Clive Staples Lewis

As a transformed Christian, soldier, author, or speaker, C.S. Lewis inspired many in his lifetime. The trials he encountered in his life made him a more inspiring and respectable author and person. Narnia, one of his most popular works, demonstrates moral characteristics in ways we can more easily understand with fictitious characters and settings (Gilbert 14).

Young Life

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland to Albert J. Lewis and Florence Hamilton Lewis (Lewis Foundation) on November 29, 1898 (Gormley 2). As a child, Clive Staples Lewis immediately disliked his name and wanted to be referred to as “Jack” and was sometimes called “Jacksie” (Id. 1). As a young child, Jack enjoyed playing and exploring with his older brother in the family home called “Little Lea” (Id. 7). He also enjoyed reading and at a young age started making up stories and poems(Imbornoni). His favorite books included Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson and The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett (Id.). Another favorite activity of his was playing in a carved wood wardrobe that his grandfather made, this was the wardrobe that later inspired the entrance to Narnia (Gormley 125).

His mother, Florence Lewis, was diagnosed with cancer and continued to get sick; Jack prayed to God for his mother to get better (Lewis Foundation). When Jack’s mother died on August 23, 1908, when Jack was around ten, Jack became angry with God for not saving his mother. (Id.) Florence Lewis died of cancer on her husband’s birthday,

that same year his Jack’s grandfather and uncle died (Id.). Shortly after their mother’s death, Jack and his brother were sent to a boarding school in Belsen, Ireland (Gilbert 9).

At this school Jack starte...

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...of sadness (Id.). In July 1963, Lewis went into a coma and was expected to die; he ended up coming through the coma and resigned his professorship at Cambridge. (Id.). On November 22, 1963, C.S. Lewis died a week before his 65th birthday on Friday (Id.). He passed at the Kilns and was buried in his churchyard not far away (Id.). This was the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and English writer Aldous Huxley died (Lewis Foundation).

Leaving a Legacy

C.S. Lewis left more in this world than his writings. He inspired and will inspire many people with his demonstration of God’s forgiving love. His ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ have been made into a major motion picture today and the books have sold more than 100 million copies (Imbornoni). Even though it’s been almost forty-seven years since his death, people continue to enjoy C.S. Lewis’ works.