C.S. Lewis uses a secondary world, Narnia, to convey complex, thought-provoking messages to readers of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This paper examines the way a selection of Narnia's key characteristics prompt debates over logic and faith, comment on the nature of spiritual and metaphysical journeys, allow readers to broaden their conception of their own capabilities, encourage new reflection on the story of Christ and help to clarify conceptions of good and evil. Narnia's first characteristic of note is the portal through which it is reached the wardrobe. By connecting the secondary world with the first, real' one, rather than simply beginning the story within Narnia, Lewis is able to introduce thoughts about truth and rationality. As the first to discover Narnia, Lucy must convince her siblings that the second world does indeed exist. Here, the Professor gives the children a lesson about finding truth in a logical and considered manner: There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious she is not mad we must assume she is telling the truth. (p.50) Lewis suggests that logic and faith are not necessarily opposed, but rather can inform the other and aid the pursuit of truth. Narnia needed to be a secondary world in order for the deliberation over its existence to occur in the story's primary world, allowing the Professor's lesson on truth to emerge. The wardrobe is significant for several other reasons. First, one cannot reach Narnia if he or she is seeking to either prove or disprove its existence. When Lucy brings her siblings to the wardrobe with the express goal of proving Narnia's existence, t... ... middle of paper ... ...ld of the reader, where things are not always as they seem, people are complex and layered, and the process of discerning good from evil is a precarious task. Narnia provides an ideal; a land of moral certainty. It allows us to return to the real world with greater certainty of our own values. In conclusion, the secondary world of Narnia in C.S Lewis' epic tale offers much by way of literary significance. It provokes debate over abstract, complex ideas such as truth and faith. It allows reflection on our role in the real' world. It inspires hope that we all serve a purpose; that we are capable of affecting change. It provokes new reflections on the story of Jesus and the meaning of sacrifice. Finally, it presents us with a vision of clear values; stripping good and evil down to their cores so that we may return to the real world more certain of our own convictions.
It will be the contention of this paper that much of Tolkien's unique vision was directly shaped by recurring images in the Catholic culture which shaped JRRT, and which are not shared by non-Catholics generally. The expression of these images in Lord of the Rings will then concern us.
Aslan is the King of Narnia. Lewis tries to resist any recognition that Aslan is Jesus Christ. When readi...
...Pity 2. Self-sacrifice B. Evil 1. corruption (Gollum) 2. greed (Smaug) II. Characters, Christian and anti-Christian A. Christian 1. Comparing to Christ a. Bilbo b. Gandalf B. Anti-Christian 1. Satan a. Saruman b. The Ring III. Power of the Imagination A. Creates secondary belief B. Escape through imagination
In Children’s literature, the characters are good or bad. The author attempts to teach the children without confusing them. They are learning right from wrong when doing this. In the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Clive Staples Lewis uses this in his novel with his characters. “He parallels the difference between right and wrong” (“Faith”). In the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis shows good vs. evil and the archetypes hero and villain in his novel.
...hey are made to try his experiment for teleportation. The children travel to different worlds and are followed back by a witch who, after destroying her own world, wants to rule theirs. The children work together to stop the witch and send her back to her original world. Unfortunately, the place they expect to go is not where they end up, which results in the witch escaping in to the newly created world of Narnia. On the bright side, Diggory nourishes his mother back to health and plants a tree which will later be used to build a wardrobe that becomes a doorway to Narnia. Because The Magician’s Nephew is written late in the series, the reader, who already knows about Narnia, learns how Narnia came into being and how the human race became involved there.
Have you ever wanted to free yourself from the terrors and troublesome times of modern society and escape to a magical place? Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis as he is better known, created such a place, in his extremely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis has an underlying message about Christianity. He represents four key aspects of Christianity in this series: Christ and God, evil in the world, and faith.
After his conversion, C.S. Lewis' writings became less modernistic. Many of his most famous writings, such as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Chronicles of Narnia series contain his Christian worldview (Stewart 1), which was completely opposite of the mode...
He shows these traits when Aslan asks him to retrieve a golden apple to repeal the witch from entering Narnia. While he is on this quest, by himself, he is tempted to give the magical golden apple to his mother to save her from the disease she is dying from.
...c child who is an innocent and has no place in the world of the wicked. His troubled self’s resolution comes at the end after Edmund has spoken to Aslan, the true ruler and god of Narnia. Both Edmunds own initiative and, less directly, religion lead Edmund back to before he was spoiled by the school he went to and the enchantment of the witch’s candy. Lewis therefore is following the Romantic tradition of innocence as a part of childhood since it was not Edmund’s fault he performed the incorrect behavior and was drawn to the side of evil.
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
C.S. Lewis created a story of a fictional world called Narnia that was inside of a wardrobe. There were four siblings who found this world, once inside they saw numerous creatures like witches and centaurs that were symbols for something bigger. C. S. Lewis uses Christian symbolism in The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe through the characters of Aslan, Edmund, and the White Witch.
Fiction has always been used as a way to relay different types of messages throughout time. In many cases authors use fiction to make political commentary, use stories to bring out the major flaws that society has, as well as a way to spread different types of beliefs or ideals. C.S. Lewis’s used his work, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, to reiterate the messages of the Bible to those who might have gotten lost during their lifetime. Though his whole series was full of connections the book that have the most prevalent connections are The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In both there are places that are very similar to and very different books in the Bible. Taking into context when Lewis wrote this series is extremely important to see what some of his motivations might have been. These stories were started soon after World War II had ended. These stories were a way to teach the next generation some of the morals that the Bible was teaching. By creating these fantastical stories Lewis was able to make connections to help bridge the learning gap between the two generations. Also by using children as a target audience Lewis was able to remind adults as well, instead of being ignored because of the recent war. Lewis was able to address these lessons and morals in a way that both taught the children the way of the Bible, as well as to put a new spin on old tales so that adults were able to come back to religion, after losing some faith during the brutal war.
Through the use of Christian symbolism, conflicts, and imagery, C. S. Lewis implements his religious background into his literary works.
The symbolism between C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the New Testament in the Bible, particularly the account of Jesus’ death is not merely coincidental because The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is, in fact, an allegory. An allegory is a story with morals in which characters, plots and settings are used as symbols. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis is rich with Christian symbolism even though the allegorical nature of it is the subject of much controversy. Nonetheless, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is an allegory. In this tale, four ordinary children find a wardrobe that leads them into Narnia, an extraordinary land parallel to our universe with talking animal and fantasy creatures. An evil witch has cast a spell of eternal winter over the land and has lured one of the children into betraying the others for enchanted Turkish Delights. Meanwhile, a magical lion, the nemesis of the witch, has arrived after a 100-year absence because of the betrayal of Edmund and ancient prophecies. Soon the children find themselves as involved in the battle as the other creatures and the lion must free Narnia from the clutches of the evil witch and atones for Edmund’s betrayal. The symbolism in the characters, plots, setting, miscellaneous things and themes prove Narnia is, indeed, allegorical
The Narnia Chronicles have already established themselves as timeless works of literature. They appeal to both the atheists and the God-fearing, to both the uneducated and to scholars; to children and adults. An understanding of the Biblical allegory in these books is not essential to their appreciation. A critical analysis of these works, however, does allow the reader to more fully appreciate Lewis' unique gift to simplify complex narratives and craft beautiful children's fantasies. This, in turn, allows the reader to gain both a deeper understanding of Lewis as a skilled creative writer, and a deeper satisfaction of his art. To be able to appreciate C.S. Lewis as such an artisan can only add to one's enjoyment of his works.