![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Dec. 4th, 2005 08:24 pmI thought to myself this morning, Hmm. Maybe I should read the first two Narnia books to refresh my memory a bit. Before I knew it, I was closing the cover of the last one. How time flies.
They struck me, always, as being very deeply and bitterly sad. I was almost surprised by it, since I haven't touched them in five years. It didn't seem like the kind of thing one would find in 'childrens' books.
The end of the second book- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- was particularly sad. They must have been at least mid-twenties on average by then, right? And barely ten to begin with. Imagine being trapped in a body fifteen years younger than your mind and feelings. Imagine being torn away from the friends you'd had for over half your life and sent back to people you only dimly remember. Imagine having a mental image of yourself as a grown person, a wise and powerful person, only to glance at the mirror and see a small child. It would terrify me and drive me mad.
The end of the very last book had me feeling perfectly awful; not for the main characters, but for Susan. She just lost everyone- her siblings, her parents, everyone, in a tragic train accident. Do they even spare a thought for her? Not but to make fun of her for essentially being a normal teenager. They don't miss her, feel a speck of pity or regret, nothing. She's discarded like the memory of a bad dinner. I find that sad beyond all things.
They struck me, always, as being very deeply and bitterly sad. I was almost surprised by it, since I haven't touched them in five years. It didn't seem like the kind of thing one would find in 'childrens' books.
The end of the second book- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- was particularly sad. They must have been at least mid-twenties on average by then, right? And barely ten to begin with. Imagine being trapped in a body fifteen years younger than your mind and feelings. Imagine being torn away from the friends you'd had for over half your life and sent back to people you only dimly remember. Imagine having a mental image of yourself as a grown person, a wise and powerful person, only to glance at the mirror and see a small child. It would terrify me and drive me mad.
The end of the very last book had me feeling perfectly awful; not for the main characters, but for Susan. She just lost everyone- her siblings, her parents, everyone, in a tragic train accident. Do they even spare a thought for her? Not but to make fun of her for essentially being a normal teenager. They don't miss her, feel a speck of pity or regret, nothing. She's discarded like the memory of a bad dinner. I find that sad beyond all things.
