Lament for Susan Pevensie

[Earniel]

I found Gaiman's short story about Susan frankly rather upsetting. The... vivid descriptions of the head were a little too much and it creeped me out for days. I actually stopped reading Gaiman shortly after Fragile Things because I'm too wussy for it.

[Empress_Flynn]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I found Gaiman's short story about Susan frankly rather upsetting. The... vivid descriptions of the head were a little too much and it creeped me out for days. I actually stopped reading Gaiman shortly after Fragile Things because I'm too wussy for it.

Lol... well I think it was meant to be upsetting, so it's okay...

At least it got you to react!

I don't think Gaiman's for everyone, but I desperately adore his writing style and I wish I could write something as good...

I have to agree that I don't like how Lewis handled the problem of Susan, even though I understood what he was getting at... I think he failed to address what might have happened to Susan after the train crash in any satisfactory way... whether she would even want to get back to Narnia after seeing how her family was brought there, and how she was forced to stay behind and deal with their grisly deaths and trying to make a living...

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Empress_Flynn

:
:
I have to agree that I don't like how Lewis handled the problem of Susan, even though I understood what he was getting at... I think he failed to address what might have happened to Susan after the train crash in any satisfactory way... whether she would even want to get back to Narnia after seeing how her family was brought there, and how she was forced to stay behind and deal with their grisly deaths and trying to make a living...

Life can be hard though. We're not promised otherwise. Susan was no longer yearning for Narnia with things as they were. Maybe she will be again, now that she has lost so much where she was.

I don't think she was all alone though. Her parents are still living, are they not?

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Empress_Flynn

I think he failed to address what might have happened to Susan after the train crash in any satisfactory way...

In any satisfactory way?
He doesn't even try. There's no mention at all of what happens to her after the train crash. Not in the books, although he comments on it in one of his letters.

Originally Posted by Valandil

I don't think she was all alone though. Her parents are still living, are they not?

No - they mention in the book that while they were on the train, they commented on what a strange coincidence it was that their parents would be on a train and probably be at the same station at the same time. So their parents were killed in the same train crash.

In Narnia within Narnia, the children can see the England within England over at another ridge - all ridges coming in towards Aslan's country. They can actually see their parents over there, and they are wawing at each other, knowing that they will meet up 'further up and further in'.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Why would she know they were in Narnia? Why would Narnia come into it, at all?

Susan was a materialist. Even if she "believed" in Narnia, she didn't know about the "after rapture" Narnia displayed in the last book. They'd been told they couldn't come back, and, as far as she knew, they didn't.

The somewhat precious "pre-lapsarian" view of childhood in the story is kind of an artifact of it's time. To be really consistant, there's no way Eustace could have been brought through to Narnia, ever. I even have my doubts about Digory. Lewis postulated a sort of 'period of innocence' that gave children free-access, but precluded them from participating as adults, presumably so they could be tested and serve as good examples in their 'own' world. That's his solution to the problem of pain, more or less.

But it's not tidy or elegant, imo.

I think he killed the parents understanding that child readers would NOT be happy about going to Narnia if their parents weren't going. Too bad for Susan.

[Empress_Flynn]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

Why would she know they were in Narnia? Why would Narnia come into it, at all?

Susan was a materialist. Even if she "believed" in Narnia, she didn't know about the "after rapture" Narnia displayed in the last book. They'd been told they couldn't come back, and, as far as she knew, they didn't.

The somewhat precious "pre-lapsarian" view of childhood in the story is kind of an artifact of it's time. To be really consistant, there's no way Eustace could have been brought through to Narnia, ever. I even have my doubts about Digory. Lewis postulated a sort of 'period of innocence' that gave children free-access, but precluded them from participating as adults, presumably so they could be tested and serve as good examples in their 'own' world. That's his solution to the problem of pain, more or less.

But it's not tidy or elegant, imo.

I think he killed the parents understanding that child readers would NOT be happy about going to Narnia if their parents weren't going. Too bad for Susan.

That's a good point... if Aslan tells them they're too old, they can never come back to Narnia... why wouldn't she start focusing on other things? She might even subconsciously try to forget that Narnia was ever real in the first place and treat it as just one of those childhood "games" to minimize her sadness over not being able to go back...

Not saying that for sure... just saying it's possible...

And then her entire family gets killed and she has to worry about everything else in life, getting by, and her own isolation from everyone she ever loved... of course she wouldn't be focusing on Narnia at that point!

It seems like a rather clumsy plot point when you think about it...