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Originally Posted by Smokering  Sigh. His "estimation of her was shallow"? He wrote her! Surely you don't think you have greater insight into the mind of a character than, I dunno, her creator? And no, he didn't send Susan to hell - he left her on earth - where she was probably happier, by the sounds of things. And it wasn't for liking lipstick and parties per se, but for thinking Narnia was silly - to use the obvious Christian analogy, she thought of nothing but materialistic pleasures and was semi-agnostic towards God. Lewis wrote positively about women/girls who were into girly things in The Horse and His Boy: he clearly didn't think Lucy was damned to hell for getting excited over Aravis' new clothes and boudoir. But it's not that reactionary to think a girl who thinks of nothing but lipstick and boys is shallow. I'd be disappointed if my daughter ended up like that; wouldn't you?
I don't agree with every position Lewis took, theologically or politically, but this kind of jejune analysis really annoys me. I've seen it argued before and it just doesn't properly interact with the books.
ETA: Huh. Apparently I got way overinvested in that comment. "Jejune"? Huh.
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Not jejune, but hurried and flippant. I knew that last line was a little off when I posted it, so I apologize.
But I will defend myself by saying that his message about faith being more important than acts was lost on 10 y.o. me when I first read it. All I absorbed was that Aslan wasn't letting Susan, whom I loved, go on with the rest of the family to the new Narnia. Yes, he did allow for Lucy to be girly. Again, though, that distinction between Lucy's faith and Susan's lack of faith was lost on me.
I'm very aware that Lewis created Susan. Like every great, well-written fantasy, though, I claimed Narnia and its people as my own. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were in my head (and I know you understand that).
That's why it disappointed, it hurt so much that Lewis
made Susan reject Narnia so illogically. Eustace Scrubb reports that she says, "What wonderful memories you have! Fancy you still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children." That's not even rational! Did she have amnesia? Is she lying outright? Why did he do that to Susan?
And, as I said, I read only yesterday that comment Lewis stated
elsewhere that "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." He did not demonstrate that in his original chronicles of Narnia.
