Danielle Hawkins: Further up and further in to something greater

    In Lewis' last book of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle the idea of an after life is reintroduced. This idea was previously mentioned by Reepicheep in Voyage of the Dawn Treader when he talks of Aslan's country and eventually makes his way into the country. Earlier in that book he speaks an old verse that he remembers as a young mouse "Where sky and water meet, Where the waves grow sweet, Doubt not, Reepicheep, To find all you seek, There is the utter East" (21). The whole voyage he longs to go to this place, Aslan's country, and once he gets there we never hear from him and do not know what this country holds or if his desires were fulfilled. We do not hear from Reepicheep until The Last Battle when the seven kids and many others are in New Narnia. This place they are in is described by the seven kids as being more real and a unicorn who was also in this place said that "this is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now" (161). Both the unicorn and Reepicheep had this this desire inside them. One did not know about it until he had it and the other lived his whole life going after it. I am particularly interested in the desire and longing that these characters experienced. 

    The idea of longing was further explored in the paper Kip assigned us, Wilderness, Arcadia and Longing: Mythic Landscapes and the Experience of Reality. Lewis created his own word for this term, sehnsucht. One quote from this paper that explains Reepicheep's behavior is "sehnsucht is never quenched by the mediate objects of longing but only by the actual focus of longing" (4). I think Reecicheep used this focus to keep him going everyday. It was his why. Kip goes on to connect this idea with Lewis own quote from The Weight of Glory, "if we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will already be in us" (29). This idea can be reflect in the unicorn saying that he's been looking for the land his whole life. 

    I personally can relate to Reepicheep at times. Often I am not satisfied or fulfilled with the things on this Earth. For me that points to something greater. There is something greater to look forward to. That does not mean to say screw it to what is right in front of me (which is Nick writing a paper and my chipotle bowl and my todo list that seems never ending). I believe there is goodness in the land of the living, that I am here on this Earth to enjoy my life but also keep my eyes above. We live in a broken world where really bad things happen (poverty, natural disasters, hunger, COVID, etc) and some of those things I will use my time here on Earth to fight against them and hope for a better things during my time here. I believe that one day none of those bad things will happen and that place is in Heaven and like Reepicheep I use it as my motivation and will to live. 





    

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