Digory and Polly's situation is really quite realistic: a boy and girl go through some experiences together, and then grow apart. But then they stay in contact, and are friends as they age. From the comments made in LB, we know that the children call Polly 'Aunt', and she is clearly part of the group of Friends of Narnia.

[It's also important to look at it in the context of World War 1, when many young men were killed in battle, and many young women remained single. So Polly's singleness in later life might well be due to losing her sweetheart, and the reduced number of men in that generation; friendship with other men didn't necessarily lead to marriage] 

I'm sorry that you are disappointed at the lack of romance in this book, but the children are only 12 and 11 (both pre-teen, in today's terms).

Shasta and Aravis, by contrast, are 14 and 13 (making Aravis old enough for her father to marry her off). In this case a boy and girl go through some experiences together and separately, then stay in contact, and some years later decide to get married (Lewis jokes that it is so that they can keep arguing). 

If Lewis had married off both pairs, I think there would have been some complaints that he wasn't realistic, because not all pairs of boy/girl friends end up marrying each other!

There's also the simple "out of universe" factor that when Lewis wrote the first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which introduces us to the old Professor, he (Lewis) hadn't yet thought out the whole series, and he tells us straight out on the first page that the Professor "had no wife". So when he began to explore Narnia's origins a few years later, and to build on the hints we're given at the end of LWW that the Professor himself has been to Narnia, Lewis was having to work from that established fact, that the Professor was unmarried. So that means it was an absolute "given", from the start, that there would be no romantic relationship between Digory and Polly.

(An alternative plot could have been that the Professor was widowed, but that would mean making it that Polly died before the events of LWW and so the younger characters would never get to meet her in our world. As it is, I think Lewis came up with the best solution.) 

Although I sort of understand the desire to see conventional storytelling tropes play out and have everyone pair-up into romantic relationships by the end of the tale, if you think about it in any sense of real-world dynamics for even a second, it's kind of an odd question to ask. 

I mean, I don't have any statistics to hand, but I'd have to wager that the number of people who get married to people they have known since childhood is incredibly low.

Furthermore, if you were to ask any adult why they didn't marry any of the likely dozens of friends they had during childhood, I'd have to imagine you would get a near infinite set of possible answers.

The simplest answer being because they weren't in love... because they are children

A boring answer I know, but I don't think there is any other.

Posted by: @courtenay

There's also the simple "out of universe" factor that when Lewis wrote the first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which introduces us to the old Professor, he (Lewis) hadn't yet thought out the whole series, and he tells us straight out on the first page that the Professor "had no wife".

I'd forgotten about that! I tend to think of the books in chronological order because that's the way I like to read them, but yes, that makes total sense. 

Posted by: @coracle

I'm sorry that you are disappointed at the lack of romance in this book, but the children are only 12 and 11 (both pre-teen, in today's terms).

If Lewis had married off both pairs, I think there would have been some complaints that he wasn't realistic, because not all pairs of boy/girl friends end up marrying each other!

I'm a big fan of childhood friends to lover stories if you can't tell, haha. In this case I understand why Lewis couldn't marry both pairs off, but I can't help but wish it could've worked out differently! Obviously I still love the books, especially MN, but I'm a daydreamer, what can I say?

@pattertwig I understand completely. I always wanted them to get together as well. Honestly, I do hope that the upcoming adaptation makes them an official couple. 

@lions-mane-minotaur  If you want the four Pevensies to go and stay with a bachelor Professor in the country, alone except for a few servants, you will have to give up the idea of his being married to Polly. Miss Plummer, aka Aunt Polly, is one of the Seven Friends of Narnia in the last book.  But clearly they have stayed friends.  

@pattertwig Does it bother anyone else that Digory and Polly didn't get married, but Aravis and Shasta did? I mean, it just seems so right for them to have known each other so long and then get married!

Actually, no. And the older I get the less enamoured of that particular storyline, when not every couple who were childhood friends marry. I agree in the case of Aravis & Shasta, they did, eventually. But even though Polly had a rather old-fashioned type of upbringing, I get the impression she wasn't the type to rush into anything & valued her independence & the chance of a good education (for a woman in those days) too much to marry. Some of the things Polly says about bullying boys & Digory's behaving just like Uncle Andrew should sound an alarm. And of course, it was Uncle Andrew who caused all their problems in the first place. 

Especially when, like Digory and Polly, there is a good reason why they shouldn't marry, such as Digory's manhandling Polly in the Hall of Statues in Charn. In all these characters, even the good ones - arguably especially the good ones - there is always that little niggle. I get the feeling that the main reason why Aravis married Shasta was that she'd learned to get off her high horse about people whom she'd regarded as her social inferiors, because of that little chat she'd had with Aslan whilst at the hermit's place, awaiting Shasta to return. Digory and Polly did become lifelong friends but marrying them together might well have ruined that valuable friendship. 

@coracle While it obviously would be a departure from the books, there is nothing in the main story of LWW that necessitates the Professor being a bachelor. And in The Last Battle, it certainly wouldn't affect the main story if Digory and Polly were married, considering they both were already a part of the seven friends of Narnia.

@lions-mane-minotaur  As you say, it would be 'a departure from the books'. 

There are plenty of things that could have happened in the books, but Lewis didn't write them that way. These are his stories. He created the world of Narnia and all the people who interact with and in it. 

I don't have the right to say how he should have written them, or what individuals should have done in them. If I ever publish my own writings, I hope people will not tell me how I should have written them differently. 

I am of the generation where instead of suggesting how an author might have written things differently, we studied how they DID write them.  Literary criticism was not actually criticism, and we knew that interactions between men and women did not always end in romance and marriage. 

You suggest that LWW would not have been affected if Digory and Polly had been married; well, this would have them living together in the big country house, having brought up children and being used to them. Their evacuees would therefore not have been left to their own devices over the summer holidays but taken out with family (children and grandchildren?), and given more appropriate games and toys to play with (as found in the homes of grandparents whose grandkids visit the a lot). The Pevensies' explorations of the house would have been delayed, discussions with the Professor about Lucy's odd behaviour might have involved a motherly Mrs Kirke (who might have been housekeeper herself, and not caused the children to hide in the wardrobe room during a tour of the house). I think she would also have potentially helped Edmund, remembering how Digory had been at the same age!

No, I think the distancing of the Professor is an important factor in the main story. He's sensible and logical, but not overly friendly, and he very much leaves the children to sort things out themselves. The absence of a sympathetic female in the house, as well as lack of contact with their mother, is also important. 

I think the other thing that surprises me here, is that whilst its not uncommon to hear people advocating for changes to be made to bring the books more in line with modern sensibilities, it's kind of odd to hear people advocating to go in the opposite direction. 

One of the things that I find genuinely quite remarkable about the Narnia stories (and perhaps the reason that a director like Great Gerwig would so cherish them too) is that they contain numerous interesting female protagonists (Lucy, Jill, Polly) who are quite often the lead character, and who at no point exist merely to serve as the "damsel in distress" or romantic foil for a stronger male character. 

Throwing all that away for a cheap romantic ending would be a disservice not only to the characters, but also I feel to Lewis who was perhaps well ahead of his time in that regard. 

Posted by: @icarus

 

One of the things that I find genuinely quite remarkable about the Narnia stories (and perhaps the reason that a director like Great Gerwig would so cherish them too) is that they contain numerous interesting female protagonists (Lucy, Jill, Polly) who are quite often the lead character, and who at no point exist merely to serve as the "damsel in distress" or romantic foil for a stronger male character. 

Throwing all that away for a cheap romantic ending would be a disservice not only to the characters, but also I feel to Lewis who was perhaps well ahead of his time in that regard.  

That's why I love Lucy so much. And characters who act like a damsel in distress a lot really bother me, to be honest. I prefer strong characters who find a soft spot for each other, much like Shasta and Aravis. (Again, I realize that both books couldn't end the same way)

I wasn't suggesting that Polly be different or for the ending to be a cheesy happily every after, I love how Lewis wrote everything. I was more so was wondering who else thought they could make a good couple. Sorry if I offended anyone with my silly thoughts, that wasn’t my intent. 😉

@pattertwig no offence!  It was good to have to think about it, so thank you. 

@pattertwig I wasn't suggesting that Polly be different or for the ending to be a cheesy happily every after, I love how Lewis wrote everything. I was more so was wondering who else thought they could make a good couple. Sorry if I offended anyone with my silly thoughts, that wasn’t my intent. 😉

No problem, whatsoever, and I'm glad you raised the topic.   I haven't time at the moment to digest what other people say at the moment. Really, my apologies to young Digory Kirke as a character, but who would want to be married to an Uncle Andrew lookalike? One of the more hilarious parts of Magician's Nephew was the crush Uncle Andrew developed for Jadis, whom for the rest of his life, he described as "A dem fine woman". Oh, really? Yes, really? Pardon my scepticism, but I could have a lot of fun with that remark. Who on earth would really want to be married to a tyrant like Jadis, the White Witch? I'd end up feeling sorry for Uncle Andrew. He really dodged a bullet when Aslan sent him back home to London.  

And to think on my wedding day nearly 55 years ago, I cautiously agreed to the old form of the Anglican Marriage service. "Will you love, honour and OBEY this man and take him for your lawful wedded husband?"    I told the good Reverend that I'd only obey if I agreed to what he was commanding me to do. Roll on the debate, if @pattertwig doesn't mind? 

It's also worth mentioning that C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that he believed wives should obey their husbands and Polly should definitely not obey Digory. The story clearly portrays her as being the more sensible one, so Lewis wouldn't have seen Digory as being good husband material for her. 

(Please forgive me for opening such a controversial can of worms but I like that Digory and Polly defy convention by not getting married in the end, so I feel any reason they shouldn't is worth mentioning.)