Susan Pevensie

Susan Pevensie (1927-1978) is the elder sister and the second Pevensie by birth-order. During her reign at the Narnian capital of Cair Paravel, she is known as Susan the Gentle and Queen Susan of the Horn.

Synopsis
Susan is known for her great beauty and archery skills and is sought after by Prince Rabadash of Calormen. After going to Narnia to help Prince Caspian, she is told that she will not return again. After some years she begins to convince herself that Narnia has just been a game, and she thinks her siblings are silly to continue seriously entertaining such childhood fantasies.



The Age of Winter
During the Age of Winter, Susan is given a bow and arrows by Father Christmas, together with a magical horn to blow in difficult times to bring aid. Susan shows her excellence at archery, but is advised to stay out of the battle unless absolutely necessary. Together with her sister Lucy, she witnessed Aslan's death and resurrection on the Stone Table. After the battle, she is crowned by Aslan as Queen Susan and shares the monarchy with her brothers High King Peter and King Edmund and her sister Queen Lucy. The period of their reign is considered the Golden Age of Narnia.

Susan's Legacy in Narnia
Queen Susan was described as a gentle lady with black hair falling to her feet. Shasta found her to be the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. At one time, she was asked to marry the Calormene Prince Rabadash. Her rejection of him provided the Tisroc with an excuse to wage war against Narnia.

During the time of Prince Caspian, Susan's legendary magical horn played an important part. By this time her horn was a thousand-year old relic given to the future King Caspian X by his tutor, the half-dwarf magician Doctor Cornelius. When the Prince's life was threatened by King Miraz the Usurper, Caspian sounded the horn and the Pevensies were magically transferred to Narnia from a railway station. Susan was again shown to be a superb archer. Using the bow and arrows she retrieved from the ruin of Cair Paravel, Susan easily beat the excellent archer Trumpkin the dwarf in a friendly competition. During this time, she pretended to believe that Aslan has not come back, even though she later admited to having known it was true all along. Soon after she also admited she was grateful for the presence of Aslan during the wild bacchanal in his honor. Aslan discerned that Susan had "listened to fears" but his breath soon restored her faith and she immersed herself in their adventures as deeply as she had the first time they were in Narnia. When Caspian's kingdom was restored,, Aslan told her that she and Peter would never enter Narnia again because they had grown too old.

The later (English) years
During The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Susan accompanied her parents on a trip to America, while Peter was being tutored by Professor Digory Kirke, and Edmund and Lucy stayed with their relatives, the Scrubbs. At this time it was being remarked by some adults that Susan was "the pretty one of the family" which caused some insecurity in Lucy.

During The Last Battle, Susan was conspicuous by her absence. Peter said that she was "no longer a friend of Narnia", and (in Jill Pole's words) "she [was] interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations". Similarly, Eustace Scrubb reports that she said, "What wonderful memories you have! Fancy you're still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children." Thus, Susan dod not enter the real Narnia with the rest of her family.

Trivia
In the 2005 Disney film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Susan is portrayed by Anna Popplewell and, as an adult, by Sophie Winkleman. Throughout the book Susan is the voice of caution and common sense. Even at the end after a number of years in Narnia she counsels against pursuing the White Stag, fearing the upset to the established order she and her siblings all sense the pursuit might bring. There is some controversy as to whether or not Susan's absence was permanent, especially since Lewis (in a letter written to a young fan) stated that Susan's story was not finished.

Commentary
The Christian significance of Susan's character has been much discussed. Aside from her role together with Lucy paralleling the women in the gospel who first find the risen King, Lewis may have intended her to represent the good seeds which are "choked by thorns" in the parable of the sower from the Gospel of Matthew.

This treatment of her has drawn particular criticism from feminist commentators, who draw attention to how she was written out of the end of the story. Critics claim this indicates a fear or hatred of female sexuality on the part of Lewis and even misogyny, claims often linked with other examples of the role of girls and women in the series. Arguing against this view are realistic and positive female characters such as Aravis in The Horse and His Boy and Jill Pole in The Silver Chair, both of whom enter Aslan's Country.

The "sexuality" interpretation is not the one taken by Lady Polly within the story. She claims that Susan's "whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can." That is, according to the book, Susan's failure is due to vanity and a false adolescent sense of "maturity", not sexuality. Susan provides a striking contrast to her sister Lucy, who is a shining example of the Biblical "faith as a little child." Even her chronologically older brother Peter begins to see Aslan before Susan does in ''Prince Caspian.

It has been argued that Susan's maternal nature cultivates a sense of self-reliance that prevents her from sufficiently following Aslan (again, going against the sexuality argument). In this interpretation, Lewis intended Susan to represent those who in the confusion of their fallen state find a spiritual call to faith drowned out not by malice on their part but simply by the mundane distractions of everyday life. Lewis's supporters also point out that the other children enter into the "new" Narnia (representative of theeternal Heaven) because they have died in a train accident, while Susan remains alive on our world, so that there is no proof that she has been permanently "excluded". The first footnote under Susan’s entry in Companion of Narnia by Paul F. Ford is very helpful in understanding the meaning behind Susan’s absence at the end of The Last Battle. And perhaps most importantly, Aslan’s last words at the coronation in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe of the four Pevensies to the throne offer the best justification for believing Susan will eventually join the others when the time comes in Aslan’s Country: "Once a King or Queen in Narnia Always a King or Queen in Narnia..."