"I remember now. I took it with me the last day of all, the day we went hunting the White Stag. It must have got lost when we blundered back into that other place—England, I mean."
The children become so wrapped up in the world of Narnia that they are dissatisfied with the dullness of England and begin to forget about it and their lives there while they are away. They cannot live in both worlds and wish to stay in Narnia yet, when she returns to England, Susan does the opposite and soon forgets all about Narnia.
“Ah!” roared Aslan. “You have conquered me. You have great hearts.
Not for the sake of your dignity, Reepicheep, but for the love that is
between you and your people, and still more for the kindness your people
showed me long ago when you ate away the cords that bound me on the
Stone Table (and it was then, though you have long forgotten it, that you
began to be Talking Mice), you shall have your tail again.”
Here, Reepicheep has lost a tail, and he feels, also his dignity. Aslan's conduct towards Reepicheep shows his feelings towards the concept of dignity. That Aslan cares for Reepicheep's dignity is no doubt true; the God who is love will care for our glory and goodness more than we could, and could possibly imagine. But Aslan's disdain for Reepicheep's conception of the importance of dignity is also obvious.
Here, the problem with caring for dignity is quite a finite one. A creature that is mortal, and by nature and choice a subject to the whims of the uncontrollable laws of ultimate reality, with constant contact to influential outward reality, is the last creature which could maintain its own dignity. What is true for Reepicheep is also true for all creations. All are vulnerable to the worst of shames, and even, all of shames. Hence, the wise are those who obey Aslan out of trust that He will take care of their dignity. If Reepicheep had known that he would lose his tail in the battle, and loved his dignity too much, he wouldn't have fought. If he disregarded the dignity inherent in him by choice of his creator, he would be insulting God. Only the person who believes God will restore their dignity, too such extent that the loss of it will become desirable in retrospect, even while considering all the pains and shame they suffered during the period of its loss, could venture boldly into a very hostile world and remain confident and joyful despite all sufferings, knowing that the recompense will be inconcievably good, perfectly satisfying and limitlessly desirable.
