The Abolition of Man: C.S. Lewis’ Response to Postmodernism

1733 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on postmodernism

“There is a difference between a real moral advance and a mere innovation”, remarks C.S. Lewis in his collection of essays called The Abolition of Man (Lewis 46). As an atheist academic turned Christian apologist, Lewis weaves a passionate refutation of society’s purported improvements into every aspect of his writing, even his children’s novels. During the time when Lewis was busy transferring his theological thoughts and vivid imagination onto paper, the world was reeling from the dire devastation caused by the Second World War. Partially as a result of the desolation evidenced in bomb-ravaged Europe, people started to view commonplace beliefs with a more cynical eye. This skepticism marks the advent of the current postmodernist movement. Even though postmodernism was just beginning to rear its head during his writing career, Lewis’ starch denial of the idea of moral relativity and the codification of sin demonstrates an understanding of the serious threat postmodernism poses to Christianity. In all of Lewis’ works, the issue of sin is dealt with frankly and Christ’s redemption is presented as the only hope for escape from inevitable destruction. The Chronicles of Narnia series is no exception. From the start, the symbolic events and characters in Narnia serve to resist postmodernists bent on the complete denial of truth. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis uses the character of Edmund to contest postmodernist beliefs by emphasizing the existence of natural law, the gravity of violating this law, and the necessity of redemption.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first Narnia book published, Lewis leaves children spellbound at the thought of a frosty magical world occupied by talking animals and mythical b...

... middle of paper ...

...
Works Cited

Karkainen, Paul A. Narnia: Unlocking the Wardrobe. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 1979. (43-66). Print.
Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1952. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Abolition of Man. New York: Harper Collins, 1944. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1950. Print.
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1942. Print.
Manlove, C. N. "The ‘Narnia’ Books". Bloom's Literature (1987). Facts on File, Inc. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
Markos, Louis A. “Redeeming Postmodernism: At Play in the Fields of Narnia”. Revisiting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth, and Religion in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles. Ed. Caughey, Shanna. Dallas: BenBella Books, Inc., 2005.229-241. Print.
The Holy Bible: New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Beast In The Jungle Narcissism Essay

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perkins, George B., and Barbara Perkins. "The Beast in the Jungle." The American Tradition in Literature (concise). 12th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. 1148-1177. Print.

    Read More

  • Modern Education In The Abolition Of Man By C. S. Lewis

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    Currently, the world faces many problems involving education. Including, expensive college tuition, lack of math and science but most importantly unequal global education. For example women in the Middle East have limited education and there is an enormous lack of modern education in third world countries. But in his novel The Abolition of Man C.S. Lewis points out that our modern education system is not perfect. Lewis presents an argument about how the modern education is far inferior to the post-modern education. The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis is successful in using rhetoric to prove that the Tao is no longer a part of modern education which is leading to the abolition of human nature.

    Read More

  • The Magician’s Nephew, by C. S. Lewis

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • The Abolition Of Man Lewis Summary

    2052 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mankind is becoming consumed by a gluttonous hunger that is the result of the way our society is operated. C.S. Lewis tries to show this issue through his The Abolition of Man. In his writing, Lewis shows that mankind is slowly becoming a society composed of emotionless followers, or “men without chests”. He presents his ideas by examining the miseducation of our time, the absolute law that is the Tao, and human’s conquest of nature. These chestless men are unable to resist their basic appetites which will ultimately lead to a more destructive, and self-centered culture.

    Read More

  • Stange Journeys and Gender Inequality in Pullman and Dangarembga

    1799 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gooderham, David. “Fantasizing It As It Is: Religious Language in Philip Pullman's Trilogy, His Dark Materials” Children's Literature 31 (2003): 155-175

    Read More

  • Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • To Be a Doll

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ibsen, Henrik. The Project Gutenberg EBook of a Doll's House. [EBook #2542]. The Project Gutenberg, 13 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Mar. 2011. .

    Read More

  • Harry Potter Controversy

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ever since J.K. Rowling first introduced Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 1997, children and adults have read and loved the series. It has gained such popularity that all of the books have been made into major motion pictures, and a Harry Potter attraction has been opened in Universal Studios, Florida. Though the readers love Rowling’s intricate and exciting story lines, many controversies have arisen from these stories, not only in the United States, but also in various countries around the world. Perhaps the biggest controversy is the religious implications perceived by some critics. Although these critics believe that the series promotes paganism and encourages evil actions, these theories should not be taken so seriously.

    Read More

  • Analysis Essay On C.S. Lewis's Narnia

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red Cap

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Perrault, B. (2003). Little red riding hood. In Schilb, J. and Clifford, J. (Ed.) Making literature matter (pp. 667-669). NY: Bedford/St. Martin?s.

    Read More

  • Play: Freud's Last Session

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Symbolism Between C.S. Lewis´ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The New Testament in the Bible

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Timeline of Children's Literature

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    The construction of children’s literature was a gradual process. For a long period of time children’s books were frowned upon. The stories were said to be vulgar and frightening. Adults censored children’s ears to stories of daily life, tales with improbable endings were not to be heard. It was not until the mid 1800s that stories of fairies and princesses began to be recognized. Although children’s literature was accepted, the books were not available for all children. With limited access to education, few public libraries, and the books’ costs, these texts were only available to the middle and high- class. As public education and libraries grew so did the accessibility of books and their popularity. They no longer were considered offensive, but rather cherished and loved by many children. Children’s literature became orthodox and a revolution began, changing literature as it was known.

    Read More

More about The Abolition of Man: C.S. Lewis’ Response to Postmodernism

Open Document