Positive elements
Orual is a good queen. She fixes systems or buildings her father neglected. She is brave and protective.
Psyche genuinely loves Orual and embarks on a dangerous quest to aid in her healing.
(Spoiler) The gods are not as terrible as Orual thinks. When she reads her accusation to them, she sees how ridiculous it is: ‘how dare you draw Psyche away from me and give her a better life! She was mine!’ Instead of condemning her for her accusation, they ‘perform surgery’ to repair her twisted desire. She’s comforted knowing the gods are merciful, not just. Otherwise, what would become of humans?
Theme: Consuming Love
The story is a case study for our main character and narrator. Throughout the story, Orual loves three people, but it’s a consuming love, not a sacrificial love. She’s more concerned about ‘having’ the person than desiring their own good. This theme is also reflected through a goddess in the story, Ungit. She devours sacrifices but offers little in return.
Religious & Spiritual Content
The gods are real.
A god shows himself to Orual. The gods do answer her accusation. They begin their ‘surgery,’ showing how she didn’t truly love Psyche or Bardia. She is taken to a spiritual courtroom to state her case.
Orual realizes she has an ugly soul. She must die before her final death and she needs the gods help. Will they help her? Yes. Psyche travels to the dead-lands to make Orual beautiful.
Psyche is praised as a goddess because of her beauty. This makes the goodness Ungit jealous and she demands that Psyche be sacrificed, but Psyche escapes. Later, Psyche becomes a goddess after completing ‘impossible’ tasks and she marries a god.
The royal family has ‘gods’ blood’ in them.
When threatened, a priest says he’ll haunt his murderer in the afterlife.
Orual refers to ‘holy’ in a negative way: ‘the stench of holiness’ or feeling afraid while being in a holy place.
Family structure & gender roles
Royal marriages are arranged for political benefit. The princesses are raised by a slave-teacher, not their father.
The king is determined to have a son to reign after him. Instead, he has three daughters, a sign the goddess is angry with him.
Orual is ugly, which her father points out makes her undesirable. She comments that her appearance makes others treat her like a man instead of a woman. She leans into this, learning sword fighting and bookkeeping for her father. On the king’s deathbed, Orual becomes queen. She fulfills the tasks of a king, including going with the army into battle. She often thinks of herself as in ‘a man’s world’ and tries to ‘drive all the woman out of her.’ She wears a veil to hide her face, sparking rumors that she is beautiful beyond mortals.
Sexual content
We rarely see any sexual content ‘on screen,’ but it is talked about in secondhand accounts: gods and goddesses sleep with mortals. A brother is punished for laying with his sister and trying to kill their child. A priest explains that when a woman lays with a man, she devours him. A soldier says he never sleep with his wife during a full moon. The king has several illegitimate children with slaves and is fine if a male slave impregnates the female slaves so he can have more workers.
Psyche feels embarrassed to undress for her bath among the she-spirits since she’s a mortal. A priest must be a ‘weaponed man,’ not a eunuch.
When Psyche grows into womanhood, ‘her br*asts round and her long legs get their shape’ as she ‘ripens.’
A princess and guard are caught kissing and whispering love-talk in the garden at night. The guard is c*strated and sold as a slave to another country. Later, this princess is called a ‘wh*re.’ To embarrass their teacher, she lays on her back and kicks her legs in the air until he could see all there was of her. A girl is ‘at the wrong time of the month’ to be a bride.
Orual feels weak and shaky after she kills her first opponent, and wonders if that’s how girls feel when they loose their virginity. She can’t attend a religious ceremony since she’s a virgin.
Drugs/alcohol
Psyche is give a drug to keep her calm doing the offering ceremony. Later, she is given wine by the god’s servants. Several characters become drunk: “They’d had enough [wine] to swim in over the last few days.”
Orual doesn’t like feeling drunk, and doesn’t drink too much again.
Language
A donkey is referred to as ‘an *ss.’ Children born out-of-wedlock are call ‘b*stards.’ Twice, a girl is called a ‘wh*re.’
The king likes to insult: ‘you girl!’ Directed at a soldier. ‘Don’t be a baby.’ ‘Death and scabs!’
Twice, a character ‘curses.’
Violence
Non-real creatures/magic
The gods are real (see ‘religious content’).
Sheep have golden fleeces. Ants help a woman sort seeds. An eagle speaks and brings a bowl of water.
Other negative elements
Orual loves a married man. Though no romanic relationship grows between them, she keeps him close as an advisor and feels resentment when he returns home to his wife.
Often, animals are sacrificed, creating a stench. The girls’ teacher, a Greek slave, is mocked for surrendering during a battle rather than taking a spear to the heart.
In another kingdom, the eldest son is ‘simple’ and will never rule. While camping, a soldier and Orual sleep back-to-back to stay warm. Orual compares a god’s voice to a bird singing on the branch of a hanged man.
Final thoughts
This book is a bit hard to understand the first go-through. Knowing the theme, the myth, and other symbols that Lewis uses are helpful.
This book challenges us to examine ourselves and ur loved ones and ask ‘do I truly want what’s best for them?’
Orual is a good queen. She fixes systems or buildings her father neglected. She is brave and protective.
Psyche genuinely loves Orual and embarks on a dangerous quest to aid in her healing.
(Spoiler) The gods are not as terrible as Orual thinks. When she reads her accusation to them, she sees how ridiculous it is: ‘how dare you draw Psyche away from me and give her a better life! She was mine!’ Instead of condemning her for her accusation, they ‘perform surgery’ to repair her twisted desire. She’s comforted knowing the gods are merciful, not just. Otherwise, what would become of humans?
Theme: Consuming Love
The story is a case study for our main character and narrator. Throughout the story, Orual loves three people, but it’s a consuming love, not a sacrificial love. She’s more concerned about ‘having’ the person than desiring their own good. This theme is also reflected through a goddess in the story, Ungit. She devours sacrifices but offers little in return.
Religious & Spiritual Content
The gods are real.
A god shows himself to Orual. The gods do answer her accusation. They begin their ‘surgery,’ showing how she didn’t truly love Psyche or Bardia. She is taken to a spiritual courtroom to state her case.
Orual realizes she has an ugly soul. She must die before her final death and she needs the gods help. Will they help her? Yes. Psyche travels to the dead-lands to make Orual beautiful.
Psyche is praised as a goddess because of her beauty. This makes the goodness Ungit jealous and she demands that Psyche be sacrificed, but Psyche escapes. Later, Psyche becomes a goddess after completing ‘impossible’ tasks and she marries a god.
The royal family has ‘gods’ blood’ in them.
When threatened, a priest says he’ll haunt his murderer in the afterlife.
Orual refers to ‘holy’ in a negative way: ‘the stench of holiness’ or feeling afraid while being in a holy place.
Family structure & gender roles
Royal marriages are arranged for political benefit. The princesses are raised by a slave-teacher, not their father.
The king is determined to have a son to reign after him. Instead, he has three daughters, a sign the goddess is angry with him.
Orual is ugly, which her father points out makes her undesirable. She comments that her appearance makes others treat her like a man instead of a woman. She leans into this, learning sword fighting and bookkeeping for her father. On the king’s deathbed, Orual becomes queen. She fulfills the tasks of a king, including going with the army into battle. She often thinks of herself as in ‘a man’s world’ and tries to ‘drive all the woman out of her.’ She wears a veil to hide her face, sparking rumors that she is beautiful beyond mortals.
Sexual content
We rarely see any sexual content ‘on screen,’ but it is talked about in secondhand accounts: gods and goddesses sleep with mortals. A brother is punished for laying with his sister and trying to kill their child. A priest explains that when a woman lays with a man, she devours him. A soldier says he never sleep with his wife during a full moon. The king has several illegitimate children with slaves and is fine if a male slave impregnates the female slaves so he can have more workers.
Psyche feels embarrassed to undress for her bath among the she-spirits since she’s a mortal. A priest must be a ‘weaponed man,’ not a eunuch.
When Psyche grows into womanhood, ‘her br*asts round and her long legs get their shape’ as she ‘ripens.’
A princess and guard are caught kissing and whispering love-talk in the garden at night. The guard is c*strated and sold as a slave to another country. Later, this princess is called a ‘wh*re.’ To embarrass their teacher, she lays on her back and kicks her legs in the air until he could see all there was of her. A girl is ‘at the wrong time of the month’ to be a bride.
Orual feels weak and shaky after she kills her first opponent, and wonders if that’s how girls feel when they loose their virginity. She can’t attend a religious ceremony since she’s a virgin.
Drugs/alcohol
Psyche is give a drug to keep her calm doing the offering ceremony. Later, she is given wine by the god’s servants. Several characters become drunk: “They’d had enough [wine] to swim in over the last few days.”
Orual doesn’t like feeling drunk, and doesn’t drink too much again.
Language
A donkey is referred to as ‘an *ss.’ Children born out-of-wedlock are call ‘b*stards.’ Twice, a girl is called a ‘wh*re.’
The king likes to insult: ‘you girl!’ Directed at a soldier. ‘Don’t be a baby.’ ‘Death and scabs!’
Twice, a character ‘curses.’
Violence
- Threats of violence - Orual attacks a guard with a sword (neither are hurt). The king orders his soldiers to kill every single temple soldier (they refuse). Sometimes, he threatens to drown the slave-children when they’re too many of them. Orual wishes she could kill the priest or her sister. Orual thinks it would be better for her to kill Psyche than for her to be eaten alive by the shadow-brute. A challenger says he won’t kill a woman with his sword and plans to hang her if he wins.
- Most violence is caused by blades - the wounds themselves are not generally described. In a rage, the king stabs and kills a slave boy. A dagger is pressed into a man’s ribs. Orual stabs her own arm to show her resolve. A soldier explains that a stabbed man takes a long time to die, unless you swap his head off. Orual kills her challenger in a sword duel. In a bad year, they may have to cut someone’s throat and pour the blood over Ungit to please the goddess.
- Other violence - In retaliation, Orual beats her sister, her face a leather of blood, and Orual’s hands around her neck. A bowmen shots a rioter in the throat. Orual throws herself at her father’s feet and begs him to save Psyche. He kicks her several times, bruising her.
- Threats of suicide: a slave decides he’d rather take poison than work to death in the mines. Orual says she’ll kill herself if her sister doesn’t do what she wants. A queen plans to drown herself, but the gods tell her not to. Orual dreams that she only forgives a friend after he comes to the point of suicide in his remorse.
Non-real creatures/magic
The gods are real (see ‘religious content’).
Sheep have golden fleeces. Ants help a woman sort seeds. An eagle speaks and brings a bowl of water.
Other negative elements
Orual loves a married man. Though no romanic relationship grows between them, she keeps him close as an advisor and feels resentment when he returns home to his wife.
Often, animals are sacrificed, creating a stench. The girls’ teacher, a Greek slave, is mocked for surrendering during a battle rather than taking a spear to the heart.
In another kingdom, the eldest son is ‘simple’ and will never rule. While camping, a soldier and Orual sleep back-to-back to stay warm. Orual compares a god’s voice to a bird singing on the branch of a hanged man.
Final thoughts
This book is a bit hard to understand the first go-through. Knowing the theme, the myth, and other symbols that Lewis uses are helpful.
This book challenges us to examine ourselves and ur loved ones and ask ‘do I truly want what’s best for them?’