Freakconformist said:
Well I took me a little more then three hours when I got down to it, but it was a great read. Such a beautiful story in the end. Esspecially when They all realize that thier parents had died too and were waiting for them on the other side of the "mountain"
It
is a gorgeous story, and you touched down on some great points. You're right about the Islam thing, and it's interesting to find that in today's culturaly conscious world God and Allah become the same being: Gollah if you will, much like Tashlan in the Last Battle.
I didn't pick up on the St. Peter/King Peter allegory. Something that made me think though was when Aslan is sorting those who had died in the battle, and were now rushing towards him. He sorted those that looked with horror on him to the left, and those who loved him to the right, and in that latter company was a dwarf that had shot the horses. Possibly an allegory for a Christian who died in sin, it made me think about the experience my family, some friends and I had with a " An Aslan loving horse shooting dwarf" a couple of years ago. Point is: The man died in sin, but he loved Christ. He hurt the cause of Christ, but Christ forgave, and allowed him to enter glory. Confusing, but that's no reason not to forgive...there never is a reason for unforgiveness.
Another cool thing that I like about the Last Battle is it's emphasis on mountains. In the Bible the place where you can find God is on a mountain...Mt. Hebor, Mt. Sinai, the Mount of Olives, Golgatha, and the Temple Mount. God's holy city, the church is set on Mt. Zion. The transfiguration was on a mountain. When Elijah set the contest between him and the prophets of Baal it took place on Mt. Caramel and God showed his glory there (this fact has also led alot of people to believe the Hebrew Jehovah was a mountain god. Yeah...but he's also the God of thunder, lighting, floods, volcanoes...the list goes on). In the Last Battle you go further up and further in till you reach a mountain where the allegorical Garden of Eden resides on a high mountain top, and there the characters (and historical figures like Adam and Eve) reside with Aslan. Aslans Country is also set on a high cliff...on a mountain. The stone table is set on a mountain, and if you will the witness of Aslans resurrection was a mountain top experience for the girls, just like the sudden realization that Jesus rose again and that you love him is a mountain top experience for those who realize it. It's great.
I think that Lewis put an allegory of himself into the chronicle with Trumpkin the dwarf. He described his conversion experience as Christ grabbing him by the ankles and dragging him into the kingdom kicking and screaming. Trumpkin the dwarf had to be tossed in the air a couple of times for him to see sense, but by the time that was done he was so scared he had to believe in lions. Do you think that perhaps all the other characters are allegories of Christians in their different walks with Christ? Like Edmund is an allegory of unsaved man, Eustace the allegory of those who need to be refined, and have their old man scraped off by Christ. Which character is your allegory? Which character would be Tolkiens? Just a thought. I think that perhaps one of mine is Lucy, though I have been Edmund, and I'm still in the process of becoming the New Eustace if you will, but Lucy has always been the one that I've identified with, even when I watched the LWW cartoon at the age of 3 (the year I came to Christ. I really think that cartoon had something to do with it). I love how devoted to Aslan Lucy is, how when others aren't she gets frustrated and doesn't understand, how she's not perfect but she tries her hardest to follow Aslan. How scared she is to follow him, but she does anyway...or tries, but then she does because Aslan says "Either do...or do not" or was that Yoda in Star Wars? I think I should stop now.
Sorry for the long post. I love this series, and I love discussing it and it's Biblical parallels.
Slainte!
Eruliel