Till We Have Faces Read-Along: Chapters 1-7

Hello again, everyone!

This is my first post in the second of the two read-alongs that I am participating it! This one is hosted by the lovely Olivia at Meanwhile in Rivendell... and it is all about Till We Have Faces.

I am a huge C. S. Lewis fan, but that being said I've only read The Chronicles of Narnia and Reflections on the Psalms, so as soon as I saw Olivia announce this I knew that I wanted to be part of it!
Make sure to read Olivia's post about this week's thoughts HERE.

Spoiler alert! I will be giving my thoughts all about the book Till We Have Faces, so if you haven't read it don't continue any further!

Till We Have Faces - by C. S. Lewis: Chapters 1-7

Format: Questions and then thoughts.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think of the book's opening line and paragraphs?  Why are they effective?

It really gives me the impression of the narrator being tired with life, and it was very effective to make me wonder how the person got that way!

2. Orual often talks about a "smell of holiness" entering (or contaminating) a space.  How could a character believably recognize holiness in a scent?  Why would Orual be repulsed by it from infancy?

I really liked Olivia's response for this one. To me the smell that Orual is referring to is the sacrifice smell of blood. That would definitely be repulsive to me and I agree with it "contaminating" a place.

3. A major element of the plot is Psyche's beauty.  Orual says, "She made beauty all around her. . . . When she picked up a toad ⎼ she had the strangest and, I thought, unchanciest love for all manner of brutes ⎼ the toad became beautiful."  Is there foreshadowing in this?  Does it remind you at all of the Beauty and the Beast fable?

The most beautiful hearts are those that show love to everything! Psyche is so sweet and caring, I can see that reflecting on the people or things that she interacts with. Oh, I hadn't thought of the Beauty and the Beast connection!

4.  What do you think of the foreshadowing that you have seen so far, in general?  Is it effective or obvious?

Um, I have absolutely no idea of what is going to happen next, so I am still interested! It is keeping me hooked!

5. The practices of the "Great Offering" ritual dictate that the offering be "bound to the Tree," and that "In the Great Offering the victim must be perfect."  Do you see a connection here to the crucifixion of Jesus?  If so, do you think it was intentional on Lewis's part?

See, this is why I love read-alongs, because things are pointed out that I would never have thought of! I do know that C. S. Lewis meant to put a lot of allegories or connections in his books, but I've also read that he didn't mean to and always was impressed with the things people pointed out in his books, so I don't know if this was one of those times or not. But, from my experience with him so far I bet that he meant to do that.

6. Orual struggles to find truth throughout the whole story.  Already, we can see her torn between the "primitive" traditions of her community priest and the rationalism of her Greek tutor.  Though we trust the Fox more, we can sense flaws even in his reasoning.  Where, between the Fox and the Priest, might truth lie?

Truth is sometimes hard to find because everyone thinks that they are right. I feel drawn more to the Fox's explainations, because overall they make more sense to me. I could be wrong, though!

7. Psyche claims (speaking of marriage) that "To leave your home ⎼ to lose you, Maia, and the Fox ⎼ to lose one's maidenhead ⎼ to bear a child ⎼ they are all deaths."  What does this assertion reveal about this culture's sexual politics?

Reading this I thought of Psyche's mother. To leave her home and all of that was certainly caused her death, but even before that she was unhappy. I do admit that this is the one part of the book that is disturbing me a tiny bit, but it is being shown as wrong and harmful.


Personal Highlights:

1.

'He had all sorts of saying to cheer himself up with: "No man can be an exile if he remembers that all the world is one city." and "Everything is as good or bad as our opinion makes it."'

2.

'All she was saying seemed to me so light, so far away from our sorrow.'

3.

'"Not even for you, Psyche, will I pity Redival, whatever the Fox says."

"Would you like to be Redival? What? No? Then she's pitiable."'

4.

"We have made little use of the Fox's teaching if we're to be scared by death"

5.

"And because it was so beautiful, it set me longing, always longing. Somewhere else there must be more of it."

I was thinking about adding some thoughts to each of those, but they speak for themselves.


Thank you to Olivia for hosting! Make sure to check out the conversation, HERE.

Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic