by Coyote Goodfellow » January 5th, 2009, 4:35 pm
The other thing to remember is that the presence of both dryads and River gods makes the moral issues in the Narnian world different. Early in TLB Tirian is confronted by a Dryad who tells him of the forests being felled by the Carlomenes. In the Narnian world these are fellow creatures with sentience and language.
In the Silver Chair with the giants of Harfang, Puddleglum and the children are confronted with the knowledge that the stag they have just eaten was a talking beast. This presents them with a moral dilemna which could not exist in our world, because stags are not part of the same moral dialog as human beings. We know from the end of LWW that Lewis didn't view hunting dumb stags the same way as hunting talking stags. And it seems that you might treat trees and rivers differently in our world than in a world where they could talk to you and say "loose my chains." But while I don't think Narnia is intended to tell people they should oppose all bridges and dams, it does encourage you to look at things slightly more carefully. I think the modern view tends to view Nature either as something to be protected, so hikers can enjoy its pristine beauty, or something to be ruthlessly exploited. But the image of a stag hunt, or dancing with the trees is something different, something which doesn't fit into either half of the modern oppositional view. I haven't heard the commentary, but I can't imagine Lewis talking about "Protecting" Nature, any more than keeping the Pevensies "Safe." But I can imagine him talking about fighting alongside both of them.
Also remember that the Ape who brings about the End of Narnia in TLB does so in service of a vision which seems strikingly similar to the Industrial Revolution in England "We can make this a country worth living in...with Prisons and Workhouses, oh everything." And in TMN Frank the Cabbie, before looking Aslan in the face and becoming King tells Strawberry "you were a country horse, and I was a country man." I don't think its right to see Lewis as a modern environmentalist, abut I do think there are lots of places where Lewis opposes ruthless exploitation of Nature while celebrating a more pre-Industrial way of interacting Her--the way things might have been if Frank had been a yeoman and Strawberry a field horse who pulled a plough through his fields instead of a carriage over cobblestones. [edited for grammar and clarity]
"I don't care if it is wrong," said one of the moles. "I'd do it again."
"Hush, hush" said the other animals.