The Longing
one of the primary themes in Till we Have Faces is the longing. What is interesting about longing is that it is linked to desire which is inherently a self-interested emotion. but in Till we Have Faces Lewis seems to distinguish this longing from the selfishness that Orual could not escape from the whole story. Psyche's longing is a self-less longing, a paradox that Lewis toys with the whole story. Easily my favorite quote from Till we have Faces also happens to be one of the more famous quotes from the book:
"The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the
Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my
country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it
all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it
now feels not like going, but like going back."
This quote touches the heart of why myths and stories are told in the first place. It is all about tracing things like beauty and joy or pain and sorrow, back to their original source because these things captivate us so much. Lewis answered the problem of these things with the longing for something greater. He felt like that was the heart of the issue. Ultimately, myths are designed to echo this longing as Lewis portrayed in Till We Have Faces.
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