Despite the fact that I realize it's just a story and even though I've read it before and know how it ends, I find it hard to read beginning of the Last Battle. The idea of the donkey being used as a pawn for the ape's ambitions in itself sickens me. But this thought doesn't compare to the way I feel about the damage being done, not only to the physical, tangible world of Narnia on the ape's whim, but also to the inhabitants of Narnia's faith and sense of well-being based on their beliefs about Aslan. The Narnians faith in Aslan is seriously put to the test by all of these things they believe him to be doing contrary to what they had previously understood about Aslan. This is a rather blatant parallel to what we believe about the end of days and the anti-Christ. Perhaps this is why it disturbs me so much.
As a reader my first thought was, "Why are they so easily tricked? Don't they realize it isn't really Aslan? Can't be Aslan as they have understood him?" In answer to these questions a thought came to me, they want to believe it is Aslan. They would rather rearrange all of their beliefs slightly about who Aslan is rather than be disillusioned by realizing Aslan hasn't actually returned. No one wants to play the fool and admit he/she was tricked. So, they will try to rationalize what is happening to fit into what they want to be. Thoughts like, "Well, maybe the stories weren't the way things really were when he was last here. No one alive has ever met him personally before, maybe this is the way things have always been." It seems people are easily taken in when they want to believe something is true.