I think I left my brain in an ancient port city of Rome

[rthstewart]

So happy Tuesday after Happy Cat Sacrifice Day! By whose authority am I back and work?

Easter dinner for 20 was fabulous though I'll assume my jet lagged state was responsible for the gross over-estimation of food (coupled with my epic failure at  math). I also had to prepare for 2 readings at the church’s Easter Vigil mass (Moses parting the Red

Comments

Re: Peter and Susan

[rthstewart]

Thank you Clairel for coming by and reading. I've had another reader comment in a PM about what I've suggested here with Peter and his cynical view of women. I've been playing with this at least since BRD and early chapters of Part 1. While at first Peter was always trying to find a spouse and heirs for the greater good of Narnia and never quite fully gave into cynicism, in Spare Oom with the war, I think Peter has come pretty close to outright cynicism. He's got an ideal in his head and his always disappointed that no woman (except Dalia) ever met it. He's mostly come in contact with women aren't very interested in him, alone, as a person.

However, as written, I don't think he's a terrific partner. Considerate lover, sure, and he's never mean. This Peter written is very giving to his family, to his country, to Aslan, and at the end, there's nothing much left that he holds in reserve for himself and for a woman. Noble and self-sacrificing, but not very satisfying either.

Second, and this is a point Clio has made to me, Peter requires a certain moral education. He's certainly really unabashedly male (something Susan calls him on), has enjoyed his male privilege very much, and has avoided a lot of thorny moral dilemmas thus far (at least in part by delegating them to Susan and Edmund). Rat and Sword is, in some ways, beginning to strip some of that privilege away. None of this is to say he is a bad person -- he isn't. But he's got some growing up to do.

Where does Susan go from here? Good question! She obviously needs a long vacation on a beach with Tebbitt and drinks with umbrellas. I do think a part of what makes her more successful as a spy is her ability to juggle those different personas. The lipsticks and nylons, that ability to pretend, that are condemned (by some) in TLB are a strength here.