Narnia and Chesterson's Test of Imagination - Blake Bauserman

 Rounding off my posts on Narnia, I would like to briefly return to Susan Pevensie as a character. Her attention is enraptured by boys and all manner of pretty things as she has grown, regarding them as much more real than Narnia. At a point, she even chastises Lucy for holding so strongly to their childhood games. Part of me does wonder if she was given a chance to read Chesterson's Ethics of Elfland if she would have joined her siblings in Aslan's country.

Chesterson works to break down the conflation between necessity and fact. Fact to him is an example of 1+2 making three. It cannot be imagined otherwise. Necessity, on the other hand, is another concept entirely. He submits to the reader the idea that trees do not need to grow fruit. In fact, not all trees do. The Eastern Hemlock tree, for example, produces cones instead. He says this can also be shown because a person can imagine candles growing from trees. An example I myself would submit is the idea of money growing on trees. All the same, it is not a necessity that Narnia is some childish game. Perhaps if Susan had entertained the idea slightly by using the test of imagination, she would have joined her brothers and sisters on that train and been brought to Aslan's country.