Prince Caspian, the Return to Narnia

Prince Caspian, The Return to Narnia is a children novel by C.S Lewis. In this novel, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie went back to Narnia in order to help the purported prince to claim his power and restore the land to its former magic. Upon the siblings return to Narnia, they find themselves in the ruin of their old castle, Cair Paravel. Over a millennium has passed on Narnia between the time they last went home at the end of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, and their return. This happened during their last visit, which is when they reigned as kings and queens well into adulthood before returning to England as children, with no time at all their memories of life in Narnia come back to them.

There are two major themes in this novel which are courage and loyalty. Aslan who is the great lion who created Narnia were portrayed as a Christ figure by Lewis. Aslan’s father who is the “Emporer-Over-Sea is the God Father. In this novel, the Pevensie’s were very loyal to Aslan. Their courage and braveness to save the kingdom of Narnia from being rule by the bad ruler were proved in this novel as in end of this story, they manage to save Narnia. The siblings went through a lot of ups and down but they never give up.

Since that this novel is children’s imaginary novel, the setting of this story is not real. It is an imaginary and created by the writer. This story is imagining as in thousand years before. There are clash of time setting because before the siblings got into the closet,

As the plot of this story, the story begins while Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie were waiting for their train to school after the summer holiday. While standing on a British railway station, they were magically taken away to a beach near an old ruined castle. They realize the ruin is Cair Paravel, the former king and queen of Narnia. Then they discovered the treasure chamber where Peter's sword and shield, Susan’s bow and arrows, and Lucy’s bottle of magical cordial and dagger are stored. Susan's horn for summoning help is missing, however, as she left it in the woods the day they returned to England after their first visit to Narnia. Although only a year has passed in England, many long years have evidently passed in Narnia.

Then, there is one night they happen to rescue Trumpkin the dwarf from soldiers who bring him to the ruins to drown him. Trumpkin tells the children that since their disappearance some 1300 years ago, a race of men called Telmarines have attacked Narnia and makes the talking beasts into the wilderness and pushing even their memory underground. Narnia is then ruled by King Miraz and his wife Queen Prunaprismia. But the rightful king is Miraz's young nephew, Prince Caspian, who has gained the support of the Old Narnians.

Miraz had take over the throne by killing his own brother, Caspian's father King Caspian IX, Miraz tolerated Caspian as heir until his own son was born. Prince Caspian, until that point ignorant of his uncle's evil deeds, escaped with the aid of his tutor, Doctor Cornelius, who had schooled him in the lore of Old Narnia, and who gives him in parting Queen Susan's horn. Caspian flees into the forest but is knocked unconscious when his horse bolts. He awakes in the den of a talking badger, Trufflehunter, and two dwarfs, Nikabrik and Trumpkin, who accept Caspian as their king.

The badger and dwarves take Caspian to meet many creatures of Old Narnia. They gather for a council at midnight on Dancing Lawn. Doctor Cornelius arrives to warn them of the approach of King Miraz and his army. But the Telmarines follow the Narnians and after several battle the Narnians appear close to defeat. At a second war council, they discuss whether to use Queen Susan's horn, and whether it will bring Aslan or the Pevensies. Not knowing where help will arrive, they dispatch Pattertwig to Lantern Waste and Trumpkin to Cair Paravel, and it is then that Trumpkin is captured by the Telmarines and rescued by the Pevensies.

Peter challenges Miraz to single combat; the army of the victor in this duel will be considered the victor in the war. Even though he has a stronger army and thus has more to lose by a duel, Miraz accepts the challenge, goaded by his two lords, Glozelle and Sopespian. After a stiff fight, Miraz falls. Glozelle and Sopespian cry that the Narnians have cheated and stabbed the King in the back while he was down. They command the Telmarine army to attack, and in the commotion that follows, Glozelle stabs Miraz in the back. The living Wood wakened by Aslan arrives, and the Telmarines flee. Discovering themselves trapped at the Great River, where their bridge has been destroyed by forces of Narnia, and then the Telmarines surrender. As in the end of the story, Aslan gives the Telmarines a choice of staying in Narnia under Caspian or returning to Earth, their original home; roughly half the Telmarines depart with the Pevensies through a magical portal constructed by Aslan at the Ford of Beruna. The Pevensies find themselves back at the railway station where the adventure began, just as the train to Susan and Lucy's boarding school pulls up into the station. The main character in this story is Peter Pevensie. He is the eldest brother of Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. He is also the high king of Narnia. Susan is the second eldest of this family and following by Edmund. In this story, Edmund is more likely does not listen to his brother and he does not like to be control. Unlike his older siblings, Edmund trust Lucy’s about the place which called Narnia while Lucy is the youngest in the family whom actually the first to see Aslan the whole thing called Narnia. To put in a nutshell, this whole story of Prince Caspian, The Return to Narnia is specially impressed me. I really enjoyed reading this novel. Although this story is just an imaginary of an old man, but the way of this story told really interest me. There are several value such as having courage in doing something and being loyal to someone should be apply in real life. This novel is not that easy to understand because it is using some vocabulary that I am not familiar with but after all, I am satisfied to after reading this novel. (1267 Words)