It is through living a life filled with change and experience that Clive Staples Lewis was able to confidently proclaim, “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire” (Quotable 223)? Without the events that led C.S. Lewis to this mindset, his famed novels would probably be nonexistent. The various aspects of Lewis’s life inspiring his works are especially prominent in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, an installment in his series The Chronicles of Narnia. These occurrences allowed Lewis to learn, mature, and grow as a person. Additionally, Lewis was able to draw from these experiences as vast inspiration for unique ideas and themes. An imaginative and free-thinking childhood, a collaborative friendship …show more content…
Fond of using allusions and symbols, Lewis aimed to present his ideological ideas through a non-Christian point of view. In the second chapter of the novel, Mr. Tumnus, a Narnia resident, proclaims “But I’ve never seen a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve before” (Lewis 11). Adam and Eve, although religious figures, are not exclusive to Christianity. This gives Lewis an opportunity to briefly address and begin to integrate his beliefs from the onset of the novel. Later one of the children says to the professor “Well, sir, if things are real, they’re there all the time” (Lewis 49). Atheists often argue that God is not real because He is not “there all the time.” To counter, Christians believe He is there and is real, if one has faith and believes as evidenced in Joshua 1:9 “ . . . for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (NIV). Without a direct reference to God, Lewis is able to showcase his transformation to Christianity. While in Narnia, the children try to restore the power of good and overthrow the evil Queen’s reign. The power of good resides in Aslan, a lion. Residents describe this rule to the children by saying “Aslan . . . He’s the king. He’s the Lord . . . But the word has reached us that he has come back” (Lewis 78). In the Christian religion, Jesus is the king and the Lord. He is crucified and buried but eventually rises from the dead and resurrects and comes back to live on Earth. Both Aslan and Jesus lack struggle in their death. Although they may have has the power to overcome the gruesome event, they go peacefully. This is evidenced through “‘Bind him I say’ . . . he made no resistance at all” (Lewis 151). The lion is a symbolic portrayal of Jesus that allows Lewis to continue to address his strong Christian faith in an understated fashion. Christianity captivated Lewis at an older
Aslan is the King of Narnia. Lewis tries to resist any recognition that Aslan is Jesus Christ. When readi...
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
“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.
C.S. Lewis tells a tale to us about four children who, with their bravery and optimism, seek a far out land through a wardrobe called the Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis had always thought of Narnia in his allegory as a “parallel fictional universe.” Lewis differentiates supposal and allegory through his letters that he wrote to some of the fans that fell in love with the Chronicles of Narnia. A letter from a fifth grade class in Maryland asked if basically Lewis was portraying Aslan as Jesus in Narnia like how we see Jesus in the real world. That was not the case, as Lewis “supposes that there was land in Narnia and that the Son of God, as he became a man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen?” I think what Lewis
The Europeans’ desire to expand and gain control over other land and groups of people was often a controversial matter. The missionaries went to these places to establish ascendancy; they shared their religion in order to try and sway the people into changing their beliefs. By doing so the original culture of the indigenous people, particularly in the Congo, was profoundly challenged. These missionaries showed no regard for any sense of individuality, powering through on their journey for absolute command; however, some Congolese were successful in exposing the truth behind the members of the church traveling on these missions. In the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Nathaniel Price is one of these European missionaries who
Throughout C. S. Lewis’ book series, Narnia, he uses his diverse characters to embody different real-world people and issues. Lewis utilizes his exceptional writing skills to put his characters through certain situations that reflect real-world issues. By doing this Lewis indirectly helped his readers to better understand the world around them.
Kaufmann, U. M. (2008). The Wardrobe, the Witch, and the Lion: CS Lewis and Three Mysteries of the Christian Faith. The Dulia et Latria Journal, 1, 47-62.
My grandmother introduced me to reading before I’d even entered school. She babysat me while my parents were at work, and spent hours reading to me from picture books as my wide eyes drank in the colorful illustrations. As a result, I entered my first year of school with an early passion for reading. Throughout elementary and middle school, I was captivated by tales of fire-breathing dragons, mystical wizards, and spirited foreign gods. A book accompanied me nearly everywhere I went, smuggled into my backpack or tucked safely under my arm. I was often the child who sat alone at lunch, not because she didn’t have friends, but because she was more interested in a wizards’ duel than the petty dramas of middle school girls. I was the child who passed every history test because she was the only kid who didn’t mind reading the textbook in her spare time, and the child who the school librarian knew by name. Reading provided a
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...
The analogy breaks down messages that are revealed in the Bible in order for the average person to understand what it being said, similar to how Jesus used parables to explain his teachings to mass audiences. The people listening to Jesus’ sermons weren’t very educated and had little prior knowledge about who Jesus was. He had to make his sermons relatable to the audience, just as C.S. Lewis does with his readers. Within the novel, Lewis also only covers what he considered the “basic teaching of orthodox Christianity.” Many theologists either focused on details that were unimportant to a new believer, or they wrote in ways that were difficult for the average person to understand. Lewis did not see himself as educated enough to provide a detailed theological and historical explanation of the doctrines that he discusses, but because of the lack of simplicity in religious works of literature, he strove to educate people on the basic outline of Christian beliefs (Mueller). Lewis explained his purpose for writing Mere Christianity in an interesting way,
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.
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...
What child could know while watching The Chronicles of Narnia in theaters they were also getting a bible lesson? These tales unearth the theology of writer C.S. Lewis through the heart-felt emotions of joy and sorrow, terror and triumph in this fantasy world better known as Narnia. This is the work of renowned writer C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis is remembered and recognized by more people as a Christian apologist of the early and middle 20th-century because of the way his writing thrives with biblical images which present Christian theological ideas in a friendlier way for younger audiences.
Irish-born French author Samuel Beckett was well known for his use of literary devices such as black comedy in his various literary works. Written during late 1948 and early 1949 and premiered as a play in 1953 as En attendant Godot, Beckett coupled these devices with minimalism and absurdity in order to create the tragicomedy known to English speakers as Waiting for Godot. True to its title, Waiting for Godot is the tale of a pair of best friends known as Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) who are waiting for the character the audience comes to know as Godot to appear. Throughout Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett alludes to the monotheistic religion of Christianity through symbols, dialogue, and characters to reveal the heavy invisible influence of God in the daily life of man.
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.