What Role Does Religion Play In The Chronicles Of Narnia

THE IMPACT OF RELIGION IN C.S LEWIS’
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
Shalein Secuna

Clive Staples Lewis, commonly called as C. S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland. His works are belonged to different genres and very popular in fiction such as The Screw tape letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problems of Pain. Lewis’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema.
‘The Mountains of Mourne’ inspired Lewis to write The Chronicles of Narnia. It is a series of seven fantasy novels for
children and is considered a classic of children’s literature. His books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young readers. In addition to Christian themes, Lewis also borrows characters from Greek and Roman mythology as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales. Lewis wrote several works on ‘Heaven and Hell’.
When C.S Lewis was sixteen, he had a strange vision. It wasn’t a spiritual vision or a great artistic vision. It was just a mental picture – a picture of a Faun, a mythical half-man half-goat, carrying an armload of packages and sheltering himself with an umbrella as he walked through a snowy wood. This strange but innocent image would stay with Lewis for decades until his chance to encounter with some children who had been evacuated from London during World War - II. Lewis was interested in the evacuees and what it might be like for children to be uprooted from their homes and sent into a strange, unknown world. He himself had been sent away to several boarding schools as a child and an adolescent, and his memories of them were unpleasant.
Lewis was already an experienced and prolific writer who had published numerous books, including a science fiction trilogy, a scholarly book about medieval allegory, a book of poetry, and some works on religion and faith. He decided to try writing a book for children, using his meeting with the evacuees and the picture of the Faun. The writing was difficult at first, but eventually he started to see some other pictures that came into the story. Lewis said the Christ-like lion, Aslan, “came bounding in” and the pages started to fly by and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was born.
C.S Lewis made use of all the possible imaginary characters in his play The Chronicles of Narnia- the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The Wardrobe acts as a portal between the real world and the Narnian world. Narnia, a land of talking animals and other mythical creatures and it was ruled by Aslan the lion but the White Witch is the self-proclaimed queen. Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are the four kids who discover the wardrobe and find their way to Narnia and help Aslan fight with the White witch who froze all the Narnian warriors. The children become kings and queens of this new-found land and establish the Golden Age of Narnia, leaving a legacy to be rediscovered in later books. Narnia is a strange blend of magic, myth and Christianity not only in this novel but in all his Narnia series. The title The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe stands for the good, the bad and the ugly. Good is Aslan, who saves Narnia, bad is the White Witch who tries to destroy Narnia and the Wardrobe acts as a portal between the real and the imaginary world. C. S Lewis focuses on the fantasy – adventure, dimension of the story rather than the religious doctrine underlying it. He chooses Aslan’s ability as magic rather than as
miracle.
C. S Lewis tries to teach the children about Jesus indirectly through this novel. In this novel, Aslan - the lion is compared to Jesus. He describes the creations in the land of Narnia and how the humans came to be associated with this outer world. The literary technique that Lewis used to attract the younger audience is that the main characters are children and the device that Lewis used in his novel Narnia is personification of animals. Narnia is a land of talking animals and mysterious creatures like fauns, witch, nymphs, dwarfs etc. Lewis’ technique of making animals a centric part of his narrative is readily noticeable. He compares the lion, Aslan, in his novel to God. He says, “The Lion opened his mouth . . . he was breathing out a long warm breath it seemed to sway all the beasts as the wind sways the line of trees” (Lewis).
Lewis had taken this from the Bible, Genesis 2:1. The Bible says that God had taken man from the dust and he breathed the breath of life and the man became a human being. Lewis is trying to convey his message to the children through animals and mythological creatures.
Lewis introduces evil into Narnia through the White Witch and it is like introducing sin to the world. The White Witch wants to kill Aslan, the lion, just like how Satan wanted to destroy Jesus. “The world is not five years old the evil has already entered it” (Lewis).
Now Lewis has moved from the theme, creation to temptation. When the White Witch meets Edmund, one among the four children, for the first time she gives him a Turkish delight. And his desire for more chocolates made him bring his family to the White Witch. He betrays his family and his first significant sin is gluttony. The next thing that ran in his mind is that he wanted to become the Prince. But in the end Edmund was forgiven by Aslan just like how Jesus forgives sinners.
Aslan’s similarity to Jesus Christ can be noticed when Aslan offers his own life in order to save Edmund’s life. Aslan’s mane was cut off in order to humiliate him and he was put to death on a stone table. The very next day the stone table broke and it is similar to the veil that tore when Jesus was crucified. He rose again just like Jesus. The younger would easily understand the concept of magic rather than the Biblical story. “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else” (Lewis).
These lines show that C. S Lewis was a strong believer of Christianity. Lewis could have chosen any other animal but he chose lion to represent Jesus in order to show the readers the superiority of the lion in the animal kingdom. He assumed that children would be sympathized by the death of an animal than by a death of a historical figure.
The speed of him was like an ostrich, and his size was an elephant’s, his hair was lie pure gold and the brightness of his eyes, like gold that liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming mountain of Lagour and in beauty he surpasses all that is in the world, even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust in the dirt. (Lewis)
C.S Lewis describes the features of the lion. This shows how majestic the lion is and it is been said in the novel that every creature in Narnia is scared and at the same time they also equally respect the lion. He says, “If you expect the world to be fair with you because you are fair with them, you are fooling yourself. That’s like expecting the Lion not to eat you because you didn’t eat him” (Lewis). Works Cited

Primary Source:
Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
London: Geoffrey Bles, 2001. Print.
Internet Sources: http://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/lionwitchallegory.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion,_the_Witch_and_the_Wardr