I think my problem with Susan being excluded is because she represents, to me, the rest of the outside world. She had, after all, grown interested only in worldly things. And here was Narnia ending and Paradise coming, and only seven people got to come?
It just seemed to be to be incredibly killjoy and Puritan of Lewis to exclude her on such minor grounds as vanity. If that's all it took to be denied Heaven, what was the chance of the rest of us getting in? It was a valid theological stance for him to take, but it was too much for me to handle as a ten-year-old and I'm not all that fond of it now.
And then add to that the Dwarves. Being in Heaven and being able to witness someone in Hell, right in front of you; it just always seemed to me that there was something horribly smug about Lewis' version of Heaven. There was just so much emphasis on who couldn't get in.
no subject
It just seemed to be to be incredibly killjoy and Puritan of Lewis to exclude her on such minor grounds as vanity. If that's all it took to be denied Heaven, what was the chance of the rest of us getting in? It was a valid theological stance for him to take, but it was too much for me to handle as a ten-year-old and I'm not all that fond of it now.
And then add to that the Dwarves. Being in Heaven and being able to witness someone in Hell, right in front of you; it just always seemed to me that there was something horribly smug about Lewis' version of Heaven. There was just so much emphasis on who couldn't get in.