Prince Caspian | Chapter 9: What Lucy Saw

Chapter Summary:

Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy row as far west as they can until they can go no further on water, and then enter into the forest. As they get ready to go to sleep for the night, Lucy lays awake looking at the stars. She unexpectedly (even to herself) gets up and listens to a nightingale sing. She calls out to the trees and tells them to awaken, but a rustle of leaves is the only response.

The next day, they all continue their march through the woods, hoping to reach the River Rush, which would show them that they are moving in the correct direction toward Aslan's How. During the march, Trumpkin alerts them that they are being followed. Suddenly, Trumpkin uses his bow and arrow to shoot a bear that came charging through the woods. Everyone is frightened, but glad when Trumpkin verifies that it was not a Talking bear. Trumpkin, Peter, and Edmund then take meat from the bear to eat later.

Eventually, the party reaches a river, but Peter is dismayed--he doesn't recognize it. Trumpkin explains that it probably still is the River Rush, but Peter doesn't recognize it because it looks different than hundreds--or thousands--of years ago. Peter realizes that Trumpkin is correct, and they decide to go north/down toward the river.

Suddenly, Lucy shouts that she has seen Aslan, and Aslan wants them to go the opposite way. Everyone has different levels of doubt, with Trumpkin the most doubtful. When put to a vote, Trumpkin and Susan say that they should stick to the original plan, while Lucy and Edmund want to go the other direction based on Lucy's vision. Peter is the tie breaker, and he says they should stick to the original plan.

Reflection:

This is one of those really rich chapters--there's a lot of great material here for discussion. And this is a bit refreshing, since I've been feeling that Prince Caspian has actually been the least discuss-able book in TCON so far. With that said, I've got at least two great quotations in mind to discuss. Here is the first, which occurs soon after Trumpkin shoots the charging bear. Lucy is reflecting upon what has just occurred, and the fact that many of the Talking Beasts have just reverted to their wild forms. Here is the short conversation:

"'Wouldn't it be dreadful if some day in our own world, at home, men started going wild inside, like the animals here, and still looked like men, so that you'd never know which were which?' 

'We've got enough to bother about here and now in Narnia,' said the practical Susan, 'without imagining things like that'" (p. 253). 

Ooooh, what an excellent quotation. C.S. Lewis couldn't be talking about something like the Holocaust, now could he? Yes, that's exactly what I think he's doing. Either that or this is a very thoughtful insight into the impending zombie apocalypse. Or, more likely than not, this is simultaneously a sorrowful reflection on the past (all genocide, murder, humans-acting-like-animal behavior) and a cautionary tale about the future. As an adult reader, it is clear that Susan is in danger here--to dismiss Lucy's comment as silly or something not worthy of imagining is to dismiss its possibility entirely. And that, my friends, is both worrisome and rather typical of what we do if we want to repeat the parts of history that we most regret.

Onward to the next great passage in this chapter. Here we learn with great joy and enthusiasm that Edmund is a bigger person than we ever thought possible. This quotation occurs during the vote--to follow Lucy's vision of Aslan, or to continue down the current path:

"'Well, there's just this,' said Edmund, speaking quickly and turning a little red. 'When we first discovered Narnia a year ago--or a thousand years ago, whichever it is--it was Lucy who discovered it first and none of us would believe her. I was the worst of the lot, I know. Yet she was right after all. Wouldn't it be fair to believe her this time? I vote for going up'" (p. 255). 

Bravo, Edmund! Once again, we have reaffirmation that Edmund has very much learned his lesson. This is not the Edmund from the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This Edmund has come so far that he now understands the importance of believing his sister--why? Because she was right last time. And not only was Lucy right last time, but Edmund knows the consequences of doubting her. Lucy is not one who lies, and Edmund knows this. 

But this time, the vote has gone against Lucy and Edmund--Trumpkin, Peter, and Susan out-vote them 3-2. Now it's time to see the consequences of doubting Lucy--again.