Summer Challenge Sharing Thread

Chapter 1:

Little birds are flying
Swiftly, softly, overhead.
"Will the birds be talking?"
A liar's filled with dread.
"Ah!" the Liar is sighing,
Lion skin at his feet still spread,
"Those are just dumb birds soaring."
And as singing birds race ahead,
The liar is sewing and silently plotting:
A web of lies is spun thread by thread.

Chapter 2:

Little birds telling tales,
Wondrous stories of Aslan the King.
Can they be true?
They must be true!
Man and unicorn feel they must sing,
Because of the beautiful tales.

Oh I love your poems, Islie 🙂
"swiftly, softly" catches me especially, and I like how you use birds for both the chapters.

I've kind of made two reflections that both relate to both chapter 1 and 2.

A thunderclap
Shakes the earth in warning.
In the sky above
All the stars are mourning,
And the last king of Narnia
Stands on the edge
Of the end of the sight
From the first flight of Fledge.

Now the water is dry
And the sun rises black
As the skin of a lion
On poor Puzzle's back
Becomes the most dangerous
lie mixed with truth
To fell an old world
And a king still in youth.

A Contrast in Friendships

One thing that had not occurred to me before was how these first two chapters present expressively contrasting examples of friendship.

In the first we have Puzzle and Shift who call themselves friends. They are very different from each other and Shift pretends that they are using their different strengths to help each other because Puzzle does the physical work (such as fetching the lion skin) while Shift does all the thinking and planning for both of them. In reality Shift is just using his cleverness to use Puzzle for his own selfish purposes, and even Puzzle is not a good friend to Shift because he serves him out of fear rather than real love. The real strength that Puzzle could have offered Shift was his more sensitive sense of right and wrong, but Puzzle is not brave enough to stick to his convictions and Shift is too proud and selfish to take heed.

In the second chapter we find the real friendship of Tirian and Jewel. They have each risked their lives for each other and would do so again. They also have different strengths, but actually use them to serve each other. Jewel is more cautious in his reasoning and conclusions than Tirian is. He is slower than Tirian to believe that Aslan has come, but when Roonwit tells them that it is a lie, Jewel questions this also while Tirian is already angry at the liars. Tirian's boldness and Jewel's consideration balance each other. Jewel also uses his physical strength to help Tirian when they ford a river by keeping to his right "so as to break the force of the current", and later Jewel tells Tirian to ride on his back to escape an immediate danger. These are services freely offered in friendship and in no way forced or manipulated. When Tirian decides to turn himself in, it is not something that Jewel would have done of his own accord, but he decides to go with Tirian. This is still completely different from Shift wanting the lion skin and Puzzle fetching it because Tirian says "There is no need for both of us to go" and means it sincerely. Jewel chooses to go with him of his own free will, and they face the hard thing together.

These first two chapters make some excellent points about what friendship should and shouldn't be, and even though I hadn't noticed it before, I think it very likely that the contrast in the two friendships was intended by Lewis.

Something I noticed this last time I've read these chapters is that I'm always quick to judge Puzzle for his agreeing with Shift, and Tirian and Jewel for their impetuous actions, but then I asked myself what I would have done in their situation, and I'm afraid I wouldn't have done any better than they did.

Good thoughts everybody!
I would post something right now but I have to resubmit some links to Wrosie first (whoops). Also since I'm out of town, I got a head start and finished all of the book as well as all of my reflections but I hope to post them somewhat according to the day. Ish. 🙂

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and poems so far. Swanny's observation about the contrast in the two friendships was a fresh insight for me especially. I've been out of town but hope to start reading LB today 😉

Great thoughts guys. I loved your poems, Islie, and I like the way you referred to Fledge. Excellent thought about the friendships. Hobbit, you're right that it's easy to quickly judge a character as good or bad but when you really get into it and their thought processes etc, you can learn a lot more about them and about us.

I've decided that for the first few chapters at least, I'll do Character Profiles as we meet different main characters. We first meet Shift and Puzzle in chapter 1 and Tirian and Jewel in two. But since I'm a day behind in posts, but not in reading (it's almost bed time for me) I've included information from 3 & 4

Shift

Name: Shift
Species: Ape (though later claims to be a very old human)
Physical Description: Very old, ugly and wrinkled. Later dresses in a scarlet jacket, jewelled slippers and a paper crown
Role: Chief antagonist

Character/Personality - What we learn about the character:
Shift is a selfish character, full of deceit and manipulation. He cares only about himself and gets others, especially Puzzle, to serve him and satisfy his own desires. He cares nothing for the wellbeing of others. He talks down on other people, making them feel inferior in both intelligence and moral judgement. He represents the kind of person who is selfish, greedy and manipulative.

Puzzle

Name: Puzzle
Species: Donkey
Physical Description: Grey in colour (at least a grey nose). Long neck.
Role: Shift's skivvy. Persuaded by Shift to wear the lionskin and masquerade as Aslan

Character/Personality - What we learn about the character:
Puzzle's character is a little hard to pin down. He is certainly partly naïve and has extremely low self-esteem. He is not quite as stupid as Shift wants him to think, but he lets Shift talk him down and boss him around. I've been wondering whether it is really a lack of intelligence or sense that lets him fall for Shifts lies, or if he is so desperate for friendship of any sort, he allows himself to be persuaded. This represents a far too common personality trait in the world and Puzzle makes us aware of just how easily someone can be conned in their desperateness for approval. I've also been thinking a little of how Puzzle might be seen as a counterpart to Emeth. I won't get into the debate about whether Lewis was right about Emeth now (we can save that for when we get to him), but I was thinking that if Emeth is meant to represent those who have devoutly followed a false god or religion because of being brought up in a place where the True God is not known or accurately portrayed, Puzzle might be seen to represent those who, although they believe in the True God, follow false teachings about him and what he expects from us. One might ask how someone who knows about the True God can be so easily led astray from the truth about him, and the answers may be the same as for Puzzle. They are led by a false teacher, like Shift, either through genuine ignorance and naivety, or through a desperate need for acceptance that masks their judgement. There were moments when Puzzle did know what was right (it would be dreadful for people to mistake him for Aslan, Aslan wouldn't want them giving evil commands in his name) and yet he has convinced himself that Shift knows better than him and so lets his moments of conscience be quelled by Shifts "superior" arguments.

Tirian

Name: King Tirian
Species: Human (Telmarine)
Physical Description: 20-25 years old, broad shoulders, scanty beard, blue eyes, a fearless honest face
Role: King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel, Emperor of the Lone Islands

Character/Personality - What we learn about the character:
Tirian is a good man, with a good strong conscience. As a King, however, he comes across as still young and inexperienced. He cares strongly for his kingdom and his subjects, but he is somewhat impetuous, acting before he thinks through his actions. His instincts are true, however, and he has a good heart. Unlike most of the other Narnian Kings we read about, he has lived his life so far without ever having met Aslan in person. He knows about him, believes in him and is faithful to him, but there is a degree to which this is second-hand knowledge and he has not really experienced his working himself. He is very excited about the prospect of Aslan's return and relies more strongly on the eyewitness accounts than Roonwit the centaur's prophesies. While his faith in Aslan is mostly strong, he does have some doubt, allowing the phrase "he's not a tame Lion" to let him doubt both the stars foretelling and Aslan's goodness. His rashness causes much trouble but he tries always to do what's right, even admitting his guilt handing himself over for killing the Calormene. While he does make errors of judgement, there are some things he will take on faith. This is seen in his calling out to Aslan in his deepest need and to the friends of Narnia, both of whom he only knows about in long distant tales. And although he has moments where he fears that Aslan might truly have returned and turned out not to be who he thought he was, he is immediately clear that it is all lies when he hears the claims that Aslan and Tash are one. He represents the everyday Christian who tries to do what is right and sometimes fails.

Jewel

Name: Jewel
Species: Unicorn
Physical Description: Blue horn, creamy white flanks
Role: Tirian's faithful steed and best friend

Character/Personality - What we learn about the character:
Jewel is fiercely loyal to his master. As the two are kindred spirits, he shares much of Tirian's characteristics, including faith in Aslan, but room for doubt. He is quick to avenge the wronged Narnians and equally penitent about his rashful behaviour.

*comes into the thread crying and clinging to everybody in sight*
This is why I haven't read LB more than once. 😛

I've gotten through Chapter 1 and have no deep, intricate thoughts on them.

What struck me most this time attempting the book (I've started the first two chapters a half dozen other times) is how Shift pretends to be Puzzle's friend. It's so... obvious to us it's not, but it reminds me of how people have used others by sending them on guilt trips and putting themselves down in order to lift themselves up, and... *grrrs* I can't write anymore about this. It hurts.

Ch. 3

Ch. 4

I love seeing the Narnian perspective of encounters from our world. It's almost funny how pivotal points in Narnian history were when children came to its rescue. Obviously the kids made a difference because Aslan was using them, showing his strength by working through weakness. I like how the Last Battle gives us an opposite point of view by having a Narnian protagonist instead. It's neat seeing the friends of Narnia as these mysterious otherworldly heroes.

I just read LB a month or two ago. It makes it hard to concentrate this time around. 😛
It always drives me crazy, though, that Tirian never gets his chance to speak and overthrow Shift's "rule" in chapter 3. But then I think, "Oh, maybe it's better this way, though." I mean, all the characters end up happy in the end. And this way the book is longer and more interesting. 😆

Chapter 3

Not a tame Lion? Lies about Aslan's character.

I've been thinking a bit more about the reactions of the Narnians in Chapter 3 to Shift's lies. It's quite sad that Narnia had got to such a point that they fall for his lies about the things Aslan says to them. Narnia doesn't seem to have the equivalent of the Bible or a church to teach people the truth about Aslan, but one would assume that it was taught word-of-mouth from generation to generation. And they at least had written history books (which isn't unlike having an Old Testament and Gospels) which gave quite detailed and accurate accounts of Aslan and his dealings with Narnia and the visits by the children from our world.

Yet despite this knowledge at their finger-tips, they had obviously either not understood or else forgotten exactly who Aslan was and how he would behave if he should come among them. The Ape's twisting of the truth and the sight of a Lion-shaped being in the half dark was enough to convince them that "Aslan has come and is not like the Aslan we have believed in and longed for."

The one thing that is constantly repeated about Aslan (both by Shift and by loyal Narnians) is the famous line "He's not a tame Lion". This quote appears throughout The Chronicles as a reminder that Aslan is the King and takes his own council. He will not be dictated upon by his subjects as his will is sovereign and just. The trouble is that they have mistaken this claim about Aslan's wildness to think that he might act against his own character in wrath. Yes, Aslan might do the unexpected, but they think he might go as far as to issue orders that are harmful to them, that he might refuse to see them and make harsh unkind demands. This despite the fact that never in the stories did Aslan ever act so cruelly, even to those who did wrong.

While the description of Aslan as "not tame" is true and important (and is a reminder to us that God is not tame either), his followers have forgotten another, perhaps more important quote about Aslan.

"Then he isn't safe?" asked Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Aslan might be a wild beast; he might do things that are unexpected. He is not tame and therefore not "safe". But he is always good. His goodness dominates over his wildness. If his followers had remembered this truth they would never have fallen for the Ape's lies. Another truth we know about Aslan from earlier tales, one which even Tirian did not learn from his history lessons, is that despite not being tame, Aslan always obeys his own rules. We see this in VDT when he becomes visible as a result of Lucy reading the spell to make unseen things seen. And a similar point is made when Lune explains that even as King he can't change the laws of succession. If Tirian had remembered this, he would never have entertained the idea that Aslan might have come despite the stars saying otherwise.

It is interesting that none of the Narnians, not even the wise lamb, as far as we know, questions the identity of the Lion they see. There have always been other lions in Narnia, both talking and dumb (like the lion from whom the fleece came). Yet not one of them comes close to questioning whether the lion they see is indeed the real Aslan. They take Shift's word for it, despite everything he says being contrary to Aslan's nature.

I think the important lesson we learn from the Narnians here is to know our "history"; to know the bible and what it says about God and who he is and how he behaves. Only that can keep us from making the mistake the Narnians made when men who seem wise in our eyes come along making false claims about God and what God has told them or what he wants from us.

I've been so busy this week (what with drama performance on Saturday) that I had no idea this week was Summer Challenge. I'm going to do today's, yesterday's, and Mondays readings today. I already read chapter one and part of chapter two.

While I was reading Chapter Two, I read these paragraphs:

"Sire," he said, "you know how long I have lived and studied the stars; for we centaurs live longer than you men, and even longer than your kind, Unicorn. Never in all my days have I seen such terrible things written in the skies as there have been nightly since this year began.
The stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy. I know by my art that there have not been such disastrous conjunctions of the planets for five hundred years. It was already in my mind to come and warn your Majesty that some great evil hangs over Narnia. But last night the rumor reached me that Aslan is abroad in Narnia. Sire, do not believe this tale. It cannot be. The stars never lie, but Men and beasts do. If Aslan were really coming to Narnia the sky would have foretold it. If he were really come, all the most gracious stars would be assembled in his honor. It is all a lie.

The bolded sentences were the ones that got me thinking. Thinking about stars of bad tidings. So I wrote this little fanfiction. Hope you enjoy it.

Sendova, Death-Star of Narnia, smiled. She hadn’t been called upon to take a place in Narnia’s night sky for five hundred years. She had rested above Calormen, which saddened her some, but the place she longed to stay from most was Narnia.
She looked to the east, where the sun was making its rise. She could almost make out the shapes of the birds, bringing Ramandu his food. She could hear him, the birds, and his lovely daughter singing. The morning was beautiful. The sun quickly rose.
Suddenly, she saw someone coming toward her. It was Tarva, Lord of Victory. He had a dark beard and wonderful, blue eyes. Close behind him was Alambil, Lady of Peace. Her long, silver hair was contrasted by the beautiful face of a young woman, although her age was beyond measure. “Lord, Lady,” Sendova said to both of them, nodding respectfully, “what bringest thee to this part of the skies?”
“Thou…” Alambil started, but seemed unable to give her the news.
“I shall tell her,” Tarva said. “Thou hast been… called upon to…take thy place… over Narnia.”
“What?” Sendova asked, saddened and surprised. She had known, from the knowledge that stars are given, that sometime soon she would be called upon to do so. However, she had hoped that it wouldn’t be quite so soon as this. She looked at Tarva and Alambil. “Where goest thou?”
“Here,” Alambil said. There were tears in her grey eyes.
“Victory and peace for Calormen… and death for Narnia,” she said slowly. She closed her dark eyes for a moment, then opened them. “Many thanks to thee, Lord, Lady. I shall do so posthaste.” With that, she picked up her black skirts and ran across the sky for many hours, until she got to Narnia. She looked down. It looked peaceful enough. It was the beginning of the year, when there was still wonderful, white snow blanketing the country. She closed her eyes. And waited.
* * *
It was early spring. The snows were melting, and all Narnia seemed happy. Sendova knew better. She, Merilissel, the Lady of Terror, and Goroath, Lord of Sorrow, were all gathered in the sky together. That had never happened. She had never even been over the Narnian sky with either one of them before. In fact, Narnia was the one place she had never been at all. Merilissel was very sad, Sendova could tell. Merilissel's fierce scarlet eyes were drooping with sadness.
Goroath sighed and looked at Sendova, who smiled sadly. It was awful. She felt a tear in her eye, which she blinked away. Everyone was sad. She suddenly thought that she looked like one who was mourning. She was clothed in black, with a circlet wrought of iron upon her head. Her hair and eyes were both dark, but her skin almost as pale as the white light that came from her at night. “Merilissel,” she suddenly found herself asking, “what troubles thee most?”
“Verily, thou art asking the question I found myself asking morrow last. I have been thinking of it, but an answer I cannot find.” She wound a piece of her golden hair around her finger.
“I found myself asking selfsame question,” Goroath said. “Perhaps… Oh! Indeed, dear sisters, we are sad, not for simply giving evil tidings, but for the tidings themselves. One pretends to be Aslan, but is in truth a liar.”
“Oh, verily!” Merilissel said. “Indeed! And that he who devours all good, that demon the Calormens do verily worship, is prowling the wilds. ‘Tis quite awful. Perhaps…”
Sendova already knew what Merilissel was going to say. “Aslan, please give all true Narnians strength to complete the task ahead, and to run with perseverance the race marked out for them.”
“Aye,” Merilissel conceded.
“Aye,” said Goroath said as well.
Sendova closed her eyes, knowing Aslan would work out all.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Hebrews 12:1

Finally managed to get to Chapter 5. I'm not speaking with Lewis.

My meager reflection on chapter 2:
Tirian is such a brave, noble warrior to go right back and turn himself in, not as king of Narnia, but as a dishonored knight. ^.^ I don't know but maybe two of the people I know who would do the same if in Tirian's shoes. And... yes. That moment is probably my favorite of the book.

Chapter 3:
-.- We doesn't like Shift, precious, no, we doesn't. Shift is a very hurtful character. He's evil, but I feel that he's... most villainous than any of the other villians in The Chronicles. I'll try to explain what I mean. Miraz was really wicked. He was trying to kill Caspian because he wanted the throne for his family. Jadis was wicked. She was trying to override Aslan and was cruel. LotGK was wicked, kidnapping a prince to use for her own ends. But Shift is the villain that hurts me most, because he's not like Jadis or Miraz or The Emerald Witch. He's pretending to be the GOOD guy, and twisting what's right in such a way that so many more people are hurt. I'd personally rather be physically hurt than to be lied to, because being lied to about such precious things as Shift was lying about... those are not easy to heal from. At all.

... I don't remember what Chapter four was about... hmm... oh yes!

Chapter 4:
Once I get past seeing Puzzle in his dreadful Lion's outfit, I rather liked this chapter. I've always loved seeing all the Friends of Narnia (minus Susan) at the table for that part. In fact, I'd forgotten, but I've heard that part on an audio drama so many times that I can probably quote it. Maybe that's my favorite part. I'd forgotten that amidst all the pain and hurt this crazy book causes when I read it, there are some parts that I love. Maybe I'll keep reading.

Keep going Tenny, I think the good parts in the book make it worth reading and...the ending....

I was also thinking how in some ways, Shift is more evil than the other villains because he's not just "bad", he misrepresents Aslan. He's blasphemous in the worst way.

I love your Lamb drawing, Swan.

Chapters 5 & 6 - more character profiles

Eustace

Name: Eustace Clarence Scrubb
Species: Human (from earth)
Physical Description: Not given, except that we know he is still school age and wearing "dingy" clothes (by Narnian standards)
Role: Sent by Aslan to help Tirian

Character/Personality - What we learn about the character:
I've never really thought much about Eustace's character in LB. We tend to talk a lot about what he's like at the beginning and end of VDT and how much he has changed by SC, but LB tends to get forgotten (at least by me). Eustace has grown so much you would hardly recognise him compared to the spoilt cowardly brat at the beginning of VDT. His immediate reaction on arriving in Narnia itself is interesting. Neither he or Jill take any time to question how they got to Narnia or why, they simply take it for granted and jump straight to action in rescuing Tirian. This is so different to their arrival in Aslan's country at the start of SC. No arguing, no disaster just immediate action and questions later. I think the thing that impressed me the most about Eustace is the way he tells the tale of how they got to Narnia. Not only is his tale succinct but he is very clever in explaining things that he knows Tirian wouldn't understand. He doesn't wait to be asked or waste time, but says as much as is necessary to get the important facts across.

"a wire - that's a sort of message, Sire, I'll explain about it some other time"
"the train - that's a kind of thing people travel in in our world: a lot of wagons chained together"

I think maybe that one could argue that Eustace is the most informed/academically-minded of all the children who visit Narnia (except perhaps Digory, but to him that came later). We know from VDT that Eustace read "all the wrong books" but the fact was he did read books and had a good awareness of things that happened in the world. He had always been interested in facts and information and now that he was a changed boy, he had learned to put his knowledge into practical use and combined it with reading "the right sort of books". We don't know quite how old Eustace is, only that he's still in school, but I imagine he's getting towards the end of his schooling. I wonder what he would have done with his life had this not been his last story?

Jill

Name: Jill Pole
Species: Human (from our world)
Physical Description: Not given
Role: Sent by Aslan to help Tirian

Character/Personality - What we learn about the character:
I think the most interesting thing here is Jill's woodcraft. I don't remember it mentioning her having such skill in SC, so perhaps it was because of those adventures that she had seriously taken to learning them, but either way, her skills prove invaluable to the expedition set out to rescue Jewel. Firstly, she has really good navigation skills and is able to find directions in a wooded area she does not know at all, simply from her memory of Narnian stars. Secondly she knows well how to move silently and pass unseen. She would make a good Hobbit. She also had the sense to stop in a place where Tirian could view the stable without them being seen and from that and work out a viable plan of action to rescue Jewel. And finally, she knew even knew to whisper without using s-sounds which might too easily be heard ("thee better"). Tirian sums it up best when he says: "This girl is a wondrous wood-maid. If she had Dryad's blood in her she could scarce do better". Jill also has the sense and skill to sneak into the stable and find (and rescue) Puzzle while Tirian has distracted the guard to rescue Jewel.

Sorry about the double post. I'd wait for someone else to post first, but it's nearly bedtime for me (again)

Chapter 5: The Dwarfs are for themselves
It's starting to seem to me that in the Last Battle, Lewis deals quite deliberately with different people's reactions to lies and deceit, in particular lies and deceit concerning God (as represented by Aslan). I've already noted Puzzle's response to Shift's lies and his representation of those who allow themselves to be conned. I also mentioned how the Narnian's in general fell for Shift's misrepresentation of Aslan due to a lack of good knowledge and teaching about Aslan's true nature. In this chapter we are presented with more characters who were lied to about Aslan. We don't know exactly what they were told except that it was "by Aslan's orders" that they be sent off as as slaves to work in the Tisroc's mines. What is most painful about this chapter is the long term-result of the lies that were told to the dwarfs - they wanted nothing more to do with Aslan. Ever. Unfortunately, there are too many people in the world who find themselves in the Dwarfs' shoes. They have been hurt by lies about God, or deceits carried out by those claiming to represent God and as a result, want nothing to do with him.

"We've been taken in once, and now you expect us to be taken in again the next minute. We've no more use for stories about Aslan… you've got a better imitation, I suppose!.. No thanks. We've been fooled once and we're not going to be fooled again."

I usually get quite annoyed with the Dwarfs' reaction, and their hard-headed stupidity. But actually, if you put yourself in their shoes, you almost can't blame them. It's easy for us, who are looking in from the outside and know the bigger picture to judge. But from their point-of-view, trusting people who claimed to be carrying out Aslan's will hadn't worked out very well for them. And if outsiders don't seem to be doing you any good, the natural reaction is to stop trusting outsiders and look to your own interests. "The Dwarfs are for themselves" was the only way, as far as they could see, that their interests would be taken care of and that they wouldn't be duped again.

Unfortunately this is also how people who have been disappointed by the Church or Christians or have suffered as a result of false teaching about God can react. They no longer trust those who speak for God and turn to their own interests.

The challenge to us as Christians is two-fold. First we must be careful to only portray an accurate representation of who God is. And secondly, we need to find appropriate ways to interact with people who have been hurt by false religion in the past. Tirian's response was probably not the best, though it was the most natural one. In what comes of Tirian's response, we see another ill-effect of false teaching. Fasle teachers often use genuine quotes from the Bible to back up their lies, (as Shift had done with the "not a tame Lion" line). This means we have to be careful even of using biblical quotes, in case they have been misused in the past. Tirian's problem was that he responded in anger and annoyance at the Dwarf's blindness, rather than seeing where they were hurting, and rationally thinking through what to say. We need to treat people who have been hurt in love and not anger or derision and be particularly careful with the words we use in such situations.

Chapter 6

I don't have any profound thoughts on this chapter right now, except to share that we were on holiday a few weeks ago, we were sitting watching the sunset by a lake which our cottage looked over, and discussing what the clouds looked like. Teneb and I were discussing one that looked particularly vulture-head shaped. He said it looked like a vulture, but I decided it looked like Tash. It's a good thing it was a pleasant and calm evening, or that would have been a rather creepy experience.