Jill Pole

[David]

I'm just throwing this out as a new topic for anyone who might want to respond.

How many fans of Jill Pole are there out there?

The other day someone asked me who my favorite Narnian characters were. I told her Jill Pole and Lord Drinian. She was surprised and said hers were Reepicheep and Puddleglum. Well, they're good characters but kind of obvious choices. I like Jill for several reasons. Some of them:

1. She seems the most quirky of the Daughters of Eve who go to Narnia. Lucy is very religious and quiet, Susan is stately and like Artemis. Polly grew up in the Victorian era is a very lady-like and deferent to Diggory. But Jill is thoroughly modern.

2. When she says, "Bother the signs!" I love it. That's my attitude toward religion very often. Jill regrets her statement later, as I often regret my own bad attitudes, but it works out. She does obey the signs in the end, though imperfectly.

3. As I mentioned elsewhere on the list, my favorite Narnia Baynes illustration is the one of Jill running away from the Giants' Castle and from arrows. She is holding up her robe so she won't trip, and the picture is so skillfully drawn you almost think she'll actually start to move in a minute.

So I invite all comments, questions, observations, adulation for, condemnations of, Jill Pole. I'd like to see what others have to say.

David

[A#minor]

I love Jill for most of the reasons that you mentioned.
(However, I don't think that she's my absolute favorite character. I'd have to go with Peter first, and Coriakin second if we're talking about favorites. Sorry if that's typical, but that's me.)

I finished reading Last Battle for the millionth time last week, and I'm always amazed by her pluck and spirit. When she just sneaks off on her own and rescues poor old Puzzle from the stable, I cheer her on even though Eustace and Tirian were scared for her. She's a take-charge kind of girl, and she's usually right.
When Tirian tries to execute justice on Puzzle, she refuses to move her arms from about his donkey neck. Basically, she defies the king, and gets away with it!
When she pretends to like the giants of Harfang in Silver Chair, she shows real intelligence and courage.

You're right in that she's a modern girl. Eustace fades into the background a little, but hey, he had his moment in VDT. Silver Chair and Last Battle are Jill's adventures really.

[David]

[wood-maid]

[Edisonbaggins]

Edmund and Puzzle.

[carol]

Hi, I'm intrigued by how you see Lucy, Susan and Polly!
I do like Jill, mainly for the way her character develops in the book, from a victim who doesn't have good relationships with people, to a very stalwart and brave young lady- not bad for a nine-year-old!
I love her efforts to play up to the Giants in Harfang, and her honesty about claustrophobia when they are in the underground tunnel.

The "Jill" plant in my Narnia garden is a Polygala, "Liddle Charmer" to commemorate that time when she was charming the giants. It's got bright purple flowers.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

[wood-maid]

[Sven]

[Stanley Anderson]

[Sven]

mmmm, good point. The flashlight was invented in 1898 by the same guy who invented Lionel trains, and MN takes place about 1900. Perhaps Polly's people were early adopters, long before there was a Sharper Image! Or, perhaps they bought her one from the Anachronism Hardware Company.


The 1902 'Reliable' flashlight

[Enyalie]

And she's all stealthy, smart and tactical and whatnot! Jill, that is. Little touches like the bit about how she pronounces "see better" as "thee better" in TLB always strike me. She's portrayed as knowing quite well what she's doing, thank you very much. This is a girl who would rule a paintball field nowadays...
I never thought the other female characters of Narnia were weak, either. Lucy's quite strong, probably even the strongest of the four siblings. She keeps the faith- makes trust look effortlessly easy. Polly's certainly not frail or shy. She's up for adventure and exploration whenever, long as it's done smart-like.

I think people get that whole CS Lewis=sexist thing because he does talk about things like why a woman should defer to her husband (Mere Christianity) and whatnot. But the idea that the two genders have different, compatible functions is not, I think, so negative, whether you agree with the issue of male leadership or not. I don't think he thought men to be superior, at any rate.
Nor do I recall any female Narnians being oppressed; if anything, aside from the mildly comical bickering of young Narnian newcomers, they seem to be regarded with at least a touch of chivalry, and often almost a sort of quiet (subconscious, even) reverence (that's the closest to the word I'm looking for, anyway.) The comment about war being ugly when women must fight, for example, doesn't strike me as something that's negatively sexist, and I missed hearing it in the film. But people'll get huffy about just everything nowadays, won't they?

[wood-maid]

[David]

[wood-maid]