The Last Battle | Chapter 6: A Good Night's Work

Chapter Summary:

Tirian, Eustace, and Jill go to sleep for the evening, but all awaken at 9:00 in the evening to begin a night-time journey. The plan is to go to Stable Hill to rescue Jewel the Unicorn and then meet up with Roonwit the Centaur, who should be leading an army from Cair Paravel.

They leave on their short journey, with Jill leading the way as a guide. As they come to Stable Hill, very quietly, they see one single Calormene guard watching over the stable. Tirian, who is disguised as a Calormene, exits the woods, greets the solider like a Calormene, and then quickly subdues him and holds a knife to his throat. The guard tells Tirian that Jewel is behind the stable, and Tirian is able to rescue Jewel. Tirian then ties the guard to the back of the stable.

Tirian and Jewel rejoin Eustace. Eustace and Tirian realize that Jill is missing, but Jill comes back a few moments later. Jill is laughing to herself, and says that she has been inside the stable, and that she has rescued Puzzle from his situation. Puzzle came willingly, saying that he did not really enjoy being kept in the stable, but only did so because Shift had told him that it was what Aslan wanted. 

Tirian prepared to kill Puzzle for his treachery, but Jill begs for Puzzle's life. Jill explains that Puzzle did not know what he was doing, and that he should be allowed to live. Tirian relents and lets Puzzle live. 

The group hears dwarfs marching on a nearby road, and they move in their direction. Tirian is convinced that now that everyone will be able to see Puzzle, they will see the scheme as it is, and Shift will be overthrown by morning. 

Reflection:

Well, it definitely sounds like things are moving in the right direction, thanks to the hard work of Tirian, Eustace, and Jill. Unfortunately, Tirian is missing one key item here--and that's a little more knowledge about brainwashing. Once Groupthink has occurred, it is actually incredibly difficult to persuade the group that they could possibly be incorrect, even when the initial evidence validating the idea is completely and totally refuted. 

In other words, I don't think it's going to matter one darn bit that the 'Aslan' inside of the stable was really just a donkey dressed as a lion. Once Groupthink has occurred, it only strengthens when contrary evidence appears, which is a defense mechanism that the group creates to prevent feeling, well, that they were wrong (even though an outside observer can clearly tell you that they are). 

This is often seen with Doomsday cults. Once Doomsday passes, every cult leader and every member comes up with an excuse as to why the Doomsday event did not occur. And it always fits in with the original superstition. It is actually very, very rare for a member of one of those cults to simply walk away from the group disgusted with themselves and the cult after the Doomsday event fails to happen. Most times, they have spent considerable time, money, and resources into believing the message of the cult leader. Some have completely abandoned their families (or had their families abandon them). Others have given up their jobs or been fired. So, they must do everything they can to justify to themselves that their original theory was correct. Because the only other option is the horrific realization that they have made a life-alteringly horrible decision, and people don't like to believe that about themselves.

I think that's what's going to happen to the Narnians. They are going to be so (subconsciously) horrified at the idea that they have been listening to a false prophet that they will somehow justify everything that they have seen. Somehow, they will work it out to believe in Shift's lies anyway. Because that's what people do when they've been collectively brainwashed into an idea and have given up so many things to believe that it's true (such as a year's supply of nuts, in the case of the squirrels). I think the only thing that's going to end the madness is the appearance of the real Aslan.