Oh yes. Then there's Eustace, being transformed from a bully and obnoxious brat to someone who stands up to the bullies. Though I do wonder, as what @coracle said about Edmund, about Eustace. Had been bullied himself at school or given that he was only child, he found opportunity to pick on his cousins about Narnia.

I think that moment where Eustace is turned into a dragon helped him see what a beast he had been (he was wanting all the treasure for himself at that point, and in many stories, dragons are known to be hoarders). After his unddragoning, he's a different person. By the time of SC, he comforts Jill when she's being bullied and helps her out.

I'm sure that a lot of us that read Narnia for the first time, we wouldn't expect someone like Edmund or Eustace to be transformed from bad kids to good kids (like for Edmund going from teasing Lucy to supporting her or for Eustace going from being a bully to comfort Jill when she's being bullied).

So I actually like the idea of how lives are transformed in the books, even in a way you didn't really expect it.

Lewis gives us quite a lot of information about the characters' backgrounds. This helps us understand them 'Before' the transformation. 

For instance, Digory and Polly spent a lot of the summer together, but were they actually friends? Aspects of Digory's character are more subtly shown, and more sympathetically. But what transformation did he need?

Digory and Polly weren’t so nice to each other just before ringing the bell in Charn. But of course both of them changed completely. Digory was kind enough to go after Polly after she was transported to the Woods Between the Worlds.  But when they arrived there and when they came to Charn they were quite quarrelsome. I think they were somewhat immature. But they did change their attitudes later.

Edmund changed more than anyone else since treachery is one of the worst sins.  His change was 180 degrees. It was probably harder for him to change than any other character in Narnia. It may have been harder for Aslan to forgive him than anyone else. 

I think the Narnia books have more changed characters and conversions than any other books in children’s literature. At least Lewis emphasized character more than any other Christian author. 🙂

What about non-human characters?

What do you think Fledge was like before he was brought to Narnia?

How about Puzzle the donkey? There is quite a bit of character development for him in LB. 

And there was King Tirian, who started out as acting rash even when Roonwit urges him to wait awhile. His wreck less actions lead him to kill two Calormene slave drivers. Then as the story progresses, he starts to act with more caution. If that's not a transformed life, I don't know what is.

Could the Narnian characters such as Edmund and Eustace be liked at all before they were transformed?  Or could they be hated for the way they acted before the transformation?  They did make me a little angry when Edmund lied about his first trip to Narnia in saying that it was only a game that he played with Lucy. And I was disgusted with Eustace for his bratty behavior about the picture of the Dawn Treader. But I can’t really say that I hated Edmund and Eustace for their terrible conduct, although it was enough to make me somewhat angry. I did feel somewhat sorry for Edmund being captured by the White Witch even though it was his own fault.  And with Eustace turning into a dragon it is possible to be sad that it happened to him although he deserved it to some degree. One should not be sympathetic to wrongdoing, but the consequences can evoke sorrow for the person experiencing the suffering.  🙂

Eustace is the classic example, of course. The part I find amusing is how Aunt Alberta perceives his personality change as a negative, "who said he had become very commonplace and tiresome and it must have been the influence of those Pevensie children".

I wonder if she had a role in having him sent to Experiment House later, and if so, if his changed personality was a factor.

Posted by: @starlit

Eustace is the classic example, of course. The part I find amusing is how Aunt Alberta perceives his personality change as a negative, "who said he had become very commonplace and tiresome and it must have been the influence of those Pevensie children".

I wonder if she had a role in having him sent to Experiment House later, and if so, if his changed personality was a factor.

Eustace was definitely a student at Experiment House before his first visit to Narnia and its transformative effects on him. That's made very clear from his conversation with Jill behind the school gym in the first chapter of The Silver Chair. She and others — including the gang of bullies who terrorise the rest of the students — have all seen the huge change in him since the previous school term (the Dawn Treader adventure happened during the summer holidays, and SC begins two weeks into the autumn term) and they're all wondering about it:

'Then wash out last term if you can," said Eustace. "I was a different chap then. I was — gosh! what a little tick I was.'

'Well, honestly, you were,' said Jill.

'You think there has been a change, then?' said Eustace.

'It's not only me,' said Jill. 'Everyone's been saying so. They've noticed it. Eleanor Blakiston heard Adela Pennyfather talking about it in our changing room yesterday. She said, "Someone's got hold of that Scrubb kid. He's quite unmanageable this term. We shall have to attend to him next."' (SC, chapter 1, p. 13 in the Puffin edition)

Posted by: @courtenay

 

Eustace was definitely a student at Experiment House before his first visit to Narnia and its transformative effects on him. That's made very clear from his conversation with Jill behind the school gym in the first chapter of The Silver Chair. She and others — including the gang of bullies who terrorise the rest of the students — have all seen the huge change in him since the previous school term (the Dawn Treader adventure happened during the summer holidays, and SC begins two weeks into the autumn term) and they're all wondering about it:

Not sure how I forgot about that part, thanks! It's probably looking too far into it to draw any connections about Aunt Alberta there.

Posted by: @starlit

It's probably looking too far into it to draw any connections about Aunt Alberta there.

Not necessarily. Lewis describes Harold and Alberta satirically as "very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes" (VDT, chapter 1). Experiment House itself is a co-ed school (unusual in Lewis's time) run by people who "had the idea that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they like", and where the headmistress doesn't punish the bullies who inevitably arise, but considers them "interesting psychological cases" and lets them get away with everything they do (SC, chapter 1). It sounds like exactly the sort of "up-to-date and advanced" place that Harold and Alberta would want for their cherished only child's schooling.

This is of course Lewis sending up his own ideas of all that's wrong with the modern world and modern education, and not all modern readers will agree with him, but it still has plenty of bite — I'm a non-smoker and teetotaller (and former vegetarian) myself and I find it funny and cutting and not at all offensive. I've always felt what he's really getting at is people who think their ideas and their virtuous behaviours are so much more advanced than everyone else's and who therefore don't hesitate to show off their superiority at every opportunity (still a pretty relevant topic today). And it's growing up in that kind of atmosphere that is largely to blame for Eustace being the "little tick" he is until Narnia and Aslan start working a real change in him.

Jill accuses him, in the first chapter of SC, of "spend[ing] all [his] time sucking up to Them, and currying favour, and dancing attendance on Them", so we can see he formerly got by at Experiment House by getting himself onside with the gang of bullies (though not actually part of their inner circle), and now that his behaviour has been transformed and he's started standing up for something better, he's in line to become their next victim. It's all very believable and shows just how much Aslan has done for Eustace, and it proves he has the courage to keep on acting in accord with what he learned in Narnia instead of slipping back into his old nasty ways just to fit in and preserve his own skin — even though this makes him a target for the bullies and puts him seriously at odds with his own parents.

As for smoking I never started it and never had any desire for it.  A transformed life for a Christian would mean that you should never do anything harmful to your health, which would include unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking excessively. But I think Lewis could be forgiven for smoking because much of its harm was not known in his time.  I can easily forgive him for it.  What would he have thought of the trend of banning smoking in public places today?  Maybe he would have accepted modern doctors' advice if he were living today.   I just don't like tobacco so staying away from it was never a problem for me.  I never gave in to the pressure to start smoking as a teenager and have never regretted that decision.  🙂   

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

And there was King Tirian, who started out as acting rash even when Roonwit urges him to wait awhile. His wreck less actions lead him to kill two Calormene slave drivers. Then as the story progresses, he starts to act with more caution. If that's not a transformed life, I don't know what is.

He foolishly acted in a righteous wrath to avenge the dryads without sufficient numbers, but quickly made an even more foolish choice to listen to the Ape's deceit. He was unable to clear up that the Narnian's God, Aslan, couldn't possibly be the same as the Calormene's god who demanded human sacrifice. After realizing his mistake he took every effort to correct it. He stepped in at a critical moment to prevent innocent Narnians from being slaughtered by the Calormenes, even when the majority were opposed to him.

Also, Emeth is another changed fellow. He sincerely sought a false god thinking he was following the right God, but repented when shown otherwise.