The Centrality of Lucy

I have just finished re-reading “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and a few observations follow:

*The book is Lucy-centered. She discovers the wardrobe and in the end, it is her who senses that a return to it will provide “some great change of our fortunes.”

*Lucy is the archetype of truth. Truthfulness follows her everywhere. Thus, she is constantly moved by acts of compassion (“I mean, we must do something to save him.”)*Lucy’s pursuit of the good makes her the main seeker of Aslan, which also entails she is the most inquisitive (“Is–is he a man?”). Her curiosity about Aslan culminates in her witness to the resurrection of Aslan (Lucy: “Can you see what they are doing?”). She experiences–with Susan– the joys of the resurrection before the others (“The ride was perhaps the most wonderful thing that happened to them in Narnia”). She also experiences the resurrection or vivification of other Narnians as Aslan makes them all come to life from the death/statuatization.

*Because of her truth-pursuits, she is also the one who is most playful throughout. Truth makes people take themselves lightly.*In the end, she witnesses the hand-shaking of Peter and Aslan, sealing victory over the witch and her army. Lucy is a witness to the vindication of Aslan. But not only that but she is also given the task of bringing life to the dead by using the “precious cordial” given as a Christmas present.

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Lucy is a daughter of Eve, a new creation who sees the world anew while her siblings need to be persuaded to see the world as was made by a Creator. For Lucy, the world is adventurous and compassion most clearly brings out life to all things, even from the dead.

Her innocence signifies the kingdom of heaven (“…for unto such belong the kingdom of heaven”). While Edmund and others struggle to grasp her child-like faith, Aslan sees her heart. She becomes the very heart of the new Narnian culture built by the blood of the Lion.