Women in Narnia essay.
So finally my essay is done! It's 1,451 words and examines the role of women in Narnia. Susan's a pretty big focus if you're interested. Hopefully it'll be published, but it's between this essay and one by someone else so fingers crossed! In any case, here it is.
Women in Narnia:
The good, the bad and the demonised. At first glance, the Narnia books do not seem to have a problem with sexism or other gender issues. To every boy that enters Narnia there is a girl, and together they have adventures and save the day. When looking closer, however, we discover that the girls are not as respected as they seem: they do not handle swords and are often spoken to in disparaging and patronising ways. Then of course there are the villains, almost always female and sexualised. Despite how positively Lewis portrays the girlish heroines, it is apparent there is a conflict of ideas in the books, reflecting Lewis’ own views on gender.
Born in 1898, Lewis grew up in a patriarchal and fairly misogynistic society. His original views on gender conformed to the societal opinion: to him women and men operated in “different spheres”, a view accepted not only by England at that time, but also supported by Lewis’ interpretation of the Bible. Despite his views, however, even in his early writings Lewis seems to have been able to get into the minds of women, often narrating from a female character’s point of view, giving voice to her emotions. Although ultimately the moral was that women should either be married and docile or scholarly and chaste, Lewis’ readership consisted mostly of women. Later on in his life Lewis’ view of women and their role seems to shift: after marrying Joy Davidson and working with women at Oxford University, Lewis’ opinion of women and their capabilities was significantly improved. Instead of his earlier ideas of hierarchy and male dominance, especially within marriage, Lewis adopts a far more equal view. It was towards the end of his life, during his happy marriage, that Lewis wrote the Narnia books, and this might explain the conflict of ideas within them.
There is no denying that most of the female characters are written in a positive fashion. Lucy Pevensie is no doubt the hero of the books, perhaps Lewis’ favourite. She discovers Narnia, has strength of spirit and belief, and symbolises innocence, purity and bravery. Of all the characters she is still the most famous one, and has the greatest bond with Aslan, Lewis’ messianic embodiment of the Christian faith. Through her, Lewis reveals his view of all that is good about the female character, and talks glowingly of her even in the other books, such as The Horse and His Boy when she reigns as Queen. It is possible that to him Lucy symbolised Eve before she fell. Lucy, remaining chaste even when she grows up and returns to Narnia in The Last Battle, does not experience this “fall”, and so perhaps for Lewis was the ultimate woman.
Herein, however, lies the conflict. As apparent in Narnia, women can only be considered good characters if they are innocent and chaste. The girls are either tomboyish and ready for adventure (eg: Jill Pole and Aravis), or feminine, subservient, yet brave and valiant (eg: Polly Plummer, who although feminine remains unmarried and chaste as described in The Last Battle). It is obvious how Lewis demonises female sexuality through his two main villains: the White Witch and The Lady of the Green Kirtle, the White Witch’s relative in The Silver Chair. The witches are independent and fully aware of their sexuality and affect on men. Both villains tempt male characters, Edmund by the White Witch and Prince Rillian in The Silver Chair, causing their downfall. Edmund and Rillian cannot be free of this evil female influence until they defeat their captors and gain independence (or in Rillian’s case, dominance) once more.
It seems that with these characters, especially in The Silver Chair, Lewis is not only demonising female sexuality, but also making a comment about female dominance. When captured by and enamoured with The Lady of the Green Kirtle, Rillian is criticised by Jill Pole (the heroine of the story) as being subservient. She comments that in our world we “don’t think much of men who are bossed about by their wives”. Lewis makes no hint that the opposite is preferable, but the idea that wives should not challenge their husbands or have some control in their relationship is obvious. In The Silver Chair, Lewis also makes the point that women should not hold positions of influence: all the way through Jill and Eustace’s school, Experiment House, has been shown to be a horrible place full of bullies and lacking in Christian teaching. At the end it is revealed that the Head is a woman, who eventually finds her place in government. This seems to be a thinly veiled joke about government corruption, with this altogether nasty women being perfect for a government job.
For Lewis, it seems that women are best when they are chaste and equal to men, or when they imitate them. Lucy, as Queen of Narnia, is described as being “as good as a man, or at least as good as a boy”. It does seem odd than even though she is a queen and hero in her own right, she still has to be compared to a man to be revealed as strong. Female characters who are not tomboyish but embrace their feminity are often portrayed as foolish and weak: the adult Queen Susan falls into this category, who is unable to judge people accurately and has to be rescued by her younger brother Edmund from a forced marriage (again in The Horse and His Boy).
Susan is the biggest problem when it comes to women as portrayed in Narnia. When we first see her in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe she is sensible and bossy but gentle and caring. She is reluctant to believe in Narnia until she sees it, and frequently suggests they should go home. Compared to Lucy she is less sympathetic: while Lucy is imaginative Susan is practical, and often speaks in a patronising fashion. Early on, Susan is criticised for “trying to talk like mother”. It is obvious that she feels the need to protect and be in a position of respect over her younger siblings, a characteristic criticised throughout the books. Although she uses her archery skills to fight and becomes Queen of Narnia, when she returns in Prince Caspian she is portrayed in a significantly less positive fashion: she is starting to lose her faith and speaks more irritably, snapping at Lucy. Susan’s reluctance to believe Lucy’s confidence in Aslan in Prince Caspian seems to be the beginning of the end for her as ultimately, of all the children, she is not allowed to return to Narnia in The Last Battle.
This is an odd decision by Lewis: why would he choose to upset his readers, especially as forbidding Susan to return takes up less than a page of the book and is not connected to the plot? This is something that has been much debated and criticised. When first reading the passage, it seems as if Lewis is again demonising female sexuality, as Susan is older, independent, and described as liking “lipstick”. She has fallen prey to vanity and the typical feminine desire to be a certain age: “she wasted her [childhood] trying to be the age she is now, and she’ll waste the rest of her life trying to stay that age”. Another interpretation is that he meant Susan to be a cautionary tale not to abandon one’s family in favour of a superficial life: Susan now cares only about “invitations”. From what we saw of Susan’s practical nature in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and reluctance to believe in Prince Caspian, it seems that Lewis meant Susan to be unable to return because she lost her faith. She calls Narnia a “game” whenever her siblings try to get her to talk about it. If Lucy is Eve without the fall, Susan is definitely Eve fallen, her loss of faith synonymous with feminine weakness and vanity.
In Narnia, Lewis demonstrates the views of a man believing in the worth of women, and also in some sort of gender equality. After all, the Pevensie girls are seen as equal enough to their brothers to reign with them, and throughout the books the girls’ opinion and feelings are rarely dismissed. Despite this, the ideas that female sexuality is dangerous, and that men should ultimately be in charge are apparent in the books, even if Lewis did not intend them to be. Perhaps then, the books should be approached with caution: of course the subtle sexism is not going to corrupt young readers, and the books are obviously wonderful for children, but they should be accompanied with explanation.
---
Next on the list for the 30 women meme is River Tam, so stay tuned for that. I was going to post it today, but I'm going out to a drama soc social tonight so it'll probably be up tomorrow at the earliest. Should be good though - it's a picspam manifesto with gifs as well! Gonna take aaaaages so I hope you enjoy. I'll probably start my Jill fic (or maybe my Susan one) this weekend too, so keep an eye out for that. And my Whedon20in20 as well of course.
Love ya!
~Lili