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Book analysis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Symbolism by C.S. Lewis - Lion, Witch and Wardrobe
Biblical symbolism in the lion the witch and the wardrobe
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Recommended: Book analysis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Throughout The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe many symbolisms are expressed. It shows many times through the expression of the battle between good and evil as well as the sacrificial notion of Aslan when he died to save the life of Edmund.
Aslan in the book is a God like figure represented by a lion,” "That's Jesus, Mama!" shouted my cousin's exuberant daughter, Claire. Her mother was reading to her not from the gospels, but from the climactic scene of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, where a heroic lion lays down his life--allowing himself to be stabbed to death on a great stone table by the book's villain--in order to save the life of a boy who has betrayed him. At the tender age of 4, Claire thus discovered the significance of the greatest lion of Western literature, C. S. Lewis' Aslan (Cahill)”. Though his presence is an untamed yet gentle lion, he is still the embodiment of a Christ-like figure. In the book, the White Witch demands the traitor, Edmund’s, blood stated, “Tell you what is written on that very Table of Stone which stands beside us? Tell you what is written in letters deep as a spear is long on the fire-stones on the Secret Hill?...” (Lewis 141) The Table of Stone represents the cross that which Christ is sacrificed. Aslan sacrificing himself is a symbol of the Christian sacrifice that Jesus made when he gave his life to save all of creation, as in the passage Matthew: 32-56.
The book was not originally set to be a book with the Christian symbols, originally suppose to be a straightforward fairytale but quickly turned into a testament of his love for God (Shulevitz). Throughout the book, symbolisms are stated as in the White Witch being the source of evil, and whether we are Christian or not we stil...
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... Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 24. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420073753&v=2.1&u=avlr&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w&asid=7e17794441e2d444262f74d131651205 Copied Passage
It is no mere coincidence that, as with Adam and Eve, sin often takes the form of eating in The Chronicles.
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Martindale
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Pietrusz, Jim. "Rites of Passage: The Chronicles of Narnia and the Seven Sacraments." Mythlore 14.4 (Summer 1988): 61-63. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. Vol. 109. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420067353&v=2.1&u=avlr&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w&asid=98f84ed874f135b684450922aa4abae2 Copied Passage
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The Lion symbolises royalty, the books symbolise wisdom and the golden fur and mane of the lion symbolises power (because gold is usually worn by rich people).
"Themes." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie R. Napierkowski. Vol. 4. Detriot: Gale, 1998. 6-7. Print.
Blood is another big symbol in the book. Blood is a symbol of sacrifice by John Grady for everything that he loves and cares about. He pays for the horses when he gets shot while retrieving his horse from the c...
...Literature. Vol.1. Ed. Rossi, Patricia. Addison Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. New York: Copyright 1999. 2655-57.
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...
Regardless of C.S Lewis’ attempt to argue that The Chronicles of Narnia is simply a “supposal” it is clearly a Christian Allegory. Throughout all 7 books there are parallels to the stories in The Bible, and only a few times does Lewis even attempt to change small details. Even with these small changes in details it is still shockingly obvious that The Chronicles of Narnia is an allegory.
Aslan is the King of Narnia. Lewis tries to resist any recognition that Aslan is Jesus Christ. When readi...
The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities is often used in literary works to deepen the meaning and give the novel more of a backstory and emotion. Symbolism plays a very vital role in Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible as it gives the reader a deeper context to look into which in return adds more understanding to these works. From the symbol of fire in Things Fall Apart to the symbol of Methuselah in The Poisonwood Bible, we will take a deeper look into these symbols and understand why the author chose to incorporate them and how they affect the story.
Countless times has symbolism been used in novels to give an idea towards something. In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Goulding, a group of boys get stranded on an island try to recreate civilization. Throughout the story, the authors used multiple symbols, but there were few that stood out. The conch, which represents the order within the group. The fire represents hope. Finally, the beast represented the fears.
Lewis makes countless parallels to the story of Jesus’ crucifixion through his character, Aslan. The story in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe begins as Aslan stumbles while he is walking and the girls ask him if he is sick. Lucy and Susan, two major characters in Lewis’ book, do not know what is coming for Aslan. "I am sad and lonely. Lay your hands on my mane so that I can feel you are there and let us walk like that" (Lewis, 150). Many literary critics argue that Aslan could have killed them all with one swipe of his paws as Jesus could have called on ten legions of angels. This idea parallels the concept of free will. Both figures freely gave themselves as sacrifices. Jesus was beaten and mocked; Aslan was shaved and mocked. Shortly after, Christ was crucified on the cross in exacting style as the prophecy foretold, and Aslan was bound muzzled and put on the sacrificial stone table and killed as the prophecy foretold (Perry). After his death, Lucy and Susan sat and mourned the lifeless body of Aslan on the stone table. As morning was coming, the two decided to take a walk and then from behind them, they heard “…a loud noise - a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant's plate” (Lewis, 161). The girls turned around and saw that Aslan was gone, and the stone table is broken in two pieces. The biblical parallel is clear, because the bible says “and, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth
The article I read focuses on the symbolism of the girdle, the pentangle. Also we will take a quick glimpse of the relation between the hunts and the encounters between Sir Gawain and Lady Bertilak. Through out parts 3 and 4 of the story you see a lot of this symbolism take place.
If you’ve read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, have you ever wondered how wildly popular it is? It is so popular it “has sold over 100 million copies and has been published in 47 languages…” (101books.net). The book is about a group of children who get too curious and end up in a whole new world filled with allegories to the bible, both good and evil. When Clive Staples Lewis wrote the book, he didn’t intend to make it an allegory, according to his biography. He was so religious that it flowed into his work, as it did with most of his other books. In the novel, Lewis uses Edmund eating the Turkish Delight to show gluttony, Aslan dying for the sinner like Jesus, and Aslan’s resurrection
C.S. Lewis is the author of the popular book series: The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis utilizes the understandings of Augustine as well as his own understandings of myths to help better explain concepts of Christianity for younger generations. Despite C.S. Lewis’s claims, The Chronicles of Narnia qualifies as an allegory due to the way the characters and events in the book series are portrayed similar to those in biblical text.
Both Eustace and Edmund have major shortcomings that negatively affect others. Yet Lewis does not leave his characters there, fallen and shamed. He redeems them. Edmund becomes a King of Narnia and breaks the White Witch’s wand; Eustace is transformed by Aslan back into a boy and returns to Narnia for many more adventures. Lewis’s writing “affirms that it is possible for the weak and foolish to have a noble calling in a dark world” (McGrath). However, neither of these characters changed until after they met Aslan. It was his love that changed their lives. Throughout the series, Aslan is the one constant, the only character appearing in all seven books. His presence and direction drives the book and is the other main theme: providence.
In the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, good vs. evil is teaching children the right from wrong in this book. Lewis uses the archetypes hero and villain very good throughout his novel to also portray right from wrong. His use of archetype the hero reminds readers that Aslan is the hero in his novel. He shows this by the many ways Aslan rescues and saves his people all throughout the novel. His use of archetype villain shows the readers that the White Witch is the villain in his