Christian Reflections: A Critical Analysis

purposefully put some of the parrallels in to intreage an evergrowing audience, but this is highly unlikely because Lewis said he did not.
Another book Lewis has written on writing books had him say that writing books are the same whether the writer was Christian or Pagen ("Christian Reflections" 1). If the process is the same, both genres would be the same. They both have a topc and storyline that is easy to follow, no matter that the topics are different.
If all genres are the same in the bones of literature, then nonreligious books also have a religious code embedded in them. Lewis wrote that everyone has an ethical code, no matter religious or otherwise ("Christian Reflections" 51). A book does not have to be religious in nature in order to be ethical and moral.
Just because a person is not religious, it does not mean that they do not
have a personal code of conduct. On the same token, Christianity does not impact ethics or morals. Lewis said that "The idea... that Christianity brought a new ethical code into the world is a grave error" ("Christian Reflections" 46). Christianity and the ethics associated with Christianity existed before Christianity did, and therefore are not limited to Christian novels.
Christian novels tell a story of Christ, his followers, or how the bible should be interpereted. The only way a book becomes liked is if the book reaches you on an emotional level. Pike wrote that spiritual development occurs when the reader "aquires insight" to personal experiences (179). The only way a novel can impact a person is if the person reading it is accepting to the message the book is trying to give. If read too in depth and the emotional aspect is lost, the whole character of a book changes from an innocent story to a controversy.
Readers also can shape what they see in a novel with their own personality and beliefs. Sir John Lubbock once said that "What we see depends primarily on what we look for" and the same is true for literature. Pike wrote that readers read what they see in themselves (178). Many readers project themselves onto the main character of a story, so their viewpoint is purely their own.
Each individual sees something different in a story because of the person's previous history and experiences. Pike wrote that the only interpretation of a text is that of a reader, and all readers interperate differently (179). A text can be anything the writers choose it to be because no reader will ever agree on a genre.
Just because a novel was labeled "Christian Fiction", it does not mean that was the origional purpose of the text. Lewis has even said that he never writes with Christian intentions but that he writes with images (“Of Other Worlds”, 36). Lewis never planed on writing a novel with Christian undercurrents, but that the pictures he saw painted a picture that he had to write down and share with the world.
The main reason to support the novel as a moral lesson is the fact that Lucy's quest is a quest of faith; not of God, but of her belief in Narnia (Emerson n.p.). Her quest starts out as a challenge of proving she is not crazy. Once she proves Narnia exists, she has to believe that Narnia will keep her brother safe and will rescue him. Once resued, her faith is now in herself, which is a message to young girls that they can do anything they set their mind to.
Two reasons to support this side of the arguement are when Emerson says Lucy's tests are emotional and that the kids ruled Narnia and not Aslan (n.p.). If the story were Christian, Lucy's tests would have been physical trials instead of emotional, ethical trials. Also if Narnia was heaven and Aslan was Christ like many people believe, Aslan would have ruled Narnia and not the children, but Aslan left and never came back. Lucy's struggles were not even harsh enough to be equated with Christ, and since Aslan did not rule, the story is that of a brave young girl.
While the moral points of the story are fine, there is some Christian themes in the book itself.
Many critics say that Aslan can be equated to Christ and the White Witch to the devil (151-153), which Worsley does many times in his article. Percieved Christian elements are spread throughout the story, and it can be easy to equate the novel to The Bible. The points are very easy to detect once the children go to Narnia.
The first major Judeo-Christian theme in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is how the natives address the children. Lewis has the natives address the children either as "Son of Adam" or as "Daughter of Eve" (LWW 81). This phrase comes from the book of Genesis with the creation of the original humans, Adam and Eve.
When used as the Satan character, the White Witch also has a place in this Judeo-Christian world people claim Lewis created in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. While trying to catch up to the children, the White Witch wants to keep them from reaching Aslan (Lewis "LWW" 187). This can be equated to Satan trying to separarte Man from God. While a little far fetched, this could possibly be seen
.
Another point of contention exists later on in the story after the children reach Aslan. Lewis has Susan and Lucy stand on either side of Aslan As he goes to be sacrificed. This Biblical equivalent is when Jesus is on the cross dying in the middle of two theives on the cross. While in the Bible the theives also die, Susan and Lucy do not go all the way with him to the execution. Also, they watch his painful torture and death.