Puzzle, the donkey in the lion’s skin, an analysis of the literary donkey in C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle.

This paper intends to examine the portrayal of donkeys in western literature by a close reading of the donkey Puzzle in C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle. The overall purpose is to examine how donkeys have historically been portrayed in litterature. How the view of the donkey as dumb has come to be shaped by earlier Greko-Roman literature as Aesop’s fables and how it is possible to see these prejudices in the depiction of Puzzle. The focus is to understand how the negative image of the donkey has emerged and is shaped by the purpose and function the donkey has had, and still has, for humans.

This paper’s questions are: How is Puzzle portrayed in C. S. Lewis The Last Battle? Is Puzzle presented as inferior/lower class? Are there any characteristics of the fool in Puzzle? The analysis shows how the old prejudiced image of the donkey can be seen in the depiction of Puzzle. This is obvious from how Puzzle is portrayed in relation to other character’s, especially how he is posed as opposite to the unicorn Jewel. But it is also visible in how Puzzle himself uses these prejudices in his defense by claiming that he is too stupid to understand; A defense often used by the fool. I argue that Puzzle bears the traits of the fool even if he remains a donkey in the end.