Prince Caspian

Reading:

I read this book between June 18, 2008, and June 21, 2008.

Specs:

Lewis, C.S., Prince Caspian, Published by Harper Collins Publisher, New York, 1951. This is book four of The Chronicles of Narnia series. This is from my personal library.

Overview:

This book takes place about one year after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Earth time. The comments say that thirteen hundred years have passed in Narnia, although the text does not give an exact amount of time - only that it was a long time.

Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Sally were on their way to boarding school, Sally for the first time. They are at the train station where they have to part. That is, the girls will go to one school and the boys to another. While they are waiting for the train, they suddenly find themselves in a thick wood, not at the train station at all.

At first, they don't know where they are, but after struggling to get to a beach, and following the shoreline, they come on some ruins, which turn out to be the ruins of their castle, Cair Paravel; they are in Narnia. They collect the presents they had been given on their first trip - Peter collects his sword ad shield, Susan collects her bow and arrows (but her horn is not there), Sally collects her vial of liquid that heals all wounds. Edmund didn't have any present because when the presents were handed out he was with, and on the side, of the White Witch (which he recognized as an error on his part almost as soon as he chose sides).

After spending some time looking over the castle and the surrounds, they see a dwarf who is to be executed by two soldiers. Susan fires two arrows at the soldiers, and manages to scare them off. (No one is hurt.) They meet up with the dwarf who tells them the current situation in Narnia.

A race of men called "Telmarines," who are from the island of Telmar, have taken over, and made war on the talking animals. Now they deny their existence, as well as the existence of Aslan, the White Witch, the children when they were Kings and Queens, etc. Caspian is nephew of the King Miraz. In fact, he is the designated King, but Miraz had killed his father, Casian the ninth. At first he was a regent for the king, then styled himself King. Caspian was allowed to live because Miraz had no children, and he wanted to keep the kingship in the family. However, when Miraz has a son, Caspian is warned, and flees.

He meets up with some of the talking animals, where he is declared their King, since they think the King should be a "son of Adam" or a "daughter of Eve." Miraz finds his hiding place rapidly, so Caspian blows the horn which Susan had, which is destined to bring help fast. This is the point at which Peter and the others were brought to Narnia.

Peter and his group make their way back to Caspian. They remember Narnia, but things have changed to the point that they get lost. Aslan appears to Sally, telling her how to get to where they are going, but no one listens, except Edmund. The result is they go the wrong way, and after wasting the better part of a day, they have to come back to the starting point, and go Sally's way.

After meeting up with Caspian (who has set up headquarters in a cave that was built over the stone table) Caspian has to put down a revolt of people who want to bring back the White Witch so solve their problems. Once Peter is in charge, as High King, he challenges Miraz to a trial by combat, which Miraz is maneuvered into accepting by some of his underlings that want to take over after he is killed.

The battle takes place, and Peter wins. Or, much rather, Miraz is knocked down, and is killed by one of the conspirators. This results in a pitched battle, which the good guys win. Finally, Caspian is made King by Aslan, and the Telmarines are told they will have to share their world with the talking animals, although Aslan allows a way out.

Lessons:

The Chronicles of Narnia series of books form a commentary Christianity as seen by C. S. Lewis. The first book written The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a commentary on the life of Christ. Most notably, Aslan surrenders to the White Witch, who kills him. Later he raises from the dead.

This book takes place many years later. Aslan (Jesus) is now only seen by the "righteous," in this case Sally until the others are willing to admit his existance.

More importantly, Aslan tells Sally to go a certain way, but she goes along with the group another way. She is chastised for not following Aslan and leaving the security of the group. He points out that there is no way he could (or would) show her what would have happened if she had followed him. This illustrates the idea that people are to follow Jesus even if that means leaving the group.

While this might be a good point (doing what's right is good, even if that means going against the crowd) it is dangerous. The danger is that no one knows exactly what is right, even though some people think they do. Accepting your personal feelings about what God wants you to do needs to be done with caution.

Later, after the battle after the death of Miraz, Aslan announces the "punishment" but it is not harsh, only that the Telmarines have to either stay and accept the talking animals as equals, of leave to another place which is where they came from. It is just as desirable as Narnia, and is not really a punishment at all, but only another way to satisfy the desires of the people. The people choose which way they go.

While these are the lessons I have noted here, this is probably not an exhaustive list by any means.