Guest Post by E. J., INTJ

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Dominant Ti: Unlike her Te-using friend Eustace, Jill operates based on an interior sense of logic that is not necessarily based on empirical evidence. As a result, she is the only Friend of Narnia who is willing to believe that other worlds exist before she enters one. Jill generally prefers taking a rational approach to life, and she can be disdainful of people who lose control of themselves. When she is faced with a difficult situation, one of her first reactions is usually to focus on remaining cool and calm. She sometimes misses the larger significance of events, which annoys Eustace (especially on the occasions when she interrupts his reasoning process to emphasize details that he considers unimportant). Jill is not a controlling person. She can, however, be very critical of other people when they are behaving irrationally or (in her mind) wasting time. As a result, she and Eustace often argue. She does not verbalize all of her thoughts and is irritated when Eustace ruins her declaration of loyalty to Tirian by pointing out that they cannot return home anyway.

Auxiliary Se: In England as well as Narnia, Jill enjoys athletic activity, particularly riding and archery. She joined a Girl Guide troop and is comfortable in the outdoors, moving so stealthily through the forest that she reminds King Tirian of a Dryad. Although she is a bit of a tomboy, Jill loves the physical sensation of dressing up, sneaking her Narnian clothes home so that she can wear them at a holiday ball. Sometimes her focus on her physical surroundings leads her into trouble, however: Jill’s appreciation for the Green Witch’s beautiful appearance and her frustration with the dreary northern moorlands leads her to trust the Witch and urge Eustace and Puddleglum to go straight to the giants at Harfang. This course of action nearly gets them all killed and eaten. Jill often acts on impulse, which can be a bad thing (showing off her head for heights at the edge of the cliff) or very good (disobeying Tirian’s orders to rescue Puzzle from the stable).

Tertiary Ni: At the beginning of her adventures in Narnia, Jill’s Ni is relatively weak. She frequently takes action without thinking about the consequences. This tendency changes as she matures. Jill is fairly certain that she will return to Narnia a second time, so she prepares for this trip by improving her archery skills. Once there, she shows a better understanding of the big picture situation. Her impulsive decision to sneak Puzzle out of the stable was intended to serve Tirian’s overall goals. Jill knew that Puzzle was the tool being unwittingly used to enslave the Narnians, and she hoped that without him, Shift could no longer pretend to be Aslan’s mouthpiece.

Inferior Fe: Jill’s Fe function is somewhat unreliable. She senses other people’s feelings, but she does not always respond sympathetically. Although she is very upset when she accidentally knocks Eustace off the cliff, she reacts with irritation more than guilt when he repeatedly brings up the incident. On the other hand, she shows an enormous amount of sympathy for Puzzle, despite his part in deceiving the Narnians, because she knows that he was also being manipulated. Jill neither analyzes her own emotions nor tries to talk them over with others. When deeply upset, she will sometimes break down, even if others are present, but normally she does not show intense emotion in public.