Posted in Till We Have Faces

This book surprised me in a lot of different ways; I can't say that I expected it to be so difficult to understand, but it certainly was enigmatic in parts (especially at the last bit). There's no way that I could dissect it all, but there are some interesting and thought-provoking things to think about.

I loved the two separate parts of the book and how they shed light on each other. I think that Orual's journey mirrored the ways that we resent things we don't understand. How many people do you know who hate God in the same way as Orual? They curse him and use "logic" (as the Fox did) to disprove everything about Him. Orual stubbornly refused to submit; her struggles are similar to ours sometimes. She hated because she didn't understand.

I can think of times in my life where I've resented my parents because they forced me to experience things that were unpleasant. From what I could see, they were just being cruel tyrants. Later, after talking to them, I realized how foolish I was being. Just because I couldn't see everything behind what happened, I didn't have the capacity to make judgements against them.

At the end of the book, the [figurative] veil is removed from Orual's eyes and she sees her true self, her true role. Psyche helps to define it because she was the picture of sweetness, submission, humility and pure faith.

"I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against other words. Long did I hate you, long did I fear you. I might--"

Discussion Questions

1. What does Orual's veil symbolize about her?
2. How does Lewis paint the picture of human love as opposed to divine love?
3. Was there one quote that really struck you? Please share :)

I found an EXCELLENT list of discussion questions HERE. If you want to scroll through them and answer the ones that you really like in the comment section, that would be great! I might do the same.

Thanks for sticking with it. :) I'll have news for you on the next book sometime soon! I'm going on a couple trips this summer, but I'll try to plan around. Maybe we should pick one book to read over the entire summer? I don't know if you still want to keep up with the set-up that we're doing now. Let me know your preference!

Enjoy your first days of summer! :)
~Sylvia