The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe discussion

When they walked back through the wardrobe they should have acted like adults in childrens bodies,and all of them should have been furious that they were stuck in the regular world for a year because they grew up in Narnia it was their hone,its extremely convienent that cs lewis had peter and susan leave Narnia for good in the second book I don't don't understand.

I got the sense that as you stay away from Narnia, it fades much like a particularly vivid dream would.

Even if that is so,they grew up and matured,how could they go back to being kids after 15 years

Peter and Susan did act like adults. They were both really impatient that they were kids again. And Peter and Susan left Narnia for good because they are grown up enough in the real world that they don't have that child like wonder and Belief anymore. They didn't see Aslan when they should have or believe Lucy when she told them she saw him. And Jeni is right. It would seem kind of dreamish.

Magic. ;)

It didn't bother me when I first read it, but looking back it does seem really messed up. Even if it seems dreamlike, going through puberty, thinking about getting married and ruling a country are too much to just 'forget'.

Other people have wondered about it too - Ursula Vernon (The writer/artist of Digger) has a short story: http://www.redwombatstudio.com/blog/?...

And Seanan McGuire (A.K.A Mira Grant, author of Feed) mentions it in a verse of Wicked Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DQx7i...

Michael wrote: "Even if that is so,they grew up and matured,how could they go back to being kids after 15 years"

Hormones, absence of for children.

An illusion. Adults, only appear adult because they have big bodies, they are really big children.

I agree. This is the weak part of the plot. I think that the fact that C.S. Lewis was not married, and had never been really in love, at the time that he wrote this book. He found it easy to identify with children, and was only really acquainted with sex in the form of lust. So, in his mind,absence of physical signs of adulthood, hormones etc., puts the Pevensies back into the state of children.

That growing into adulthood comprises more than physical development does not seem to occur to him.

This is actually something I think the Prince Caspian movie captured better than the books. Peter, in particular, struggles very much with being a child again and wanting the respect and position that had been his as an adult. I think they may have taken it a little too far with the arrogance, but there are some good reflections that go on with all four of the Pevensies.

because they were in too much shock

It's almost as if the time hadn't passed. They remembered it like a good dream, just like Lucy when she first went to Narnia and came back.

I think also in general, while they were kids, there were a lot more mature than many kids nowadays because of what they had experienced in life - father dying, the war etc...

I agree with the dream theory. If everything around you tells you one thing, you are more likely to adapt to it. When they came out from the wardrobe, they were kids again, and everyone treated them like kids. I did always think, however, that they never lost the poise or thoughtfulness from their time as royalty, one thing I always loved and wanted to emulate about these characters.

Jeni wrote: "I got the sense that as you stay away from Narnia, it fades much like a particularly vivid dream would."

I agree with you completely, It's like a magical land that once you're away from it turns into just a dream type memory.

Regardless it's still very hard to believe,even if it feels like a dream world

When they were growing up in Narnia they forgot about their lives in "spare 'oom", so it makes sense that these memories would fade once they'd become kids in England again.

Then again wouldn't it be great to grow into adulthood, then go back and start again, to be kids knowing all the things you wish you knew as an adult?

you say the truth dear :)

F-I-C-T-I-O-N... If you can accept that the children travel to another world through a wardrobe, you should be able to accept the events upon their return.

It never bothered me as a child, I just took it for granted that you could travel back and forth between being a child and a grown up. At ten, I didn't really understand what it really meant to be a proper grown-up and don't all children play games in which they pretend to be a grown-up (princess, doctor, pirate)?

Shannon wrote: "It never bothered me as a child, I just took it for granted that you could travel back and forth between being a child and a grown up. At ten, I didn't really understand what it really meant to be ..."

That's very true. Nice observation. :)

MAGIC...duh. its a F-I-C-T-I-O-N book for children.

A form of magic/ Even spiritual. Kind of like when you are very absorbed in a dream you are having as you sleep, and when you wake up, you remember only a little fragment of it, you are somehow affected by all you did and saw in that dream. The flavor sticks with you. But as the days go by it fades, and today you probably couldn't explain to me a dream you had a year ago, that however affected you deeply when you had it.

Suspension of disbelief.

Michael wrote: "Even if that is so,they grew up and matured,how could they go back to being kids after 15 years"

Time in Narnia passes differently than in our universe. Between LWW and Prince Caspian, 1300 years passed in Narnia. So the kids going in the wardrobe and coming back out may have been a few seconds or a minute in our world.

A little off topic, but something I never understood was how coming back to the real world was never really a shocker to the children. They grew up, matured, and even got married in Narnia, but suddenly leaving all that behind for 1300 Narnian years doesn't seem to bother them (at least, in the books). That's what I see unless I missed something.

S.A. wrote: "Michael wrote: "Even if that is so,they grew up and matured,how could they go back to being kids after 15 years"

Time in Narnia passes differently than in our universe. Between LWW and Prince Cas..."
I think you are restating the original question...

Michael wrote: "Regardless it's still very hard to believe,even if it feels like a dream world"

How? How is it hard to believe!? Do your very vivid dreams still haunt you and effect your whole life? Can you not move on from them? Because that is what it would be to them. A very vivid dream that fades as time goes on. If you dreamed you were older would you still feel older when you woke up?

Sara wrote: "Michael wrote: "Regardless it's still very hard to believe,even if it feels like a dream world"

How? How is it hard to believe!? Do your very vivid dreams still haunt you and effect your whole lif..."


If I spent over 15 years in a dream then YES!!!!!! Not to mention they got married.

It's the magic of Narnia. It's a place for children, which is why Peter and Susan had to leave and never return. At heart, I believe they still felt like children, therefore making the transition back to the real world easier.

Two things. . .
One - (spoiler for those who haven't read the last book) It's true that Aslan told Susan and Peter that they couldn't come back, but Peter did, in the last book. Only Susan left completely, and that was because she decided to stop believing in Narnia.

Two - it never says if they got married or not. We know for sure (from "The Horse and His Boy") that at least Susan was offered marriage, but we know nothing about any of the others. And those who've read "Horse and His Boy" know the outcome.

Michael wrote: "Sara wrote: "Michael wrote: "Regardless it's still very hard to believe,even if it feels like a dream world"

How? How is it hard to believe!? Do your very vivid dreams still haunt you and effect y..."

It never says for sure that they got married. And if it was like a dream even though it was 15 years it wouldn't feel like it. A lot of the days would fade immediatly. And as I said before they did have trouble adjusting.

Have you ever had an intense dream, where some shadow actively pursues you? Or a fantasy of dancing toward a mysterious place? Then you wake up, heart beating, desperately grasping to recapture the shadowy images. In my experience, I've done this and lost where-ever I was and who-ever I was in that dream. In the book, they come to the infamous lamp and refer to it as a "dream of a dream," attempting to regain a forgotten existence. Passing through the two realms is much like passing from dream to wakefulness. Go back to The Magician's Nephewand you'll see this principle forming.

ITS NARNIA... IT KINDA MESSES WITH YOUR BRAIN...

I think there is also a feeling of the pevensies being perfect medeival examples, full of honour and chivalry and somewhat above base desires

Ashley-Anne wrote: "I think there is also a feeling of the pevensies being perfect medeival examples, full of honour and chivalry and somewhat above base desires"

Medieval chivalric literature is hardly "above base desires" - see, for example, the relationship between Tristan & Isolde! And Lewis, as a Professor of Medieval Literature, was well aware of this.

FICTION

I also agree with the dream statements mentioned above.

First I would say, that the story is fiction, it is influenced by magic, & the worlds belong to Aslan(God)-those things don't really have rules... I just take it as reminder that no matter how much you think you know, you don't know it all-I have those moments all the time. Maybe they needed to learn the lessons that they did in Narnia, but still needed to learn lessons that their earth life would provide to become who they were meant to be.

As far as the children, I think that in many ways they were extremely mature & noble for their age. Maybe.. when the kids went back to earth(slow time) they realized how fast Narnia's fast time was. So then it would seem like only a few moments to them, & not an entire lifetime.

A similar thought: Before the fall happened in Genesis, Adam & Even lived a life with no shame, guilt, or fear. They has absolute security, purpose, peace, significance, acceptance, identity, completeness... They knew exactly what God thought of them, & exactly how much God loved them. But in an instant, what they once had & knew, became a glaring need. How does that happen?? How can you cease to know/understand something so important?

Ok here we go. C S Lewis was a Christian writer. I always thought Narnia was a representation of heaven. Aslan was Christ. All very allegorical. The children were given the rare gift of seeing heaven, but not allowed to stay because they had work to do on earth. Kind of like a near death experience where everything is fuzzy after you wake up. Yes, I thought this as a young reader, but I was raised in a fundamentalist church. All very interesting how everyone comes to their own explanation.

**Spoilers in this Comment**

I do not believe Narnia can represent heaven. In the Magician's Nephew book when Digory and Polly are in the woods, Lewis explains that each pool leads to a separate universe/world. I always thought that each world was just that, a different world, including England/Earth & Narnia.

At the end of Last Battle, Aslan leads them to His country, Real Narnia, where they also see Real England. Reepicheep & other characters who have passed away are there & it is called Aslan's Land which is referenced in previous books. I believe that this was intended to be the representation of heaven.

Also, there was too much evil in Narnia to be heaven, Jadis the witch, Maugrim, Miraz, Tash, the ape named Shift...

I think they were a lot more mature when they came out. We simply don't see much of their time in the real world, that's all. Edmund and Eustace are good examples.

I think they all were a lot more mature when they came out, especially Peter and Susan, their conversations were more in depth after Narnia.

When books are written, the story comes from the imagination. You can do anything in a book. This is also why a lot of people like to read. They can escape from reality and be whatever they want. When C.S Lewis wrote the chronicles of Narnia there was probably never any intention of it becoming a film.

To me, the Narnia series isn't about fiction or magic. It's about faith, either the lacking of or convition of the faith of Our God. The Narnia series was written between 1949 and 1954, only 18 years after he converted to Christianity. IMHO, the Narnia series is about our faith in God and His plan for all living creatures. I'm currently in the middle of Dawn Treader and I can easily relate to any of the Pevensie children. As we get older we sometimes loose sight of our Faith in God and sometimes it takes a child-like act to remind us of His love for us and His plan that He's conceived for us.

MIND F*CK!!!

Sorry....

Ryan wrote: "Sorry...."

Really? Perhaps I am not in the best of moods today, but was that really necessary?

Rob wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Sorry...."

Really? Perhaps I am not in the best of moods today, but was that really necessary?"

no it wasint im sorry
lol

Because Narnia was an alternate reality and when they came back, they hadn't aged a day. That was the magic of Narnia.

**Potential spoilers**(if you haven't read the rest of the series)
If you read further in the series it explains it better. Susan and Peter never really adjusted; they were like adults in the child forms. They also explain more in Prince Caspian about the time, how years can go by in Narnia but it's mere minutes in our world. Lucy never lost her innocent way of looking at things. Even as an adult in Narnia she never quit being child-like. Read further, you'll get some answers.

Ryan wrote: "MIND ****!!!"

Please take your inappropriate comments elsewhere, Ryan. They are not appreciated.

magic...lol this is like that turkish delight thread