I just finished Last Battle for the second time. I think the book warrants some discussion. Here are some points I noticed. Forgive me as I have a tendancy to ramble.
I like Tirian. i think he is the most respectable of the Narnian kings. I think his "sorely prokoked" rashness was entirely forgivable given the circumstances and he learned his lesson very well. This is evidenced by his reaction to the dwarfs shooting the horses. I was totally with Jewel's idea at the time. The voice inside my head was screaming "Kill 'em ALL!!" "DIE FILTHY HEATHENS!" If I was there I probably would have gotten myself killed at this point, with two dozen arrows sticking out of my chest after I charged the dwarfs to lop all their little heads off. Tirian showed amazing dicipline. I wonder if the dwarfs spent eternity in the dark. Since they were technically in Heaven they couldn't die. It was perfectly OK for Tirian to still want to kill them and Eustace to wish Tash had eaten them because since they both were dead they could no longer want wrong things. (See the end of TSC).
Were Scrubb and Pole already dead the whole time they spent in Narnia? Or did Aslan snatch them out of the train before it happened. If the former then their conversation about what would happen if they died in battle would be moot. I wonder if they
could die in battle?
I think Last Battle is the most provokative of the books. It certainly is frustrating to read how well the monkey's plan worked. For some reason I was also greatly affected by the bear's passing. I don't know why but I had to tell myself to get a grip
The part of the book I don't absolutely love if the very end, the Shaddowlands chapter. It is just a little too abstract for me. I, like the bear, would probably prefer to stay in the east part where thing's don't get too confusing. I also didn't like how Aslan ceased to look like a lion but it can't describe how he looked now. I can only assume he took his human form we know as Christ. (according to Lewis' letters to readers it is OK to prefer the lion form)
What do you suppose Aslan said to Puzzle that made his ears drop and then raise? It just popped into my head that he told him what happened to Shift.
Aslan says that Tash is his opposite. I'm going to have to differ with Lewis on this point and I may be wrong. I think opposite implies equal. The opposite of 7 is -7. The opposite of "Go" is actually not "Stop" but "Go in the opposite direction". I dont believe Tash or whatever his real world symbolism may suggest for one second is equal to Aslan or his counterpart Christ. Just as the Devil (AKA Satan, Lucifer) cannot be called the opposite of God. They are created and imperfect beings. To use mathematics as analogy: God is truely infinite. Satan is not. If anything about either of them could be quantified then any finite number, no matter how big, might as well be 0 when compared with infinity. Even Gogolplex which is a number larger than the sum every atom comprising all matter in the universe, when divided by infinity is so close to Zero that it might as well not exist. Perhaps Lewis did not take a mathematical approch to this analogy though and I forgive him. While were on the subject what do you think Tash represents in the real world? Being the 'god' of the Calormenes (he's no more a god than any other common monster), he may represent Allah. Having four arms he is somewhat like Siva. Perhaps he is a conglomeration of many real world pagan deities. And also I don't recall who actually "called" him to appear.
These are my thoughts though you may call me a silly little bleater who should go home and drink milk. I also think the lamb was Aslan egging on the situation.
night.
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