Books - The Last Battle

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	Books - The Last Battle

The Last Battle is the final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. Lewis was awarded the Carnegie Medal for the book in 1956.

Synopsis

In The Last Battle, Lewis brings The Chronicles of Narnia to an end. The book deals with the end of time in Narnia and sums up the series by linking the experience of the human children in Narnia with their lives in this world.

The story begins during the reign of the last king of Narnia, King Tirian. Narnia has experienced a long period of peace and prosperity begun during the reign of King Caspian X, whose dynasty was established in Prince Caspian
and confirmed by the succession of his son Rilian at the conclusion of The Silver Chair
. Tirian, who is the great-grandson of the great-grandson of Rilian, becomes aware that strange and uncomfortable things are happening to his land and that the stars portend ominous developments.

The king's magical call for help results in the arrival of Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole, the two children who last visited Narnia during the final year of the reign of Caspian, to help him battle an invasion by an army from the southern land of Calormen. The Calormenes have internal allies in Narnia, in the form of an Antichrist-figure, Shift the Ape, and his dupe Puzzle the donkey, who pretends to be Aslan and spreads the heresy that Aslan and the Calormene god Tash (one of the figures in the series with Satanic qualities) are one and the same. The heresy causes the dwarfs and some other Narnian talking beasts to lose faith in, and loyalty to Aslan and the King; meanwhile, Shift proceeds to sell Narnia into Calormene slavery. Tirian has only a small loyal force to fight the Calormenes, and prepares to die in a last stand against the forces of darkness. The Last Battle concludes with Aslan stepping in to bring Narnia to an end. All creatures, including those who had previously died, are judged by Aslan as they approach a door; those who have been loyal to Aslan, or to the morality upheld by Narnians, join Aslan in Aslan's country (heaven), while those who have opposed or deserted him do not pass through the door, but disappear to an uncertain fate.

It becomes clear that nearly all those who had travelled to Narnia in previous books have been reunited in Aslan's country where they realise that Narnia and England are linked and that they have in fact died on earth (in a railway accident) and can enjoy an afterlife in a perfect version of Narnia where they are reunited with characters from previous books, and their deceased relatives. It is also revealed that Aslan's country is the real Narnia.

Commentary

In the Narnia cycle, parts of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
are loosely based on Gospel stories, and The Magician's Nephew
on Genesis. The Last Battle completes the cycle and is based on Christian doctrines of the end of the world, judgement, Heaven, death and afterlife. The exposition of theological points is more laboured than in some of the earlier books, and the overall tone is darker, to the extent that The Last Battle is harder to enjoy on a purely superficial level as a fairy story, particularly at the end.

Lewis has been criticised, by Philip Pullman and others, over the values conveyed by The Last Battle. In particular, that Susan Pevensie, one of the children who appeared in previous stories, is described as no longer a friend of Narnia as she is interested only in "nylons, lipstick and invitations" — as if it is inherently sinful for a woman to become sexually mature. Such criticisms are often quickly countered by Lewis's supporters, as they are not necessarily symbols of female sexual maturity, but more symbols of commercialism and materialism, both of which Lewis, with his close friend JRR Tolkien, saw as evils. Some would also claim that Susan is excluded from Narnia, simply because she doesn't believe in Narnia any longer. (An alternative view is that she does not enter Narnia with the others simply because she was not killed in the train crash, and that she, too, will make it when her time comes to die). The implied misogyny is also contradicted by the generally good representation of females in the Chronicles of Narnia, through the two Pevensie Queens, Susan and Lucy, Jill Pole, Polly Plummer, the Calormene girl Aravis, and particularly, the Daughter of the Star, who features in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, with whom King Caspian falls in love.

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