Chronicals of Narnia

[jenseib]

Did anyone read all the books. I am on book seven right now. I am a little curious, and maybe someone can helpt me. Though I haven't fiinished book 7 I have peeked a head a bit. Now everyone is mentioned from our world EXCEPT Susan. WHY? It's like she no longer exists. At the end it apeears the yall die, but Susan isn't mentioned that I can see. Also didn't Digory (I think thats his name) and Polly get married according to the first book, but in this book she is referred to as a "Miss" and I don't think she was mentioned at all in book 2. Am I missing something?
It really just frustrates me that Susan has dropped off the earth. LOL! So does anyone know what the reasoning for it was?

 

[bumbershoot]

Did you read them from 1-7? That might be part of the confusion. The order isn't exact.

They "were written in neither the order they were originally published nor in the chronological order in which they are currently presented"

"Fans of the series often have strong opinions over the correct ordering of the books. When the books were originally published, they were not numbered. The first American publisher, Macmillan, put numbers on the books in the order in which they were published. When HarperCollins took over the series in 1994, the books were renumbered using the internal chronological order, as suggested by Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham."

reading order.

That page talks about Susan, but it might be a spoiler to you so I won't quote it.

 

[jenseib]

Yes I am reading them 1 thru 7. They seem to go in order to me. Each one refers to stuff that happened in past books, but not ones that come after it.
I don't care about spoilers. I usually read the end of every book I read first. LOL!

I'm going to read the link now.

 

[jenseib]

Ok, read bits of it so far. So is Susan then actually mentioned i nthe book somewhere? it sounds like she must be. And then they say that Lewis is mad at her for growing up, basically, but hello... he is the writer, he can make her anyway he wants to? So I'm confused about that. LOL!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for the link. And one cool thing it said is that Disney plans on doing all 7 into movies and has started pre production on the next one!

 

[iheartdisney]

The thing you have to remember about the Chronicles of Narnia is that it is a Christian fable.
As Susan grew up, she convinced herself that Narnia wasn't real. So, from a Christian perspective, she was saying the God wasn't real, so she definately could get into "Heaven" (Narnia at the end) I think the words are something along the lines of (and I'm sorry, its been over 10 years since I read all the books, but I did a high school term paper on C.S. Lewis) "Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia"

 

[jenseib]

According to the link provided earlier in this post from Wikipedia, it is not meant to e a christian story at all. But a mixutre of amny things. I don;t really see it being christian , though many told me it was before and while I have been reading them. I grew up Catholic, and though some things might look a bit christian, amny other parts don't.To me at least. I jsut liked the movies, so started to read the books. I actually like the movies better, and that is rare for me.

 

[peach3es]

Yes, Susan becomes a "nonbeliever" in The Last Battle.

And if you read what Lewis is quoted as saying on the wiki page, you find that the books are still, in fact, Christian. His faith was woven into the story in so many ways. We can argue about how deeply, or how directly the story is allegorical and/or representative, etc. But they are most definitely full of Christian symbolism.

We're huge Narnia fans in this house! I read all the stories for the first time when I was in 4th grade and have read them countless times since then. y dh has read through the entire series with our kids during their bedtime stories 3x in the last 4 years. They can't get enough of them!

We also love the movies, though Scot was quite disappointed with Prince Caspian because it did not follow the book. And he would know!

 

[jenseib]

I thought the PC movie was MUCH better than the book. But you are right, they didn't follow it.

 

[scottishduffy]

Susan grew up and no longer believed in Narnia, as such she was not granted entrance. I believe the quote from the book states she was more interested "nylons and lipstick and invitations". When the other children attempted to talk to her about Narnia she scoffed at them and said "Oh, the silly things we used to pretend!" So because she no longer has faith in Narnia/Aslan (Heaven/God) she is not rewarded.

So we leave book 7 with the impression that she has been left behind from narnia (heaven). However, we are never told what happens with the rest of her life. We don't know if this exile was permanent, or if she would grow up further and once again believe.

Either way.. it stinks to be Susan in the last book. I mean... Considering the ending and how many people she lost.

 

[jenseib]

Well I went through the book and found the sSusan part. LOL! I am glad that at least she is mentioned, but I think it is weird he did that.

On that Wikipedia site the ymention some short tale called the Problems of Susan, and it's about a olderlady who lost her family and all the trials of herlife, and it leads you to beleive it is Susan, but never says it. Now it is by some totally other guy,but I may look for it some day and read it just for fun.

thanks all for the input.I was really thinking it weird that she wasn;t mentioned in the beginning when the other 7 were at the table.