J.C. Comeau #6, Plot and Struggle in “Till We Have Faces”

“Till We Have Faces” can be said to be a narrative that revolves entirely around the changing perspective of one woman.  It is her life story we are hearing, her decisions we read, and her values that are put to trial.  Her struggle is the centerpiece for the entire novel; her struggle gives it all meaning.  In his essay, On Stories, Lewis tells us that this is the great responsibility of myth, to give meaning to something that would otherwise be just plot.  If Lewis had told us, quite plainly, that two sisters grew up together but drifted apart after one wronged the other, we would not truly know the depth of their experiences.  We cannot know Orual’s change of heart and change of perspective unless we walk with her through it all.  The story is what moves us, not the statistic.  Lewis knew this, it is therefore his dedication to myth that evoked within him the desire to paint a full picture of Orual’s struggles.  A plot without landscapes, truth, love, and struggles did not interest Lewis.  The tree musketeers, the epic adventure (albeit without much description or narrative aside from plot) would have bored Lewis.  Yet a subtle demonstration of the complexities of life would have enthralled him.  So in all of Lewis’ fiction, we may find adventure, but there will always be something more.