So what do you think finally happens to Susan after the books. I mean do you think she comes to Narnia eventually. I believe so because otherwise the whole scenario would go against Aslan's own saying that "once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia".
share
Susan, I believe, goes through her life-altering event, feeling lost. She eventually gets on with her life a new person, gets married and has a couple of children. Eventually, she does come back to Aslan.
Bob
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I have a fanfic ongoing at www.narniafans.com called Legacy of Narnia. about those children who find themselves in Narnia a year after the Pevensies coronation and befriend Lucy.
Bob
I was going to start a thread on this so I'm glad I found a thread on it.
I just watched Prince Caspian for the first time tonight on NetFlix, and yeah this is one of the major things that I kept thinking about. It just feels kinda *beep* up to me if she didn't end up going to Aslan's country. I mean after seeing the movies it makes me feel more connected to the character and while she might have not been the most "loyal" of the family she was still a good person.
I havent read the books since I was a kid but from what I remember I really dont like how Lewis wrapped up her story. Besides the fact that everyone besides her dies from what I remember the other siblings werent even sweating the fact that she might not show up in Aslan's Country.
I also never got how someone who is in her teens will somehow think that everything she was doing in Narnia was just "fun and games".
But yeah onto what I think happens. She is in her twenties so yeah maybe she is shallow and not worrying about the world of Narnia, but I bet as she gets older she goes back to it. As she grows wiser and reminisces she will probably remember and accept the past.
Though I do feel really bad about how her overall story is wrapped up.
1. She doesnt believe anything
2. Her family is dead
3. She may not end up seeing them ever again
4. The rest of them are dissing her by saying she is superficial
Etc.
I mean WTF did she do to deserve that abrupt, rude, shaddy ending. Personally she was my favorite of the siblings. She was the mix between Lucy and Peter IMO.
(Sorry if I missed something. I havent read the books in 6 years)
i remember reading the last book when i was younger and just thinking how horrible it was.
but the whole series is saying "if youdon't believe in god (aslan) you are not going to heaven"
and well susan stopped believeing in aslan (remember the dwarfes(correct me if im wrong)could not see heaven because they didnt believe)
i like to believe that this would be so tragic for susan that she would start believing in god/aslan again and ultimatly one day be reunited with them
i remember reading the last book when i was younger and just thinking how horrible it was.
but the whole series is saying "if youdon't believe in god (aslan) you are not going to heaven"
and well susan stopped believeing in aslan (remember the dwarfes(correct me if im wrong)could not see heaven because they didnt believe)
i like to believe that this would be so tragic for susan that she would start believing in god/aslan again and ultimatly one day be reunited with them
"but the whole series is saying "if youdon't believe in god (aslan) you are not going to heaven" "
Then explain Emeth. He is a Calormene who despised the name and even the concept of Aslan, preferring Tash as his god. He was still let in just as I am sure many thousands (or millions if they had that many) Calormenes made it with Emeth.
Aslan did not have a requirement of believing him for entry into his land. If anyone could face him and not flee, they were allowed in. If they refused to see him, Aslan could do nothing for them.
Bob
The book never says that he didn't go to heaven [or the new earth] only she didn't go to the new Narnia [at least at that time].
Lewis mourned the lost of innocence and belief. This idea is echo in many books and songs by many authors… Peter Pan, Puff the Magic Dragon, Etc
Exactly. Aslan's kind of a jerk for doing that. I think I'm gonna join the Telmarine army for that.
shareAslan actually never mentions Susan at all in LB.
All we know is that Peter mentions that she is `no longer a friend of Narnia` and Lucy and Miss Plummers `Lipstic, Nylons and invitations` comments. Its all just their opinion of whats going on with her.
In fact its just that she`s the `token survivor`.
SOMEBODY has to live on in England afterwards and she`s the chosen one.
Unlike the others, since she can never return to Narnia she`s put the whole thing behind her and is getting on with her life in the real world.
She always was the most `practical and realistic` one.
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan.""
"All we know is that Peter mentions that she is `no longer a friend of Narnia` and Lucy and Miss Plummers `Lipstic, Nylons and invitations` comments"
A correction: it was Jill and Polly making those comments, not Lucy.
"SOMEBODY has to live on in England afterwards and she`s the chosen one."
Actually, it wasn't as random as that:
It couldn't have been Peter as he was the High King. It couldn't have been Lucy as she was the perfect disciple. Both of them were too important to deny. It couldn't have been Edmund or Eustace as they had already had transformational aspects to their characters. Eustace was also in the action of the final book. That leaves Susan, Digory, Polly, and Jill.
It couldn't have been Digory or Polly as they were very little known and teh impact wouldn't have been as big. It couldn't have been Jill as she was the second disciple (I call her Lucys replacement). She was too close to Aslan and, like Eustace, she was in on the action of the final book. That just leaves Susan.
It is also notable that Susan was the last one to see Aslan in PC and the only Pevensie not to have had a one-on-one audience with Aslan.
Bob
A correction: it was Jill and Polly making those comments, not Lucy.
There's a really good, if disturbing, short story by Neil Gaiman about this topic called "The Problem of Susan"..
There's a really good, if disturbing, short story by Neil Gaiman about this topic called "The Problem of Susan".
shareI would suggest that in some ways Lewis is using Susan to represent himself. He believed in God as a child. When he got older he became an atheist and rejected what he considered to be childish ideas. Later still he changed his mind again and returned to his earlier faith, but with much greater intellectual rationale behind his beliefs. Faith is about believing that which you cannot see. This is too much for some people to do, and it seems to be especially common for people to lose faith in earlier beliefs as they grow older (Santa Claus and the tooth fairy for example). Think of how many little kids are sure they heard Santa Claus coming down the chimney or saw his sleigh streak across the sky on Christmas eve. I think Lewis would have been remiss without including this aspect that often goes hand-in-hand with the idea of faith. Not everyone exposed to ideas will continue to have those ideas throughout his/her lifetime. This is so common it should be represented.
Remember Lewis' dedication at the start of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to his god-daughter Lucy Barfield. He mentions the same sorts of ideas there (that as a teenager she is probably now too old to appreciate fairy tales, but that hopefully when she's older still she'll return again to them). I think this is all that his is trying to do with Susan's story. I haven't read the Last Battle for a while, but doesn't he say something about Narnia not being done with Susan? I think it's clear that she will return to her lost faith eventually, as Lewis himself had done.
This is actually a common theme of Lewis' writing and mindset. One of his early books was The Pilgrim's Regress, which is an allegory that describes exactly what I am talking about here.
I don't think what he did to Susan's character was in anyway gratuitous, but was used to make an important point. It's also not a commentary on "growing up," or her "sexuality," or anything else that some have claimed. After all, she was a grown queen of Narnia and that was great. This happens because she has lost her faith and become distracted by material things. But getting off course is not something final; it can be corrected later once she becomes more mature and re-evaluates her beliefs--she'll end up in the New Narnia in the end.
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READ THE BOOK.
I read the book about 2 years before Narnia II came out, and I GOT SO FREAKING ANGRY. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I guess some of the people replying to you already did that.
This question has already been asked and I have responded likewise to the thread dedicated to this subject just as I am with this one.
It was said that regarding Susan, C.S. Lewis was to have famously stated that she wasn't worthy of coming back to Narnia because she was more interested in "panties,boys,lipstick" the trappings of womanhood. Lewis got a lot of grief over what people considered a real ignorant sexual bias. "So being a woman and concerned about womanly things makes you not fit for heaven huh?" Stuff like that.
But later on he did backtrack a bit on the subject of Susan and suggest that Narnia was always there waiting for her and that she could indeed return to it if she wanted to. The author Neil Gaiman (believe thats how it's spelled) had a book of short stories and one of the more famous stories in this book deals with Susan Pevensie. It was called "The Subject of Susan" and it talked about her adult life, among other things. Might be worth checking out to those of you looking for alternative answers. Hope you liked my post though.
Yeah, I read about Gaiman's story and the critique against his POV as well.
I haven't yet read it though, but am anxious to.
Team Jolie
I feel a bit unsure about Gaimans story, which is unusual because I usualy like his work.
I found this on YouTube recently, its clearly based on the Gaiman story,
I would personally rate it as an `18` for viewing purposes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A8fRTwVW8E
Not quite sure about it myself but its interesting for a student work.
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
Susan grows up and gets on with her life and stupid people that makes her tale the tragic one.
I feel sorry for the other ones who never got to have a normal life.
"It's not about money
It's about sending a Message
Everything Burns!"
Lewis himself had the following to say in a letter published after the books:
"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's plenty of time for her to mend and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end... in her own way."
What did Susan do that made her a "silly, conceited" woman?
shareWhat did Susan do that made her a "silly, conceited" woman?
She turned her back on Narnia by denying it ever existed and instead focused on her social life to the detriment of everything else, possibly including her academics.
Bob
I heard Lewis was going to do another book where Susan finds her way back, even stating that "her story is not done yet", but he died before he wrote it.
shareGood.
At least one sibling got away from the death wish and chose life.
I know a lot of people want 'redemption,' but I do like that we never do get closure. It's left to the reader to make that decision.
I prefer the more 'tragic' route, because not everyone we know and love is saved or makes what we perceive as the right decision.
"Thanks, guys." "So long, partner."
- Toy Story 3 (9/10)
I never read the Narnia books as a child and I probably wouldn't have even watched the movies except for the fact my favorite actor Ben Barnes is in the last two films. If the series end horribly as some of you are saying, I have no interest in ever reading them. I realize that the stories are full of Christian symbolism but I never think about that. I'm not particularly religious in any sense of the word. I just like them as pure entertainment, nothing more. I own Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader. sometime I've have to buy the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe just because it is part of the series. No Ben in that one though.
shareWow - thanks for sharing.
shareWhat happens to Susan is actually true to life in many cases, in a Christian allegorical sense. Many believers abandon the faith and claim that they no longer believe the Bible. This is called "backsliding." I believe Lewis was just trying to use his book "The Last Battle" to illustrate what backsliding looks like. Since he left Susan's fate open-ended, I like to believe Susan eventually started believing again and came back to being a friend of Narnia.
share