Prince Caspian (the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia, if one is following the proper order) contains a number of stories of spiritual renewal and teshuva. We will first quickly consider King Caspian the Tenth who is brought up in the darkness of Telmarine society, and awakens to its vacuity upon learning of the true origin and destiny of Narnia. Other such stories in Prince Caspian include that of Trumpkin the dwarf who repents his denial of the existence of Aslan, and even Susan repents for her initial doubts of Lucy’s visions.
While perhaps not enlightening concerning the characters themselves, we find it valuable to compare and contrast Caspian with the most outstanding repentant in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace Clarence Scrubb. Both Caspian and Eustace are raised by skeptics. Caspian by his uncle Miraz and Eustace by his parents Harold and Alberta. Miraz outlawed the teaching of, and even the mention of, earlier Narnian history which by his time had retreated to myths and legends. He doubted the existence of lions and talking beasts and scoffed at the idea of a joint rule between brothers and sisters. Eustace, of course, is raised by Harold and Alberta who were “very up-to-date and advanced people.” So advanced and up to date that they leave Eustace with no imagination and little ability to dream.
There is, however, a major factor that differentiates the two. Caspian has a nurse who tells him stories of the olden days while Eustace has none. It appears that it is for this reason, that when confronted with Old Narnia, Caspian immediately is on board and supports them over his fellow Telmarines. When Eustace is confronted with Narnia he doesn’t know what to think. In fact, he’s quite sure it’s all a ruse and only a tortuous and painful procedure teaches him to think otherwise. We will return to Eustace later, but let’s spend a short amount of time on King Caspian the Seafarer, Tenth of that name.
How does Caspian, the boy everyone thought would be the next leader of the Telmarines in Narnina, morph into the champion of Old Narnia? What process allowed him to abandon his own people’s morality and ethics for that of (what is effectively) a foreign culture. The answer is, the stories of his nurse. Those stories made a far deeper impression on the young Caspian than all of his later studies in history, cosmography, and heraldry. Those stories remained alive within Caspian even as his nurse was dismissed and Dr. Cornelius took her place, and, under his tutelage the stories were transformed into history, ethics, and theology. Thus, it is the nurse and the tutor who gain the trust of the young Caspian and shape his worldview from that of a typical aristocratic Telmarine, into that of a savior for Old Narnia.
It is interesting to note a possible parallel between Caspian and Moses, the greatest of all prophets. Both were raised in the castle of the enemy of the Chosen People. Both were taught of the true worth of the downtrodden and what would be their glorious end: Caspian by his nurse and Moses either by his nursemaid (his genetic mother) or his adopted mother the daughter of the Pharaoh. Both run from the castle as they are likely to be sentenced for death, and reemerge as the champion for those downtrodden people they were taught to respect. Both initially doubted the success of their ultimate goal but were convinced to take on their leadership position. Finally, both were turned away from their Promised Land, Moses on the banks of the Jordan and Caspian at the edge of the Silver Sea.
What catalyzed Caspian? What propelled him to go to war with a band of woodland creatures against a great national power? The stories of his nurse. Stories are powerful, stories allow children to dream and adults to strive to reach those dreams. So, in our next post we will take a quick detour to explore the storyteller: Caspian’s nurse, or perhaps, C. S. Lewis.
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