Prince Caspian | Chapter 7: Old Narnia in Danger

Chapter Summary:

This chapter begins at the council at the Dancing Lawn, where there is much disagreement about when/how the council should be held. Eventually, it is decided that a council of war is to be held immediately.

Just as the council is beginning, a talking hare alerts everyone that there is a man nearby. The Talking Beasts all go silent, and Doctor Cornelius is discovered nearby. Caspian rejoices in seeing his old ally. Unfortunately, Doctor Cornelius alerts them that Caspian's horse Destrier had unintentionally betrayed Caspian to King Miraz, and that King Miraz and his army were on their way.

Doctor Cornelius suggests that they make their way immediately to Aslan's How--a site near the sea where a great hill, filled with tunnels, has been built up over the Stone Table. The whole party heads to Aslan's How by sunrise the next morning.

King Miraz's army arrives, and the two sides have several battles. After one of the worst battles for Caspian's side, a meeting is held with Caspian, Cornelius, Trumpkin, Nikabrik, and Trufflehunter. They decide that it is time for Caspian to blow Queen Susan's horn. Doctor Cornelius feels certain that doing so will bring back either Aslan or the High King Peter. Doctor Cornelius says that if High King Peter is brought back, he will likely arrive at one of three locations--(1) Here, at Aslan's How, (2) At Lantern Waste, where Peter first came to Narnia, or (3) at Cair Paravel by the sea. 

It is decided that Pettertwig the squirrel would go to Lantern Waste and Trumpkin the dwarf would go to Cair Paravel to meet Peter if he arrives at one of those locations. Caspian is to blow Queen Susan's horn at sunrise.

Reflection:

It seems that we have finally caught up with Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. What an interesting structure to this story! More than the contents of the chapter itself, what is fascinating me about this novel is how it has been written. We start with a few chapters (1-3) with Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy--they have been called back into Narnia, but don't know why. Then, starting with chapter 4, we flash back to the dwarf's story about Prince Caspian--a dwarf we can now vaguely assume is Thumpkin. 

And glancing at Chapter 8, I can see that we are rejoining Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. This means that the time scheme of the novel--the order in which the events actually occur--is as follows, by chapter: 4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, etc... This is an interesting decision that C.S. Lewis decides to make, though certainly not a unique one. Rather, it is a very simple devise to help build mystery, suspense, or help the reader begin to compile questions that will then be answered later (aka earlier). Kind of like the "flash forwards" in the last season of Lost, which culminate in the final two episodes with the big reveal, the device of showing the future first makes us significantly more intrigued about what has happened in the past/present. And likewise, when we do see the past/present, we are then further interested in what the culminating events will be in the future beyond the original future, which, thankfully, we are on the cusp of discovering in Prince Caspian. 

In other news, I just discovered this, and it needs to be publicized. What follows are exclamations by our wonderful dwarf, Trumpkin. (And this is how I already know that Trumpkin is our dwarf from chapter 3...)

"Beards are bedsteads!" (p. 226). --Chapter 3
"Bulbs and bolsters, Nikabrik!" (p. 236). --Chapter 5
"Whistles and whirligigs, Trufflehunter!" (p. 236). --Chapter 5
"Soup and celery!" (p. 244). --Chapter 7
"Thimbles and Thunderstorms!" (p. 246). --Chapter 7

I'm sure there have been more along the way, and I'm sure that there are more to come, but I thought that this was a pretty comical way of alerting the reader to Trumpkin's presence. His exclamations, always in pairs and usually alliterative, are definitely a character trait meant to give us a connection between his (unnamed) presence in the early chapters, and who he is in the middle chapters. Thus, the reader knows that we are dealing with only one dwarf--Thumpkin. Neat device, and rather sneaky.