Victorians! discussion

The beast is Lina. She settles behind him under the tree. Soon phantastic birds appear that dance before Curdie’s eyes in the air. He is beguiled by them. They want to go in a circle around him, but Lina prevents it. Then the birds begin to attack him, and Lina intervenes driving them off. When she returns she as many wounds on her body giving witness to the fight she just endured.

After the heath they come to a wood and more and more phantastic beasts appear, forty nine all in total. Lina subdues each one, and soon they are all marching with Curdie toward the king’s court.

The wood gives way to a pleasant county with hills and dales. The beasts from the wood disappear again. They follow a river until the valley becomes very narrow, and up at the end on a big rock sits the town Gwyntystorm. As they enter they notice everything is in a state of semi-repair and the people seem unfriendly. The philosophy of the people, so we are told, are that of superiority over their ancestors, as they have prosperity now, and it is better to forget the imperfections of the past. Curdie speaks to a baker, who, upon crossing the street trips over a protruding cobble stone and falls. The baker blames it on the king, who has not repaired the street and we find out this is the third time he has fallen. Curdie points out to him that it might not be the king’s fault that he is in essence clumsy. With his mattock he proceeds to smooth out the protruding cobble stone and inadvertently smashes the store window of the barber by a flying stone.

After the adventure with the baker and the barber Curdie and Lina get attacked by dogs belonging to the butchers. In self defense they kill both dogs which brings on the wrath of the owners. Their protestations of self defense falls on deaf ears, it is no concern to them whether they perished. A crowd has gathered by now and things are threatening to get out of hand. They hold their own and the people disperse, but now they have no entry to the inn. A little girl from a tiny house she lives in with her grandmother comes up to them. Town folks say she is a witch. After overcoming her fear of Lina she leads them into her house.

Curdie and Lina enjoy the simple hospitality of grandmother Debra and little Barbara. At night Lina wakes Curdie up for some noises are heard on the outside, but they don’t know what to make of it. In the morning it is discovered that the outside door and windows all had been sealed shut and they were trapped. They proceeded to have breakfast, and soon the confrontation started for them to come out and receive justice for their disturbance of the peace. Lina again overpowers them and then disappears. Curdie is left standing alone and surrenders. They bind his hands behind his back to his mattock and he is literally thrown into a jail cell. The force of his fall loosened the ties and he frees his hands.

I’m completely intrigued by Lina! She is such an odd and interesting companion for Curdie. I hope MacDonald makes good use of his creation and doesn’t just kill her off for cheap pathos.

This fairy story seems to be turning into a metaphor on the dangers of complacency and distrust as well as unjust prejudice.

Despite the relative peacefulness across the kingdom, the capital city of Gwyntystorm (sounds a little bit Welsh) is a place where…

…’ the people keep their gates open, but their houses and their hearts shut.’

I was struck by this comment from the author, which resonates with me today.

’ Indeed, there was one sect of philosophers in it which taught that it would be better to forget all the past history of the city, were it not that its former imperfections taught its present inhabitants how superior they and their times were, and enabled them to glory over their ancestors.’

Their reception at the King’s city was not what I was expecting and it could be this problem that the old princess has sent Curdie to tackle.

I like the way the author has chosen Lina as Curdie’s companion and protector. Being repulsive at first sight, her presence highlights the fears and cowardice of the people who are unwilling to understand Lina, and draws attention to those with empathy and kindness such as Debra and Barbara.

Trev wrote: " 'Indeed, there was one sect of philosophers in it which taught that it would be better to forget all the past history of the city, were it not that its former imperfections taught its present inhabitants how superior they and their times were, and enabled them to glory over their ancestors.’."

I do find it interesting that MacDonald published this in 1883 and the modern philosophical concepts of dismissing and distrusting the past were something he must have thought about alot, especially in light of his Christian world view. Later, C.S. Lewis would call it the snobbery chronology.

When we now include this with the previous quote ’ the people keep their gates open, but their houses and their hearts shut.’, then we notice that in their sense of superiority they have lost some of their humanity, they don't seem to have any natural compassion. They don't care if the dogs kill strangers.

Trev wrote: "I like the way the author has chosen Lina as Curdie’s companion and protector. Being repulsive at first sight, her presence highlights the fears and cowardice of the people who are unwilling to understand Lina, and draws attention to those with empathy and kindness such as Debra and Barbara."

That's a great observation!

Renee wrote: "I’m completely intrigued by Lina! She is such an odd and interesting companion for Curdie. I hope MacDonald makes good use of his creation and doesn’t just kill her off for cheap pathos."

Oh, that would be bad!
By now we know that Lina is not the only beast around, and we'll have to see what ultimate purpose they play.

I’m intrigued by (and also a little in love with) Lina. Not only is she doing the job of protecting Curdie, she also demonstrates intelligence and the ability to give and receive love. She reminds me of a huge dog whose devotion to its master is unwavering, but I wonder if she is really a human under some sort of enchantment. Both Curdie and Lina show extreme courage in these chapters. They are naturally caught off guard by the unfriendly reception they receive in town and must defend themselves, but they also show their concern for the old woman and little girl who shelter them.