Jill and Eustace

Jill and Eustace begin as schoolmates who have been too hostile and self-conscious to address each other by their Christian names, but shared danger gives way to mutual apology and lasting friendship. Their final exchange in the underground castle marks a change in how they relate: each acknowledges their own unkindness, and neither leaves the other without goodwill.

From Schoolmates to Companions

At school, using Christian names was not done, and the two had been “such a pig” and “a funk and so ratty” toward one another. Their relationship is therefore marked not by easy intimacy but by the conventions and friction of their school life. The adventure they have undergone together brings them to a point where they can speak more personally.

Farewell in the Castle

After the Prince of Narnia interprets the Lion’s image on the shield as a sign that Aslan will be their good lord whether they live or die, he asks the companions to kneel, kiss the likeness, and shake hands as friends who may soon be parted. Jill and Eustace do so. Eustace apologizes for having been a coward and irritable, and hopes Jill will get home safely; Jill returns the apology, admitting that she has behaved badly. Their first use of one another’s Christian names makes the farewell a quiet turning point: danger has not erased their quarrels, but it has made reconciliation possible.

Friendship After the Adventure

The farewell is not the end of their bond. Back at Experiment House, Eustace secretly buries his fine clothes in the school grounds, while Jill smuggles hers home and wears them to a fancy-dress ball the next holidays. The narrator states that from then on the school improves and that Jill and Eustace are always friends. Their relationship thus outlasts the extraordinary circumstances that changed it, becoming a durable connection in their ordinary lives.