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A Letter to Susan Pevensie

Dear Susan,

While we belong to very different eras and areas, and the only apparent resemblance I bear to you is black hair, I have always related to your calm, reserved and mild demeanour. I always admired how you stayed away from goriness and have often wished that I were a subject of Narnia during your Golden Rule. I write this letter to you not to just sing your praises, but out of a spirit of inquiry, if you ever returned to Narnia. Frankly, after Peter said “Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia” I was heartbroken and couldn’t continue reading as I refused to believe such a thing could happen. I am also deeply sorry about the crushing loss you suffered in the crash, but I know you would have had the strength to continue with life.

Most of your life still remains a mystery to me and I hope to someday find out if you got your happily ever after (which I hope was in Narnia). 

However, I have always felt furious about the way Narnia treated you sometimes-"Oh, Susan! She's interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up." I felt you always had to be the grown up as Lucy and Narnia needed your mature, kind, stabilising influence. Liking nylons and lipstick wasn’t the horrific shock they made it out to be, plus aren’t those things what Lucy would also eventually like too? I believe that your not believing in Narnia was a façade under which you and the others were carrying out some other plot or that due to your loss you couldn’t bring yourself to believe that a perfect world of happiness like Narnia could exist or that you couldn’t forgive Narnia for how they treated you (and frankly I agree with that).

Irrespective of whatever happened, I will always defend you because you have done no wrong and curse CS Lewis for the fate he mapped out for you.

While I acknowledge your story is left to our imagination, I genuinely want to hear your version and I really hope you eventually went to Narnia because you believed in it. I admit life forced you to grow up quickly but still I feel that you will return to Narnia to embrace your inner child and find the solace you need.

Yours,
Riva Harani

This letter was one of the top ten entries in the P.S. I Love Literature Letter Writing Competition of The Novel Room, our Book Discussion Club. Students wrote letters to characters, writers, poets, books as part of a creative review and response activity, and these were read out in the session on April 29, 2021.

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