The Problem of Susan
I saw Liv's post over on dreamwidth about Narnia where she mentions that Neil Gaiman's short story articulates the traditional Problem of Susan (i.e. the standard third-wave feminist line that it's possible to be interested in makeup and adornment and sex without being a completely frivolous, worthless person) and it reminded me that I have never thought that this was the central Problem of Susan. Certainly, I think it's a problem but I think the main problem is quite different.
For me, the problem is that it's a betrayal on two levels.
The first level:
Like probably many of you, I read the Narnia books as a child. I was incredibly upset by the short section of The Last Battle that deals with Susan. So much so that I spent most of the rest of the book in a bit of a daze and I didn't reread it again for many years. Bit of an overreaction, possibly, but looking back on it, I think the reason why it really felt like a punch in the guts from the author as a child was that it's just so against all the natural rules of writing. Of course, you can kill off* main characters, even in books written for children. But it goes against everything that you expect as a reader when a main character is killed off with a single dismissive sentence and the other main characters don't seem to give a shit. It's a bit like if, at the end of the Harry Potter books, there was a sentence saying "And then Hermione decided that she'd rather live as a Muggle, left the magical world and was never seen again. Harry and Ron got on with their lives and never gave her another thought." It's just so WTF. You don't invest in characters for a whole series to have them written off like that.
The second level:
Again, probably like many of you, when I was a child, I didn't realise that these books were allegories. So, I got a second sense of betrayal from Lewis when I realised that he'd done all of that with Susan to make a theological point. He'd punched me in the guts as a child to make a theological point. And he hadn't even cared enough about that theological point to make it properly and sensitively and build it up throughout the books.
In general, there are two things going on in the Narnia books - on the one hand, they are normal books with normal characters and plots and things and then, on the other hand, Lewis just sometimes randomly puts in something that is a point that he wants to make about theology and he often just doesn't put in the work to make it fit within the characters and plots that he has. And that is really REALLY annoying. For instance, the essay that Liv links to, by ursulav is partly about the problem of the whole "they were kings and queens of Narnia for years and then got sent back to be children" thing. I suspect that Lewis was trying to make a point about how time is meaningless for God, God sees all times simultaneously, yaddayaddayadda, but - of course - that doesn't actually engage with what that means for the characters and their lives. Because it's one of those where Lewis doesn't care because he's making a drive-by theological point and ignoring the fact that many (most? all?) of his readers aren't reading the books for the theology, they're reading them because - despite everything - he has managed to make you care and that is the most annoying thing of all.
*Yes, I realise that Susan isn't technically killed off but, in terms of the books, she effectively is. If that makes sense.
For me, the problem is that it's a betrayal on two levels.
The first level:
Like probably many of you, I read the Narnia books as a child. I was incredibly upset by the short section of The Last Battle that deals with Susan. So much so that I spent most of the rest of the book in a bit of a daze and I didn't reread it again for many years. Bit of an overreaction, possibly, but looking back on it, I think the reason why it really felt like a punch in the guts from the author as a child was that it's just so against all the natural rules of writing. Of course, you can kill off* main characters, even in books written for children. But it goes against everything that you expect as a reader when a main character is killed off with a single dismissive sentence and the other main characters don't seem to give a shit. It's a bit like if, at the end of the Harry Potter books, there was a sentence saying "And then Hermione decided that she'd rather live as a Muggle, left the magical world and was never seen again. Harry and Ron got on with their lives and never gave her another thought." It's just so WTF. You don't invest in characters for a whole series to have them written off like that.
The second level:
Again, probably like many of you, when I was a child, I didn't realise that these books were allegories. So, I got a second sense of betrayal from Lewis when I realised that he'd done all of that with Susan to make a theological point. He'd punched me in the guts as a child to make a theological point. And he hadn't even cared enough about that theological point to make it properly and sensitively and build it up throughout the books.
In general, there are two things going on in the Narnia books - on the one hand, they are normal books with normal characters and plots and things and then, on the other hand, Lewis just sometimes randomly puts in something that is a point that he wants to make about theology and he often just doesn't put in the work to make it fit within the characters and plots that he has. And that is really REALLY annoying. For instance, the essay that Liv links to, by ursulav is partly about the problem of the whole "they were kings and queens of Narnia for years and then got sent back to be children" thing. I suspect that Lewis was trying to make a point about how time is meaningless for God, God sees all times simultaneously, yaddayaddayadda, but - of course - that doesn't actually engage with what that means for the characters and their lives. Because it's one of those where Lewis doesn't care because he's making a drive-by theological point and ignoring the fact that many (most? all?) of his readers aren't reading the books for the theology, they're reading them because - despite everything - he has managed to make you care and that is the most annoying thing of all.
*Yes, I realise that Susan isn't technically killed off but, in terms of the books, she effectively is. If that makes sense.