The Pevensies at the gorge

MrBob

MrBob

Well-known member
The decision the Pevensies had to make at the gorge, up or down, after Lucy saw Aslan typified their personalities at that point and foreshadowed the end of the book.

Lucy, the closest to Aslan, was of course the one who saw him. She had to try to convince her siblings and Trumpkin to listen to her even though they had only her own words to go by. This was actually just like the beginning of LWW when Lucy first entered into Narnia and tried to convinvce her siblings that she had been there. No one believed her then either and she had to live with that.

Edmund learned from his past about not believing his sister. In LWW, he was the biggest pest to Lucy, even after going into Narnia himself. He chose to believe in his sister, knowing that she doesn't lie and that she has always had a closer association to Narnia because of it.

Peter admitted that while Lucy was probably right, he still chose to go the other way. He never questioned his sister's veracity but had to make a decision and chose the way of Trumpkin.

Susan was the only one of the siblings who really questioned whether Lucy saw anything. She was also the only one who gave as an excuse her own personal reasons such as her fatigue and want to get out of the wooded area in her reasoning.

In the end, it was in that order that they saw Aslan: the disciple, the follower, the agnostic, and the doubter (Trumpkin would be the disbeliever).

MrBob
 
Yes, I actually noticed that. C.S. Lewis is such a brilliant writer. And that one moment where Edmund sided with Lucy made me fall in love with the character. :eek:
[And the description of him when he was bringing the message to Miraz, but that would be getting off-topic.]
 
Wow.... I knew the CON had symbolisim, but even I didn't know that much!


So..... Trumpkin is more like Thomas, who didn't believe until Aslan was right in front of him? Interesting.

So... after Peter, Lucy, and Ed, even Trumpkin and Susan believe in Aslan again....

I still don't get Susan and the Last Battle.... she saw Aslan more than once, and has been to Narnia twice!

Did Caspian believe in Aslan?
 
Caspian, as described in the original book, was at least inclined to believe in Aslan, thanks to the things his governess and his tutor had told him. As for Peter, it was not that he ever stopped believing Aslan EXISTED; he just didn't see why Aslan would want to make a point of ONLY being visible to Lucy, so that he doubted whether Lucy had seen Him on that particular occasion.
 
Copperfox said:
Caspian, as described in the original book, was at least inclined to believe in Aslan, thanks to the things his governess and his tutor had told him. As for Peter, it was not that he ever stopped believing Aslan EXISTED; he just didn't see why Aslan would want to make a point of ONLY being visible to Lucy, so that he doubted whether Lucy had seen Him on that particular occasion.
Click to expand...

I think I'm right in saying that Lewis is trying to emphasise a point that is true of humanity in general in this allegory. Of course, it doesn't work if you extrapolate away from this and start thinking about what happens next etc... he is just depicting 5 states people can have toward belief. Well noticed Mr Bob!!
 
I find Peter's reluctant siding with Trumpkin's disbelieving and Susan's doubting Lucy's testimony [of Aslan wanting them to go up not down the gorge] rather convicting... I am afraid there is a negative correlation between my openess to talk about following Christ :versus: the degree to which (I perceive) my friends seem more closed against Jesus and Christianity. I know it is not good to pound people with my values and faith, but I should not be intimidated to be authentic in identifying with Christ either.

MrBob said:
The decision the Pevensies had to make at the gorge, up or down, after Lucy saw Aslan typified their personalities at that point and foreshadowed the end of the book.

Lucy, the closest to Aslan, was of course the one who saw him. She had to try to convince her siblings and Trumpkin to listen to her even though they had only her own words to go by. This was actually just like the beginning of LWW when Lucy first entered into Narnia and tried to convinvce her siblings that she had been there. No one believed her then either and she had to live with that.

Edmund learned from his past about not believing his sister. In LWW, he was the biggest pest to Lucy, even after going into Narnia himself. He chose to believe in his sister, knowing that she doesn't lie and that she has always had a closer association to Narnia because of it.

Peter admitted that while Lucy was probably right, he still chose to go the other way. He never questioned his sister's veracity but had to make a decision and chose the way of Trumpkin.

Susan was the only one of the siblings who really questioned whether Lucy saw anything. She was also the only one who gave as an excuse her own personal reasons such as her fatigue and want to get out of the wooded area in her reasoning.

In the end, it was in that order that they saw Aslan: the disciple, the follower, the agnostic, and the doubter (Trumpkin would be the disbeliever).

MrBob
Click to expand...
 
Saying that Peter is like an agnostic, in THIS particular episode, is not offensive, but IS instructive.

Christians of the "pounding" type too often claim that there's NO SUCH THING as an honest doubt. On their view, if you don't INSTANTLY AND EASILY display a faith which is firm AND accurate with spiritual information, then you are an evil heretic, eagerly serving Satan against God.

But no reader of the Chronicles would ever describe Peter Pevensie as an evil heretic. The gorge incident shows him IN ERROR-- not in wicked rebellion.

I write this as a former agnostic. I was not helped toward faith in Jesus by those who would say, "Harrumph, you ALREADY KNOW that the gospel is true! You're only stubbornly denying it because you hate God!"
 
Back
Top