Christian Allegory
C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian, suffused his most famous work, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with overt Christian symbolism and structured its conclusion around the resurrection of a Christ figure and a climactic battle for the very soul of Narnia. Lewis, however, did not set out to write a biblical allegory; rather, he wanted to imbue a fairy story with elements of the story of the Jesus Christ in order to allow children…
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Fantasy, Reality, and Escapism
The fantastical world of Narnia is one filled with magic, witches, talking animals, and mythical figures of fantasy and folklore—even Father Christmas makes an appearance there. In spite of the fantastical atmosphere, though, Narnia is not free from problems—in fact, when Lucy and her siblings arrive in Narnia, they find that it is a world in at least as bad a shape as their own. By denying the escapist possibilities of a utopian dream-world, Lewis…
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War
When Lucy stumbles into the world of Narnia, she finds a mystical realm that at first seems full of only delights—mythical creatures, delicious food, and a wintry calm—but is soon revealed to be a world at war, just like the “real” world she comes from. As the four siblings explore Narnia more deeply, they come to understand that Narnia’s problems mirror the problems of their own world. In creating a fantasy world whose wartime sense…
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The Wisdom of Children
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is a children’s story, one in which Lewis creates an environment where children have the most wisdom but the least influence. Not only do the four siblings at the heart of the novel feel underestimated by adults and barred from agency in their own lives, but they seem to have, at the start of the novel, internalized the ways the adult world has discounted them. When Lucy first…
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