While the characters in the books weren't particularly extraordinary in any way in terms of physical ability or quirks, they absolutely did have distinct differences in personality, such as Peter's commanding authority, Lucy's kindness, Susan's tendency to be uppity, and Ed's perpetual humility (after the incident with the White Witch, of course). Oh, I couldn't forget Lord Digory, Polly, Eustace, and Jill. These characters were the ones I particularly enjoyed reading about not only because the journeys they took were perilous, but also because they're personalities were more interesting. Where the Kings and Queens of Narnia were for the most part complacently agreeable and polite, these pairs had their disagreements and personality clashes.
Diggory and Polly, who are the first ones to encounter Narnia in The Magician's Nephew, are an adventurous pair who are nevertheless gendered. In terms of gender stereotypes, Polly is very polite, nagging, and, at times, overly passive although she is also very feisty. Diggory's gender stereotype lies in his task to save Polly from the evil his uncle has done in sending her to an unknown dimension. His chivalry is obligatory, but this chivalry is impeded by his selfishness and his rush to assert his authority over his circumstances, which to be fair is more a character flaw than a gendered trope. What makes his selfishness and his quest for power gendered is how this need for control translates into asserting his authority over Polly. One of the best examples of this dynamic is when the two are in the dying world and they have disagreed over whether or not to ring the bell before them. Here Lewis writes:
Before Polly hand reached her pocket, [Diggory] grabbed her wrist, leaning across her with his back against her chest. Then, keeping her other arm out of the way with his other elbow, he leaned forward, picked up the hammer, and struck the golden bell with a light, smart tap. Then, he let her go and they fell apart staring at each other and breathing hard. Polly was just beginning to cry, not with fear, and not even because he had hurt her wrist quite badly, but with furious anger. Within two seconds, however, they had something to think about that drove their own quarrels quite out of their minds.
I'm interested in this particular instance not only because it is a moment where Diggory asserts his power over Polly, but also because this power is forced via violence. In the Narnia books there is certainly violence in terms of war, but there is only two other instances (that I can recall) where one of the main characters are physically violent towards another. The other instances being where Edward taunts Lucy about her initial visit to Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and when Jill pushes Eustace off the cliff in The Silver Chair. The physical as well as the emotional violence isn't rectified or resolved between Polly and Diggory. Polly cries in "furious anger," but her tears are the only real expression of outrage because the events of the story force Polly to suck it up and eventually give Diggory a good "I told you so" when the pair and the Witch return to England.
Eustace and Jill are probably my favorite pair in the books by far because they tend to subvert the things I've just talked about. Throughout the The Silver Chair it's not Eustace who seeks control or who lashes out, it's Jill. Where Diggory pushes Polly in The Magician's Nephew Jill pushes Eustace. And it's not just a violent shove where feelings are hurt, but it's a shove off a cliff where she believes she's not just hurt Eustace, but killed him. Jill leads the way many times in the Underland as well as in the forest in The Last Battle. Jill has many great strengths as a character and as a hero, but whenever something happens to her or there's a battle, Eustace or the males around her accept the blame for not protecting her properly, which is absurd. The books give Jill agency only to take it away when she's harmed, in danger, or supposedly in danger.
The most poignant example of this is in The Silver Chair when Jill, Eustace, Puddleglum (the marshwiggle), and the Prince are looking for a way out of Underland to the surface. The crew see a light near the ceiling of the tunnel they are in, and Jill volunteers to investigate where it goes. Jill stands on Puddleglum's shoulders, looks through the hole, and, unbeknownst to her fellow travelers, falls out into the open air. Eustace, Puddleglum, and the Prince all assume that someone/thing has pulled Jill out of their grasp and she has found "goodness-knows-what evil." While the men are in the tunnel they panic, and in their panic blame each other and themselves for their loss. Eustace immediately looks to Puddleglum and asks, "Why the dickens couldn't you have held her feet?" Puddleglum mopes in his "own fault" and then the Prince says, "This is the greatest shame and sorrow that could have fallen on us.. We have sent a brave lady into the hand of enemies and stayed behind in safety."
Eustace, Puddleglum, and the Prince have given up all hope that Jill is capable to taking care of herself when she is not in their immediate vicinity. It is a point of pride as well as point of their masculinity that Jill be visibly safe. They are supposed to be her protectors. When Jill is removed from Puddleglum's care, his masculinity is immediately questioned and the group chastises itself for having "stayed behind in safety." They make it clear that it was their job as men to keep Jill safe and it is also their duty to take on potentially dangerous tasks. It is in this moment they are reminded of Jill's gender and it is in her absence that her gender matters, because her absence is what dictates their failure as protectors.
The books have a deeply dichotomous view of gender, and I like that Jill Pole challenges that dichotomy simply with her presence. In The Silver Chair the men tend to forget she's female until it's too late, but in The Last Battle this isn't the case. The king is highly aware of her gender, but luckily Jill's body isn't too feminine because when she wears her mail shirt she can pass for a Tarkaan page, who are only male. The male body is the only body that the book tends to give authority to. In The Horse and His Boy, Lucy and Susan aren't mentioned unless it's in the context of healing and marriage, and it is only the High King Peter who has the utmost authority in Narnia. In addition to thinking about gender and bodies, I think it's interesting that when Peter and Susan are told that they will not longer come back to Narnia it is when they are on the brink of puberty, and that the same happens to Lucy and Edmund. In the year between Jill and Eustace's adventure in Underland and their return in The Last Battle they have grown older and have come closer to reaching puberty. I believe King Tirian does not forget Jill is female the way Puddleglum and the Prince do in The Silver Chair is because her body is changing, and when presented with physical evidence of her gender, the King cannot overlook it.
The masculine body not only arises in terms of the young women who come to Narnia, but also in terms of Narnia's creatures. While when Narnia was created Aslan chose two of each species and of each gender to become Talking Beasts, the only women Beasts important to a plot in any of the books is Hwin the Mare and Mrs. Beaver. All of the creatures the Pevensies and friends come in contact with, such as Marshwiggles, gnomes, centaurs, satyrs, werewolves, vampires are all male. The predominant female creatures the children come into contact with are Witches (two), hags, and dryads. And only one of that category are considered "good."
The portrayals of gender in these books is dichotomous and favors the masculine body to the female body. And there are gendered literary tropes, such as the male redeemer (Aslan), evil corrupter (The Witches in The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Silver Chair), chivalrous knights/princes/kings, and tender-hearted damsels (Susan and Lucy). While all this is true, it doesn't make the books evil, but it does make them incredibly fascinating. All in all, I did enjoy reading The Chronicles of Narnia, but I wish there were a few more ass-kicking females like Polly and Jill and I wish they didn't have to cross-dress to be taken seriously.
Eustace and Jill are probably my favorite pair in the books by far because they tend to subvert the things I've just talked about. Throughout the The Silver Chair it's not Eustace who seeks control or who lashes out, it's Jill. Where Diggory pushes Polly in The Magician's Nephew Jill pushes Eustace. And it's not just a violent shove where feelings are hurt, but it's a shove off a cliff where she believes she's not just hurt Eustace, but killed him. Jill leads the way many times in the Underland as well as in the forest in The Last Battle. Jill has many great strengths as a character and as a hero, but whenever something happens to her or there's a battle, Eustace or the males around her accept the blame for not protecting her properly, which is absurd. The books give Jill agency only to take it away when she's harmed, in danger, or supposedly in danger.
The most poignant example of this is in The Silver Chair when Jill, Eustace, Puddleglum (the marshwiggle), and the Prince are looking for a way out of Underland to the surface. The crew see a light near the ceiling of the tunnel they are in, and Jill volunteers to investigate where it goes. Jill stands on Puddleglum's shoulders, looks through the hole, and, unbeknownst to her fellow travelers, falls out into the open air. Eustace, Puddleglum, and the Prince all assume that someone/thing has pulled Jill out of their grasp and she has found "goodness-knows-what evil." While the men are in the tunnel they panic, and in their panic blame each other and themselves for their loss. Eustace immediately looks to Puddleglum and asks, "Why the dickens couldn't you have held her feet?" Puddleglum mopes in his "own fault" and then the Prince says, "This is the greatest shame and sorrow that could have fallen on us.. We have sent a brave lady into the hand of enemies and stayed behind in safety."
Eustace, Puddleglum, and the Prince have given up all hope that Jill is capable to taking care of herself when she is not in their immediate vicinity. It is a point of pride as well as point of their masculinity that Jill be visibly safe. They are supposed to be her protectors. When Jill is removed from Puddleglum's care, his masculinity is immediately questioned and the group chastises itself for having "stayed behind in safety." They make it clear that it was their job as men to keep Jill safe and it is also their duty to take on potentially dangerous tasks. It is in this moment they are reminded of Jill's gender and it is in her absence that her gender matters, because her absence is what dictates their failure as protectors.
The books have a deeply dichotomous view of gender, and I like that Jill Pole challenges that dichotomy simply with her presence. In The Silver Chair the men tend to forget she's female until it's too late, but in The Last Battle this isn't the case. The king is highly aware of her gender, but luckily Jill's body isn't too feminine because when she wears her mail shirt she can pass for a Tarkaan page, who are only male. The male body is the only body that the book tends to give authority to. In The Horse and His Boy, Lucy and Susan aren't mentioned unless it's in the context of healing and marriage, and it is only the High King Peter who has the utmost authority in Narnia. In addition to thinking about gender and bodies, I think it's interesting that when Peter and Susan are told that they will not longer come back to Narnia it is when they are on the brink of puberty, and that the same happens to Lucy and Edmund. In the year between Jill and Eustace's adventure in Underland and their return in The Last Battle they have grown older and have come closer to reaching puberty. I believe King Tirian does not forget Jill is female the way Puddleglum and the Prince do in The Silver Chair is because her body is changing, and when presented with physical evidence of her gender, the King cannot overlook it.
The masculine body not only arises in terms of the young women who come to Narnia, but also in terms of Narnia's creatures. While when Narnia was created Aslan chose two of each species and of each gender to become Talking Beasts, the only women Beasts important to a plot in any of the books is Hwin the Mare and Mrs. Beaver. All of the creatures the Pevensies and friends come in contact with, such as Marshwiggles, gnomes, centaurs, satyrs, werewolves, vampires are all male. The predominant female creatures the children come into contact with are Witches (two), hags, and dryads. And only one of that category are considered "good."
The portrayals of gender in these books is dichotomous and favors the masculine body to the female body. And there are gendered literary tropes, such as the male redeemer (Aslan), evil corrupter (The Witches in The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Silver Chair), chivalrous knights/princes/kings, and tender-hearted damsels (Susan and Lucy). While all this is true, it doesn't make the books evil, but it does make them incredibly fascinating. All in all, I did enjoy reading The Chronicles of Narnia, but I wish there were a few more ass-kicking females like Polly and Jill and I wish they didn't have to cross-dress to be taken seriously.
