Why can`t Jill remember 4 simple signs

Oh, was that one? See, I am not much better at remembering than Jill! I willl have to read the book all over again and refresh my memory. But what was the sign that had to do with that UNDER ME business?
 
Jill is not stupid.
If you recall, when the Lady told them about Harfang, Jill became so intent on reaching it that she stopped repeating the Signs to herself every morning and night. Eventually she forgets.
When they look out the window at Harfang and see the City, she actually says to Puddleglum and Eustace, "It's all my fault. I'd given up repeating the Signs to myself. If I'd been thinking about them, we would have seen this. I've ruined everything since you brought me here."
She knew the Signs and remembered them, she just stopped thinking about them.

So she's not "dim" or "stupid" or anything. She's just human.
 
inkspot said:
Oh, was that one? See, I am not much better at remembering than Jill! I willl have to read the book all over again and refresh my memory. But what was the sign that had to do with that UNDER ME business?
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If I remember correctly, at the Ruinous city of the Giants, the words UNDER ME were printed there. They were supposed to look for those words. And at first they of course had no idea what they were supposed to do, until Puddleglum thought that..."we're supposed to look for the Prince under. the city." and then remember when they were chased by the Giant's hounds, they stumbled under the words and into Underworld! :D
 
Let's see, without referring to my copy:

1) As soon as you get to Narnia, Eustace must greet an old friend. If he does, you will have great help.

2. You must go north to Ettinsmoor.

3. You will find words written in the ruined city of the Giants and do what they say.

4. You will know the prince as he will be the only one who asks you to do something in my (Aslan's) name.

Why couldn't Jill remember it as well? She was told it by Aslan in his country. The air there was very favorable to remembering whereas the air in Narnia was harsher and, unless she repeated it daily, she could forget it.

MrBob
 
FaunFan01 said:
Jill is not stupid.
If you recall, when the Lady told them about Harfang, Jill became so intent on reaching it that she stopped repeating the Signs to herself every morning and night. Eventually she forgets.
When they look out the window at Harfang and see the City, she actually says to Puddleglum and Eustace, "It's all my fault. I'd given up repeating the Signs to myself. If I'd been thinking about them, we would have seen this. I've ruined everything since you brought me here."
She knew the Signs and remembered them, she just stopped thinking about them.

So she's not "dim" or "stupid" or anything. She's just human.
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Great point!
 
I agree. Sometimes I wonder how Jill can forget the signs so easily. But bear in mind that to her, the signs don't initially seem that helpful informative, she only has Aslan's word that they're important, so although we know (from the reader's POV knowing Aslan's words to be very important) Jill probably has other things on her mind like "what's happened to Eustace?", "this lion is very scary, i think he's going to eat me" among others...

From then on its a case of discipline which is a struggle for anyone so its quite understandable she forgets.
 
Good point WHB! Also, after messing up the first sign and figuring out that Aslan was right about them being difficult to recognize she may have sort of given up on them more easily wondering, "well I messed up one and probably won't get the others right either why bother." Granted she keeps going with them, but this sort of thinking may be another reason for her forgetting...that and focusing on a hot bath and food. When one is very cold and hungry they might not think of anything but getting warm and fed...it's a survival instinct. If one looks closely I believe that Jill had a cape on but wasn't she in shorts up until she got her other dress at Harfang? You try running around in shorts in the snow looking for obscure signs and see how well you do...I can't blame her there.
 
Well, u must remeber, yes, the signs were importanat, but the trip they went on was a rough one, and like any human, she proably would have become distracted as she concentrated on reaching her destination.
 
MrBob said:
Let's see, without referring to my copy:

1) As soon as you get to Narnia, Eustace must greet an old friend. If he does, you will have great help.

2. You must go north to Ettinsmoor.

3. You will find words written in the ruined city of the Giants and do what they say.

4. You will know the prince as he will be the only one who asks you to do something in my (Aslan's) name.

Why couldn't Jill remember it as well? She was told it by Aslan in his country. The air there was very favorable to remembering whereas the air in Narnia was harsher and, unless she repeated it daily, she could forget it.

MrBob
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well, could u remember them after walking for days and days, sleeping on the ground, eating whatever u can catch, in a snowstorm, freezing, hungry, tired, and downright totally exhausted? I don't know if I could.
 
All she really had to do was to remember the last two during her trek. But I agree that the trek itself would have been very much counter to remembering much save for survival skills.

MrBob
 
Sorry to draw a parallel in the wrong part of the forum, but it reminds me alot of the Christian life. God gives instructions that are meant for our good... and sometimes we even see why we're sposed to do them. But most of the time we think our own way's better, or choose to ignore them, or mess up and give up on the rest and get tired and stop making the effort... No wonder Jill forgot all those signs really!!
 
waterhogboy said:
Sorry to draw a parallel in the wrong part of the forum, but it reminds me alot of the Christian life. God gives instructions that are meant for our good... and sometimes we even see why we're sposed to do them. But most of the time we think our own way's better, or choose to ignore them, or mess up and give up on the rest and get tired and stop making the effort... No wonder Jill forgot all those signs really!!
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That's exactly it. Jill was given a simple assignment and she chose to cut corners, and so by not building the proper habits she nearly allowed the whole adventure to miscarry. So we do when we decide it's too much trouble to remember to study the Bible or pray. After all, we already know all we need to know and are in a good relationship with God, aren't we? Lewis couldn't have made the lesson more plain.
 
I know this may not really be that on track but...
I'm doing military training and one of the things we do are field signals, They are just simple signs a bit like sign language, but when your mind isn't on THEM and you're crawling through a muddy field getting shot at, and suddenly you need to use one, they aren't the easiest to remember!
 
That's very relevant, I think. When you are preoccupied with survival, as Mr. Bob said, you might let the signs slip out of your mind. But I also like WHB and Malacandra's point about how this parallels our spiritual walk. It's critical to keep God's "signs" before us at all times, even when struggling to survive -- especialy when struggling to survive.
 
God places signs in front of us all the time but somtimes we don't see them or are blinded from them cause of distraction one of Satan's biggest tools Why do you think most of us close our eyes during worship and prayer at least i do to be alone with just me and God. So nothing distracts me from what God does for me and wants to do for me during worship and prayer: During a concert this past sat the lights and pyrotechnics's were going on the loud music but i still closed my eyes and worshiped in a crowd of over 1000 people Jill was distracted by the lady of the green kirtle and focusing on hunger and thirst and tiredness that she missed the signs.
 
KathrynJanewayChakotay said:
God places signs in front of us all the time but somtimes we don't see them or are blinded from them cause of distraction one of Satan's biggest tools Why do you think most of us close our eyes during worship and prayer at least i do to be alone with just me and God. So nothing distracts me from what God does for me and wants to do for me during worship and prayer: During a concert this past sat the lights and pyrotechnics's were going on the loud music but i still closed my eyes and worshiped in a crowd of over 1000 people Jill was distracted by the lady of the green kirtle and focusing on hunger and thirst and tiredness that she missed the signs.
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Too true. It's a great lesson to learn from The Silver Chair!
 
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