not? She isn't the oldest, nor is she the youngest. And of the two middle children, Edmund got the adventures.

What did Susan get? Not much.

Peter was made High King. He was, in fact, being groomed to be so in LWW. Yes, Susan was with Aslan during the sacrifice and then back to the Witch's house, but Lucy was with her as well and seemed to get the most attention. And of course, Edmund was the one who committed treason and had to overcome that. Lucy was the one who first came to Narnia and the reason why they stayed.

Even in PC, other than the arrow-shooting contest, she really didn't do much on her own. She was again with Lucy when they were with Aslan and, of course, she was the last one to see Aslan.

Lewis wrote the book for Lucy and she seemed to be the main girl he could write for. Notice how in no other book he has more than one girl, and the girl is always around 9-12 years-old. I think he much preferred to keep his girl characters captured in his little Lucy Barfield ideal and just couldn't write for older girls. Look how different the characters of Lucy, Polly, Aravis, and Jill are compared to Susan.

MrBob
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i agree with ya.
 
In reading many books on the Chronicles of Narnia by those who have researched C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles, we have a picture of Susan as being one who is firmly grounded in her own world for the most part. Being the oldest girl we find that Susan began, over time, to look at what happened to her and Narnia as something they all made up as a game. Why? Because, like so many others of her age, she liked the world and what it had to offer. She liked dressing up, putting on make-up, all the things that girls her age back then loved to do. Narnia became like a dream to her rather than a reality that she experienced. She was the last to see Aslan in PC primarily because I don't believe that Susan really wanted to be there in the first place. She had a life beyond Narnia that she enjoyed too much.

As far as the others are concerned. Lucy...She is all that the Bible meant when Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And, "You must become as a little child, or you will in now wise enter the kingdom of heaven." Lucy believed what she saw. Nothing was going to deter her from that. She remained a child of God or Aslan if you will from the start to the finish. Edmund believed because he followed Lucy's steps. He also understood that Aslan had sacrificed his life for Edmund on the Stone Table, and that, I doubt, would ever leave his heart or mind. Peter, on the other hand, was high king. He held the most awesome place of responsibility in Narnia when he ruled there, and he realized that he entered the wardrobe as a child, and re-entered it back into the professor's home, a man. Add to that the fact that Peter was tutored by the professor himself and would have had, I'm sure, long chats with the professor about both of their experiences in the wondrous land of Narnia. Everywhere Peter went his belief in Narnia was reinforced.

But alas, Susan was not. And one must wonder what it was like for her when she found out that her family had all died in that terrible train accident. One would pray that through that, she would one day return to the real Narnia. But that's another post.
 
Perhaps Mr. Lewis was showing that Susan didn't get as much OUT OF the Narnian world because she didn't put as much INTO that world. There was always a part of her that wanted to be more like the magazine-cover girls on Earth. That's why she was vulnerable, albeit only briefly, to being charmed (in HHB) by Rabadash, whom Lucy would have seen through in a microsecond.
 
Regarding Lewis's attitude to girls and femininity, one of the most revealing parts of CoN is in HBB when Aravis meets her old friend Lasaraleen. Lasaraleen is described as always being interested in parties and clothes and gossip, while Aravis is more interested in things like archery and horses and swimming. It's obvious Lewis prefers strong outgoing adventurous girls, tomboys if you like, to those who conform to the more steroetypical ideas of femininity. But later in HBB, when Aravis arrives at Anvard, she goes of with Lucy to talk about her bedroom and getting clothes and such like, so I don't think Lewis regarded such "feminine" interests as bad in themselves. It's only when girls become obssesed with them to the exclusion of everything else, the way Susan did, that he sees it as a problem.
 
Does anyone know just what kind of girl Lucy Barfield was? Was anything written about Lewis' goddaughter? I guess she was the tomboy type as the other main young girls were in the stories.

And yes, there was that idea that it is not good to be obsessed with fashion and the like. But Hermit, Lucy was chosen to help with Aravis as King Lune had no wife nor any other female in his court. And since Lucy was more on par with who they figured Aravis was, she would do a better job fixing up her apartments and, of course, having to help her get clothes as she had none but what she was wearing.

MrBob
 
I do not think that Lewis' had any antifeminism in these stories. If one observes the female children enough you begin to see that it is they who often take the position of leadership. It is Lucy who first leads them into Narnia. It is Lucy who decides and leads them to the home of Mr. Tumnus. It is Susan and Lucy who lead after the beaver. It is Susan and Lucy who take the leadership role as Aslan's disciples and go with him to just before the Stone Table. They stay and care after his dead body. And when the coronation takes place, it is Lucy who is named Queen Lucy, the Valient. This is not a term offered by Aslan lightly to the youngest, for Aslan recognizes the bravery, the courage, and the depth of spirituality that is in Lucy.

Many of Lewis' other Narnia books portray much the same thing. Aravis taking a leadership role, Jill doing the same, etc.
 
I agree with Son of Adam and what he said about Susan. You can kind of notice it in the books she was in that as much as she helped and followed along, she probably had other things in mind. Like in "The Last Battle" ,it kind of made me sad how when the three, Peter, Edmund, and Lucy come back to narnia, and say how their sister doesn't really want any part of narnia anymore, and that she has moved on. It almost makes me think of how some of us hold onto worldy things instead of resting our lives in God, and believeing he is there. It is the same with Susan. She grasped the things of her world rather hard, and no longer seemed to rest in the truth that Aslan was real, and true. Sure, she believed for a while, but the more she swallowed up the world, the more she lost those memories, and only called those times "that game we played". I love the character of Susan, but it made me sad how she abandoned all she knew of narnia and stuff. Oh well, whatever was on C.S. Lewis' mind as he wrote it is now on paper, and can't be changed. Besides, I think he knew what he was doing. ;)
 
I remember the first time I read "Last Battle" and realized what it meant when said that Susan was no longer a friend of Narnia. It took a few moments, but it hit and I started crying. I always loved Susan, even though I have always been much more like Lucy (probably more like her than I'd care to admit). I actually grieved for her, and then in my Lewis university course, I did the same thing and found that one of my dear girlfriends cried, also. I think it's because we felt the loss of her siblings and what it must have been like for Susan to realize that she was alone in her mortal world. I've always thought that the world was much more beautiful because of make believe and holding fast to the dreams that we grew up with. I cannot recall which member wrote it here, but it was pointed out that Jesus said that we ought to be as children, and remember the entire 'faith like a child'. I believe that it's in PC that Lucy encourages her siblings to trust her even though they haven't seen what she has. Each story is so rich with both Biblical and simply kind and moralistic values. I'm sad that Lewis stopped at number seven.
 
I agree with you guys. Susan was much likely the forgotten Pevensie. It made me cry a lot in TLB when Jill mentioned Susan no longer is a friend of Narnia because of her interest in "invitations, nylons, and lipsticks".

And yes, I do agree with Son of Adam. Susan was infact the oldest female character in the Chronicles. It was no wonder that she was interested in those things that I have mentioned. Lucy, Jill, Polly and Aravis were quite younger than her (Aravis was a teenager, but did that change her?) and it was no doubt why they believed in Aslan until the end.

Like most of you said, Jesus did mention in the Bible "Let the little children come to me". And I have also learned that Jesus listens to most of children's prayers. It was also in the Christian faith that believing in Christ is when you can feel his power and love. I think that was why Susan couldn't see Aslan in PC. She was forced to believe. Then later on, she had to, because he was there.

I feel terribly sorry and sad for Susan, because, not only is she my favorite character, she could've been a great Queen even after her reign in LWW.

This is exactly the coverage of my Fan Fiction in The Professor's Writing Club. Besides, Lewis did say she would get to Aslan's Country in her own way. But what can we do now? Lewis (like Daughter-of-Aslan said) stopped at book seven and that was it. He never wrote any more after his marriage with Doug's mother. All we could do now is face the fact that Susan's fate really turns out that way.
 
Son of Adam said:
Lucy...She is all that the Bible meant when Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And, "You must become as a little child, or you will in now wise enter the kingdom of heaven." Lucy believed what she saw. Nothing was going to deter her from that. She remained a child of God or Aslan if you will from the start to the finish.
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thats why my parents named me Lucy
 
So, you promise that would never end up like Susan, no matter what lies ahead... and in front of you??:confused:

''Don't be eager to look behind of you, because of strong memories, both beloved or despised. Nor be eager to look more beyond the horizon, both imagining, yearning, doubting or fearing'' Maese Delta.:)
 
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