Kat Forbes: Till We Have Faces #2 (Entry 12)

Entry # 12 (Till We Have Faces #2) The Civilizing Process

Katherine Forbes

 

In his book Better Angels of Our Nature, scholar Steven Pinker describes a phenomenon called the Civilized Process, a transition from a reliance on oneself for both protection against others and the distribution justice, to reliance instead on the state to maintain law and order and to distribute justice on wrong-doers.  The civilizing process is also characterized by the establishment of societal norms and social order.  For example, when the king of feudal England began demanding respect, allegiance, and homage from the various nobles and knights who were running amok competing for resources and power, these noblemen suddenly had to abide by societal standards both when in and out of the King’s court.  They needed to bow and act dignified in front of the king to win his favor, and they needed to prove that their lands were being run in accordance with the kings’ standard.  The general result of this civilizing process, which continues to develop even today, has a decline in violence, because someone other than the individual has become the ultimate authority on justice. 

A similar civilizing process I noticed occurs throughout the course of Till We Have Faces, though it is unlikely Lewis consciously tried to exhibit this phenomenon.  When the story begins, one can barely turn a page without reading about blood, guts, gore, and more blood, whether from sacrifices, executions, or slaughter for consumption.  Orual’s childhood appears to have been defined by the stench of blood and death.  Furthermore, the religion Glome, specifically the worship of Ungit is a very bloody and messy matter.  The temple is dark, dank, bloody, and disgusting, and Lewis leaves to the imagination what sort of unseemly things the temple girls are commanded to carry-out in the name of “holiness.”  With the death of the king, and the corresponding death of the old priest, the new regime takes control of Glome with Orual as its Queen and Arnom as the new high priest.  Both institute sweeping reforms by establishing new infrastructure within the state or in Arnom’s case within the practice of religion.  Purity, cleanliness, and justice become the defining virtues of the Queen’s castle, and prosperity and peace define the new way of life throughout Glome.  The state became competent and legitimate, and both the people and religion became allegiant to the crown, or in other words, Glome went through some of the civilizing process.  The result was a blood-free castle, less violence, and a less bloody temple; surely this wasn’t coincidence.