The Crime of Returning to the Ways of the Dumb Beasts

Over the past few posts, we have been trying to determine what causes the punishment of, “lest you cease to be Talking Beasts.” A priori, the cause should be returning to the Wild Ways of the Dumb Beasts. Yet Ginger the Cat and the beasts who earlier joined the Telmarines went dumb though they do not appear to have returned to Dumb Beast ways. So, what is the crime and for what does one receive such a punishment?

What Ginger and the beasts who joined the Telmarines have in common is that they turned against Narnia and their fellow Narnians. Ginger collaborated with the Calormens to sell his own people as slaves to the Calormen’s and even cut down the woods. The other beasts joined the Telmarines as they invaded or controlled Narnia. All suffer from a lack of loyalty, purpose, and an understanding that some things are more important than your own comfort and even your own life.

Aslan’s command was not to return to the ways of the Dumb Beasts and, yet, we did not find any concrete example of what ways should be prohibited - not Bree’s rolling, and barely even the explicit (though unmentioned) actions of the Lapsed Bear of Stormness. The reason why is that any action of that sort is superficial. Rolling is what Dumb Beasts do, but it does not define their innate character.

What defines the Dumb Beasts is that they act on instinct not on morals. Instinct says to constantly seek pleasure and enjoyment. Instinct is to save one’s life at all costs. Morals push back against instinct, putting God front and center and requiring that HIs will be placed before yours.

We do not fully know the motivations of Ginger the rest. No doubt, at least in Ginger’s case, it was for power. Perhaps they were also motivated by wealth and comfort. But by following those instincts they left Aslan behind. They turned against their homeland and their fellows. They loosened their morals and thus acted instinctively, like the Dumb Beasts which they eventually became.

With this we perhaps have solved our riddle. The prohibition against returning to the ways of the Dumb Beasts is not an action, it may not even be a direction, but rather it’s placing instinct before morals. We find examples of beasts that violated this prohibition and were indeed punished. And, while not formulating concrete rules, we do have a guideline as to when the prohibition is violated.

There are two points still to be made. First, why are Aslan’s words not mentioned, recorded, or very much considered in the Chronicles of Narnia? One would think this command would be in the forefront of the minds of the Talking Beasts, rather than being referred to in a few “throw away” statements. To address this we’ll reconsider the dynamic of Aslan’s words had they been said in a Jewish context.

Second, recall that Susan hesitated before shooting at a bear attacking her, her siblings, and Trumpkin in the woods because she was concerned that it was perhaps a talking bear. Lucy replies to Susan’s hesitation with what she calls a “horrible idea.” I won’t quote it now but take a look as it deserves quite some thought.

King of the Wood

Just something that I thought of recently not related to what we've been up to...

When Mr. Beaver describes Aslan to the four Pevensie children he refers to him as "Lord of the whole wood," and "King of the wood." No doubt this is because Narnia is a woodland, even though the rest of the Narnian world (for example Calormen) is not. This is similar to referring to God as the God of Zion, despite the fact that He is clearly not limited to a single city. 

However, Aslan is lord of another wood, the Wood Between the Worlds. Thus, Aslan is ruler of all. 

Ginger and Other Former Talking Beasts

In our last post we contrasted two Talking Beasts: the Lapsed Bear of Stormness and Ginger the Cat. The Lapsed Bear is specifically called out for going back to Wild Beast habits (though no specific habits are called out). However, he is saved through the bravery and strength of Corin Thunder-Fist and does not appear to suffer the punishment of ceasing to be a talking beast. On the other hand Ginger does cease to be a talking beast but there is no clear sign that he reverted to the habits of Dumb Beasts. So how is the punishment of losing sentience appropriate?

Perhaps we can gain some insight by noting that there are other beasts who have been afflicted by Aslan’s promised curse of ceasing to be Talking Beasts. These are identified by Trumpkin the Dwarf. As Trumpkin and the four Pevensie children make their way to Caspian’s camp, they are followed by a bear. When the bear attacks, it is Trumpkin’s arrow that takes him down, not Susan’s (though Susan is the better archer). Susan embarrassingly explains that she was worried it may have been a Talking Bear and therefore hesitated. Trumpkin, for his part, acknowledges Susan’s concern:

“That's the trouble of it,” said Trumpkin, “when most of the beasts have gone enemy and gone dumb, but there are still some of the other kind left. You never know, and you daren't wait to see.”

This is an astounding statement especially when considering that (1) at this point Trumpkin is not quite a believer in Aslan, and (2) Trufflehunter’s insistence that Beasts do not forget. Well, maybe Trumpkin is just reporting what he’s seen. As Talking Beasts join the enemies of the “Old Narnians” they cease to be Talking Beasts, they go dumb.

Again here we have the same theological question as with Ginger. What did these Beasts do to deserve the punishment they received?

I think the way to address this question is to uncover the essence of the prohibition against returning to Wild Beast habits. We’ll try to do that in our next post.

The Lapsed and the Conniver

There is one Talking Beast about whom we are explicitly told that he had, “gone back to Wild Bear habits.” That is the Lapsed Bear of Stormness, who was eventually beaten in a boxing match by Corin Thunder-Fist and became a “reformed character.” Given the short description, it is not at all clear what habits the Lapsed Bear returned to. Nonetheless, perhaps this supports our previous contention that it is an approach or trajectory towards the ways of Wild Beasts that violates Aslan’s command. The Lapsed Bear habituated himself as a Wild Beast. Whether he did something evil, dangerous to others, or even just non-thinking is not important. Simply, he did not value the gift in sentience granted by Aslan and directed his approach to life towards the ways of the Dumb Beasts.

There is also a Talking Beast explicitly struck with Aslan’s curse, “lest you cease to be Talking Beasts.” That creature is, of course, Ginger the Cat in The Last Battle who loses his ability to speak, and ceases to be a Talking Beast, after looking into the stable at “Tashlan.” Of course, we know what Ginger did wrong. As part of the plot with the Calomens (and Shift) he betrayed his own people. He disbelieved in Aslan, enough to create “Tashlan,” and attempted to sell this new god to the Narnian proletariat.

So, there’s no question that Ginger is an evil character who deserves to be punished. The challenge is that his actions are not returning to ways of the Dumb Beasts. Dumb Beasts do not deceive, connive, or scheme. How does Ginger’s punishment fit the crime?