Till It Ends

Polly and Digory. Peter and Susan. Edmund and Lucy. Eustace and Jill. 

Out of the eight “Friends of Narnia” who enter from our world, the male-to-female character ratio is exactly 1/1. Not one of these female characters serves as a love interest at any time. 

The Horse and His Boy, the only book set entirely in Narnia, maintains this ratio with Shasta and Aravis, who, we are told in a postscript, eventually marry. Yet even here, the story itself is concerned only with the friendship between them. Lewis focuses on Aravis’ value as a brave friend and a worthy ally rather than as a potential girlfriend–and ultimately, we realize that it’s these qualities that make her a good companion for Shasta. They are worthy of each other, equals. 

In the 1950s, there was no particularly loud cry for female representation in children’s literature. As far as pure plot goes, there’s no pressing need for all these girls. A little boy could have opened the wardrobe (and in the fragmentary initial draft, did). Given that we already know Eustace well by The Silver Chair, it would not seem strictly necessary for a patently ordinary schoolgirl to follow him on his return trip to Narnia, yet follow she does–and her role in the story is pivotal. Why does the humble cab-driver whom Aslan crowns the first King of Narnia immediately ask for his equally humble wife, who is promptly spirited over, her hands full of washing, and crowned queen by his side? Well, because nothing could be more natural than to have her there. 

None of these women are here to fill a quota. They’re here because Lewis wanted them there. 

The one’s that really mattered 

Full of darkness and danger 

Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end 

Because how could the end be happy? 

How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? 

But in the end, it’s only a passing shadow 

Even darkness must pass 

A new day will come 

And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer 

Those were the stories that stayed with you

That meant something 

Even if you were too small to understand why

But I think I do understand 

I know now 

Folks in these stories had lots of chances to turn back 

Only they didn’t 

They kept going

Because they were holding on to something 

That there’s some good in this world 

And it’s worth fighting for.