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Chapter 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Horse and His Boy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Justice
Bravery vs. Recklessness
Christianity
Gender Roles
Summary
Analysis
Shasta runs through some trees until suddenly he is surprised to see King Lune with a hunting party. In a deep voice, the King greets Shasta as Corin. Shasta corrects him, then says they have no time to waste because Prince Rabadash is riding out with his army. King Lune agrees they need to take action and provides a horse for Shasta to ride.
As Shasta runs to get help, he again gets mistaken for Corin, perhaps suggesting that Shasta’s recent brave actions have made him look nobler. King Lune’s quick acceptance of Shasta’s warning shows right away how he is a wise and judicious ruler, unlike the thoughtless Tisroc, who refuses to consider the consequences of his actions.
Themes
Shasta rides with King Lune’s men, taking a little while to learn how to use reins. But he soon becomes skilled and enjoys himself. Still, he worries about how slow his new horse is going. He loses the main group, then goes off on a side road. When he hears noise nearby, he dismounts and hides. Soon Prince Rabadash rides up with his men. Shasta overhears the Prince making plans to assault King Lune’s castle, in order to clear the way for their eventual attack on Narnia.
Shasta continues to find himself left on his own, emphasizing how as much as he can learn and accept help from others, he is ultimately on a personal journey to find himself. His ability to quickly learn traditional horseback riding shows how he has become more capable over the course of his journey. The fact that Shasta just happens to end up in the right place to overhear Rabadash’s plan is yet another coincidence in the story that could suggest the Christian idea of God working in mysterious ways.
Themes
Prince Rabadash and his men ride off, and so Shasta begins to ride again too. But he gets lost, and it starts to get cold. Shasta cries about how exhausted and unlucky he is, always getting left behind.
Shasta learns that even after proving his bravery earlier, he will still continue to face new tests. The prospect of yet another frustrating setback again forces Shasta to realize his limits.
Themes
All of a sudden, Shasta senses an invisible creature beside him that seems to be very large. But the Large Voice (Aslan) tries to reassure Shasta, using its warm breath to prove it isn’t a ghost. Shasta complains about his bad luck and how many lions he’s run into. But the Large Voice says there was only one lion. The Large Voice was the lion that helped Shasta meet Aravis as well as the cat that helped scare off jackals by the Tombs. But when Shasta asks the voice who it is, the voice just answers “Myself” and seems to fade away.
Aslan is a character who appears in all the Narnia books and who usually acts as a kind of God or Jesus figure. Here, the invisible Aslan represents the Christian idea that God affects people’s lives in unseen ways. Aslan’s claim that there has only been one lion following Shasta the whole time is connected to the Christian belief in one all-powerful God (which also contrasts with the religion of the Calormenes, who believe in many gods and treat the human Tisroc almost like a god).
Themes
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Shasta turns and sees a lion taller than a horse. Shasta has never heard of the Narnian Talking Lion Aslan, who is considered a demon by some in Calormen. But even he can sense something strange about the big lion he sees here. This lion is indeed Aslan, who is the “High King” with power over all other kings in Narnia. The lion disappears in a mist and Shasta finds himself alone with his horse on a grassy hillside with birds singing.
Aslan is a force for good in the novel, and so the fact that the Calormenes regard Aslan as a demon is a sign of how corrupt Calormene culture can be. Aslan’s status as someone higher than any Narnian King reflects that idea in Christianity that God is a sort of king above any mortal ruler. Although Shasta is afraid during his encounter with the mysterious Aslan, the grassy hillside and birds that Aslan leaves behind show the beauty of nature and ultimately suggest that Aslan is a benevolent figure—just like the powerful but generous Christian God.
Themes
