A Country of Puddleglums

Two of my favorite characters in literature are A.A. Milne’s Eeyore and C.S. Lewis’ Puddleglum. I have been intrigued by both these figures partly because their pessimistic outlook on life is so different than my own and partly because each contains an element of the heroic, in spite, or perhaps because of their pessimism.

I have fond memories of reading Winnie the Pooh out loud, first to Julie as a young married couple (after all, Winnie the Pooh isn’t just for kids), and then later to my children. Eeyore was my favorite character to mimic. As I read, I found it easy to put on a voice for him, a good grumpy, pessimistic voice. Every now and then I pull that voice out when the kids are acting all gloomy and down.

And then there is Puddleglum, who competes with Reepacheep as my favorite all time Narnian character. Yes he is a pessimist, but there is something unique, and quite noble in his character. As I will explain shortly, Puddleglum very accurately reflects much of the English character.

Puddleglum’s outlook is characteristically negative when he is asked whether or not he will help them find the lost Prince Rilian:

“We’ll I don’t know that you’d call it help. It stands to reason we’re not likely to get very far on a journey to the North, not at this time of the year, with the winter coming on soon and all. And an early winter too, by the look of things. But you mustn’t let that make you downhearted. Very likely what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we’ll hardly notice the weather.”

But don’t let this pessimism fool you. Although he has a negative outlook on life, there is much more to him. It was Puddleglum, not the optimistic children, who picked up on the witches’ scheme and did something about it. It was Puddleglum that did the brave act of sticking his foot it the fire to break the witches’ spell on the children and wake them back up to reality.

C.S. Lewis does a great job representing in Puddleglum something that I have noticed to be pretty common here in England. I understand that Lewis had his gardener in mind when he created Puddleglum. The English people on the surface have a very negative outlook on life, and it’s been quite fun to play with. For example, if I make a statement about how nice the weather is, I can guarantee their response to be something like, “yes, but just wait, our fabulous winter weather is just around the corner.” I then say, “well, we’ve been here for 3 months and I can count on one hand the number of rainy days”. Nine times out of ten, they will respond, “Yes, very unusual. Our summer was awful, were you here then?” Sound like Puddleglum?

The English character, however, goes deeper than sheer pessimism. This is where Lewis touches something profound in the English character. They are a brave and determined people, and like Puddleglum, have an ability to see reality in a way that we often miss.

Julie and I are really very grateful for the opportunity to explore this great country and discover its people, and are looking forward to what God has for us to learn here.