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Recommended: The lion the witch and the wardrobe overview
The Seven Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis have, in their short life, become a classic on library and literature shelves for both young and old alike. The first of the seven books was recently made into a popular TV movie a couple of years ago entitled, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
The chronicles are, at heart, adventure stories. They record the marvelous and often scary episodes of a small group of youngsters who enter the mystical world of Narnia when they walk through a secret doorway in a little used wardrobe in one of their homes.
Among other things, I think the chronicles help children (and adults) understand the fundamental battle in life between good and evil. Good is represented by a great lion named Aslan, an archetype
of the resurrected Christ. In the land of Narnia, evil shows up in many familiar guises of wicked witches, horrible beasts, and dark dwarfs.
The last of the seven books is appropriately entitled, The Last Battle (Revelation?). In this chronicle, the evil characters are Narnian dwarfs. They are dark and gloomy folk, with sneering grins, who distrust the whole world. The basic issue is that they have chosen to live in darkness, refusing to see the good around them, refusing to believe that Aslan can bring God's light into their lives and world. So, they live in misery, squalor, and self-imposed darkness.
Near the end of the story, some of the children who follow Aslan go out into a field where the dwarfs live. They want to make friends; they want to help them see the light and the beauty of the world which surrounds them.
When they arrived, they noticed that the dwarfs have a very odd look and were huddled together in a circle facing inward, paying attention to nothing. As the children drew near, they were aware that the dwarfs couldn't see them. "Where are you ?" asks one of the children. "We're in here you bone-head," said Diggle the dwarf, "in this pitch-black, poky, smelly little hole of a stable."
"Are you blind?" asks another child. "No," respond the dwarfs, "we're here in the dark where no one can see."
"But it isn't dark, you poor dwarfs," says Lucy, "look up, look round, can't you see the sky and flowers - can't you see me?" Then Lucy bends over, picks some wild violets, and says, "perhaps you can smell these.
C.S Lewis is the author of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Warrdrobe. Lewis was born on November 29, 1898, in Belfast, Ireland. He was born Clive Staples Lewis to Flora August Hamilton Lewis and Albert J. Lewis. Lewis’s mother passed away when he was on ten years old. After his mother died he went on to get his pre-college education at boarding schools and he also received help from a tutor. Lewis served in World War I with the English Army, but unfortunately was sent home when he was wounded. Lewis was a graduate of Oxford University with a focus on classic philosophy and literature. As a child, he was disappointed with the Christian faith, but when he became older he found himself embracing Christianity. During World War II, he gave popular radio broadcasts on Christianity and they won many converts. Lewis’ speeches were collected in Mere Christianity. In the year of 1954, C.S. Lewis joined the staff of Cambridge University as a literature professor. He met an English teacher by the name of Joy Gresham and in 1956 they married each other and became a happily married family. The two were joyful during their marriage; unfortunately in 1960, the wife became ill with cancer died. Lewis began publishing his works in the mid- 1920s. Lewis started to publish The Chronicles of Narnia during the 1950s. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first in the seven book series to be released. This was the story of four siblings who discovered a wardrobe with a magical land in the back of it (“Clives…”). In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis describes Aslan, Edmund, and Lucy.
Dictionary.com defines evil as “the wicked or immoral part of someone or something.” Within the novel, Grendel by John Gardner evil is inescapable as this topic is discussed throughout the novel. Though the story holds a resemblance to its inspiration of the epic Beowulf in its portrayal of Grendel, it fails to highlight the underlying evil within the Anglo-Saxon’s and their values. Gardner’s novel reveals that evil is everywhere as it is seen in not only Grendel's but also in human lives and is presented in a more complex way than the epic as both have their own dark sides.
Good and evil operate and work in different environments. In the book Beowulf, light and darkness are the environments used by good and evil. Although the author shows the power of darkness, he also exhibits light’s eventual victory in Beowulf’s battle with Grendel, in Beowulf’s first skirmish with Grendel’s mom, and with the imagery created at the beginning and end of each
“ʻ Wrong will be right when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, when he bores his teeth, winter will be no more and when he shakes his mane, we shall have winter again”’ (Lewis 85). This shows the readers, even though Aslan is good he can still be very mean when needed to protect his people and realm. Lewis is showing how good Aslan is as a hero and how good he is in representing good in good vs. evil. “Aslan is a brave lion, Son of Emperor Beyond the Sea, who leads the forces of good in a gory and successful battle, and whose sacrifice redresses the treachery of one of the children” (Pell). This shows the readers actually how good Aslan is as a ruler. Also, shows that his people will actually die for him in the war. Aslan is the good in good vs. evil.
The Chronicles of Narnia are wonderful to read whether one be six or thirty-six; they relate to childhood as well as life in a general sense. While the Chronicles tell the story of an imaginary land full of talking animals and heroic princes/princesses, I tend to look further into it in order to grasp the symbolism and relation to life. Symbolism plays an important role in the chronicles by being the background and foundation of a character. I get the impression that in some ways the characters were constructed around their symbolic purpose, and not the opposite way.
Since the beginning of time, fairy tales, stories and legends have shared a common theme where good and evil are played against each other. In the story of “Beowulf”, translated by, “Burton Raffel”, there is a hero who plays as a good character, and there is also a demon who rules the dark side. The hero Beowulf, agrees to take a journey to conquer the evil monster Grendel. But when Beowulf is trying to defeat the beast, Grendel fights back, causing integrity and generosity to vanish. The common theme in various tales like in Beowulf is, good vs. evil.
I believe fear, superstition, and greed fuel many evil things today whether big or small. Power hungry humans fight all throughout history and is usually for these reasons. Personally, the book taught me about how people deal with situations when they are under pressure, one’s need...
...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.
First of all, Aslan and the White Witch are the representation of the good and evil throughout their respective physical and physiological descriptions. Beginning with Aslan, his physical description is reassuring and represent the good for children. He is the King of Narnia and he is a lion, the King of the Beast. He has great power and he is fierce. But, those qualities make him a safe friend for good people, because he is the protector of nice people and he fights evil. His goodness and his power can be show when the Beavers are first explaining who Aslan is to the four children: “[…] ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He is the King, I tell you.” (Lewis, 80) In this quote, it is understood that Aslan is good, but he isn’t harmless. He will be harmless to the ones that are pure of heart but harmful to evil people. He is loyal and strong. He is always there to guide the four children into the light of good. He can also be represented as a father figure because he is there to protect them and to help them. For his ph...
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
Evil is defined in multiple meanings. In J.R.R Tolkien’s works he describes evil in a variety of different ways. Like in the award winning book The Hobbit, evil is a big factor for the entire journey for the dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf, and without the evil in The Hobbit the quest wouldn’t have been necessary. So the question is what is evil? The definition for evil is profoundly immoral and malevolent. Tolkien portrays evil in The Hobbit by using trolls, goblins, fire breathing dragons, and other mythical creatures.
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.
...g through these tales. And in an ironic way it gives a sense of harmony among parents and their children through all the rebellion and decision making. These tales offer truths and opportunities of expression. That’s why I think they are important.
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.
I saw some footsteps in the soft dirt. I followed them for hours. Soon the path lead me to a tiny cottage. I knocked on the door and a dwarf came out.