lizbee's Literary Character Crush Meme

[rj_anderson]

So here's my list of the literary characters I crushed on, roughly in the order I encountered them:
- Peter, Caspian, and Rilian, from the Narnia books
- Will Stanton and Bran Davies, from Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising
- Ged, from Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea- Mary Stewart's versions of the youthful Merlin and Mordred (and most of the

Comments

Concerning Susan

[dr_c]

It's important to note, I think, that Lewis saw Susan as fallen, but not irredeemably so:

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 is plenty of time for her to mend, and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end-- in her own way.

-- C.S. Lewis, Letters to Children, p. 67

However, concerning the "evils of lipstick" in general: I think the relevant factor there is that Lewis did not agree with the underlying assumptions of feminism, nor did he pretend to. Therefore it is natural that someone approaching the books from a feminist point of view would find them a bit distasteful on certain points, and any attempt to make Lewis' books acceptable to feminists seems to me doomed to distort one side or the other, and probably both.

(I continue to hold the view that it would be best, to market the Narnia stories as "religious fiction," rather than "general children's fiction." After all, based on Lewis' explanations of his thought process in writing the series, the "ideal reader" he had in mind was a child favorably inclined toward Christianity although not yet fully committed to it. I don't think it does Christianity any favors to let kids be surprised at "who Aslan really is" if they're going to find that surprise an unpleasant one. Certainly I think there's value in reading books written from differing religious and non-religious viewpoints; but I think it's best to be open with the reader about it, whether the author is Lewis or Pullman or anyone in between.)

By the way, on a somewhat related topic: I find it interesting that JK Rowling has mentioned Eustace as one of her favorite characters in kids' literature:

I really like Eustace in THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by C. S. Lewis (third in the Narnia series). He is a very unlikeable character who turns good. He is one of C. S. Lewis's funniest characters, and I like him a lot. --Barnes & Noble Interview

Even if JKR's general perspective is different from Lewis', one point they do have in common is a belief in the possibility of "bad" characters being redeemed-- as we've seen with Snape, and (she's hinted) eventually with Dudley as well.

Re: Concerning Susan

[rj_anderson]

Thanks for that quote (indeed, those quotes, but particularly the one from Lewis). Yes, I quite agree that it's unreasonable to expect Lewis's work to appeal to everyone; he wasn't attempting to write for everyone in the first place. Anyway, I don't agree with the notion, even in theory, that any negative portrayal of a female character (even one like Susan who possesses stereotypically "feminine" traits and interests), amounts to a slur on women generally.

And I agree with you about frank and open marketing of Lewis's work for what it is and what he intended it to be. The idea of a spiritually expurgated Narnia designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience (which is a concept I've seen bandied about, though I sincerely hope the project has fallen through) is misguided in the extreme, IMO.

I wonder/worry what's going to happen with the proposed Narnia movie(s).

Re: Concerning Susan

[dr_c]

All right, now you've got my mind going here. :) Let me talk myself through the questions: Under what circumstances might one perceive Lewis' portrayal of girls in Narnia as a 'slur on women'? And how, if at all, would I disagree with such a view?

There are five leading girls in Narnia: Susan, Lucy, Jill, Aravis, and Polly. Only Susan ends the series on the wrong path. Thus Lewis certainly was not portraying girls as inherently bad-- in fact, I think that Lucy comes across as the most ideal of the human characters in the series, more so than any of the boys. But one may still think that Lewis was presenting a wrong feminine ideal-- forcing his "good girls" into a "patriarchal" stereotype.

Let's also ask: What characteristics lead Susan to the wrong path? It would seem to be her desire for approval or popularity, expressed by trying too hard to be grown-up.

What virtues do Lucy, Jill, Aravis, and Polly have that Susan lacks? It seems to me that the biggest difference is that Susan is clearly the least adventurous of the five. Aravis of course is very feisty and independent; she mellows a bit in the end, but remains recognizably herself. Jill is "a wondrous wood-maid," who in England had done well in the Guides. Polly enjoys hiding out in the rafters dreaming up adventures, and also shows a very sensible head on her shoulders once the real-life adventures happen. Lucy perhaps fits the stereotype of dainty femininity the most closely of the four, but in H&HB is described by Corin (from his youthful male perspective) as being "as good as a man [in battle], or at any rate as good as a boy." Susan, on the other hand, is (says Corin) "more like an ordinary grown-up lady."

So on at least one point I think Lewis and feminism are in accord. Feminists tend to encourage girls to be independent and not feel they have to spend their lives seeking others' approval; and Lewis agrees. (Incidentally, Lewis' eventual wife seems by all accounts to have been a rather spunky sort of lady herself!)

On the other hand, if being "grown-up" (and, a few years later, being "sexy") is what a girl wants, then I can see how she might feel offended by Susan's being the one to reject Narnia. Such a girl might perceive Susan as the strongest expression of female sexuality in the series, and feel that female sexuality is rejected by the narrative through Susan.

The other girls, conversely, never seem to have those feelings-- not on-camera, anyway. Aravis does grow up to marry Shasta, so they must have some feelings that way (their youthful rows being probably the first hints of it). Jill does have the first stirrings of a crush on Eustace in book 7, but nothing comes of that.

But I think this may be explained by the fact that Lewis was writing primarily for pre-teens, whom he perceived as needing to be encouraged not to try to grow up too fast-- which he perceived as one of his own errors in childhood:

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

C. S. Lewis, "On Three Ways of Writing for Children"

So thus the disagreement at hand may be a simple one of interpretation: Lewis' critics may view him as rejecting female sexuality in general, when I believe he was actually rejecting premature sexuality. However, if one believes that it's a good thing for early adolescent girls to be able to dress like young women if they so choose, then the disagreement with Lewis is a deeper one.

Of course, if Lewis' critics believe that no proper portrayal of the sexes would allow boys or men to take roles that are not permitted to girls or women, then of course Lewis will never satisfy them, and the discussion need proceed no further-- there again, the disagreement is a real and spiritual one, beyond mere literary concerns. And if they read with the habit of looking for traces of "patriarchy," they'll probably find it here. I find in Lewis no intention of satisfying such readers.

Hope that made sense!

Re: Concerning Susan

[rj_anderson]

Jill does have the first stirrings of a crush on Eustace in book 7

Does she? *is delighted* Do tell where you found that. I've always been a Jill/Eustace 'shipper, but I could never exactly pin down why...

Re: Concerning Susan

[dr_c]

It's right after Eustace's first battle with a Calormene in Book 7. The text says something about her suddenly feeling shy around him (sorry, don't have the book handy-- that's the best I can do from memory).

Re: Jill and Eustace

[dr_c]

Here's the actual quote (thanks to a Google search on "Jill Eustace Calormene shy" while waiting for my next meeting here at work):

Jill, besides being disgusted with the Dwarfs, was very impressed with Eustace's victory over the Calormene and felt almost shy.

Perhaps a bit open to interpretation, but the phrases "very impressed" and "almost shy" struck me as at least slightly proto-romantic.

The same text search also brought up the following page, which (if you'll pardon the site name) credits Lewis for having "evened out the playing field" and gives high marks for feminine independence to Polly, Aravis, Jill, and Lucy-- and that from a source which scarcely seems vulnerable to accusations of "patriarchal" bias! (They also mention Aravis' high-society counterpart Lasaraleen Tarkheena, whom I had forgotten in my post of last night, and who provides a much worse example of "the wrong sort of femininity" than Susan could ever have been.)

Re: Jill and Eustace

[rj_anderson]

Cool! Thanks.

Wow, here I thought it was all in my warped little head, and it's right there in the text...!