The Abdication of Queen Susan (Part 4)

Can Queen Susan ever be reclaimed for Narnia?

Lewis has said as much in his Collected Letters, and I am honestly not sure why anyone would even think otherwise. Lewis himself did not convert until he was in his 30s and made the statement of not being ashamed of reading fairytales when he was 50. So why should anyone give up on the 21-year-old Susan? 

Unfortunately, she has now be struck with a horrific tragedy, losing her parents and siblings suddenly and all at once and it would be quite wrong to judge someone else on how might react to such a terrible fate. Nonetheless, there is plenty of time. And, hopefully, she can survive the terrible blow against her and mature into a reflective and more profound adult. 

And, despite Lewis' unwillingness to commit to Susan's eventual repentance, I think he's rooting for her and believes she will make it. I've mentioned this before in our discussion of Susan's horn, but let's expand of that a bit.

In The Lion and Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter, Susan, and Lucy, receive presents from Father Christmas which, we are later told, "they valued more than their whole kingdom." Susan received a bow, a quiver full of arrows, and an ivory horn. The Chronicles record two times that the horn was blown (once by Susan, once by Caspian) and at the end of Prince Caspian there are two things to note. First, Caspian offers the horn back to Susan, but Susan tells him to keep it. Second, as Susan leaves Narnia for the last time she is cheered as Queen Susan of the Horn. Finally, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader we are told that Queen Susan's horn was left with the Regent Trumpkin in case of great need. And that is the last we hear of it. 

What happened to Susan's horn? Why was it not blown by Tirian in the Last Battle? Surely such a treasure should have been carefully guarded by Caspian's heirs. I'm not sure I can answer those questions but let's try another one.  

Why was Susan called Queen Susan of the Horn? There's no reason to think she blew it more than once. Presumably the answer is because she always had the horn at her side. In fact, she was the only one who had her gift with her the day they went hunting the White Stag and ended up back in England. Lucy did not have her cordial, Peter did not have his sword, but Susan had her horn. Susan trusted the horn and with it she always had the ability to call out for help.

But Susan is called Queen Susan of the Horn even as she gives the horn to Caspian. For she, and the Narnians, know that the horn is only an external manifestation of something more fundamental: the ability to call out to God and ask for salvation. Queen Susan no longer needs the horn, for she has now internalized its abilities. 

The 21-year-old Susan is no longer inspired by Narnia. She has lost her spiritual way. She believes she has life figured out. How many of us felt the same in our early twenties, absolutely sure that we have all the answers and a clear path towards a bright future? But her life has now changed drastically, and she will quickly learn what (hopefully) all of us do as we grow older, that we are not as smart as we thought, and that life is not that easy. 

And with that, the horn within Susan will blow and bring her back to Narnia. 

The Laws of Undulation (Part 2)

We will get back to Susan, but a little more thought on the Laws of Undulation...

Last time we saw two different formulations of undulation in the relationship between man and God. Lewis' formulation starts by acknowledging that humans - who are amphibians between spiritual and physical and live in time, cannot remain consistent in their relationship with God. Thus, a human's interest in work, friends, and, presumably God, will wax and wane. As Lewis puts it, "the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks."

A priori, this behavior sounds similar to that of a pendulum in which first the physical side is dominant and then the spiritual in a never-ending, uncontrollable cycle. However, that is not quite accurate. First, Lewis notes the importance of the troughs for spiritual growth and that at times God purposely withdraws His presence. In fact, some of God's favorites experience long and deep troughs. This suggests that it is not (and least not only) human nature that causes undulation, but that God Himself may insert control. Perhaps, and likely, human also have some control. Can a person make themselves stay towards the physical without ever approaching the spiritual? 

Second, a pendulum has a limit on both ends and while it is likely that the physicality of humans will force a limit on spiritual attainment, is the other way true as well? Can a human ever become purely physical such that his or her spiritual element is completely deadened? The same challenge must be addressed by R' Soloveichik's undulation as well. Finite humanity cannot, as it were, consummate love with the Divine. But can humanity be completely swallowed by awe and fear such that they will never experience love? Or will love of God eventually assert itself and force a swing towards the other direction?  

I think Lewis somewhat addresses this question in his book Till We Have Faces. For those not familiar with that work (and who have not read our previous comments on it) Queen Orual of Glome hates the gods who she believes have stolen from her the love of her sister, Psyche. In fact, Orual's love for Psyche was doomed from Orual's refusal to recognize the gods and bring them into her relationship (thus dooming the relationship as described by Lewis in The Four Loves). Orual decides that the best way of ignoring her grief is to kill her true self, her personality and persona and thus escape the gods. And, for most of her life, it works. She spends her time transforming herself into royalty and concentrating on her royal duties. But it does not last. Eventually the gods force her to confront herself and the spiritual side of her that she has so long sought to avoid returns in full force.