The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Lucy takes her sister and brothers to the wardrobe only to find that it is now quite ordinary. Lucy returns to the human world and relays her visit to Narnia to her siblings, but none of them believe her. Mr Tumnus agrees, saying that he could never cause her any harm now that he knows her. Mr Tumnus has been tasked with capturing any human he encounters, but Lucy pleads with him to let her go. Lucy accompanies Mr Tumnus home for tea, but afterward the faun begins to cry and confesses to Lucy that he is working for the White Witch, the wicked ruler of Narnia whose evil magic keeps the country locked in perpetual winter.

Climbing inside, Lucy magically wanders into a snowy forest, the entrance of which is marked by an old-fashioned lamppost, and meets a faun called Mr Tumnus, who is shocked to see a human child.

While exploring the Professor’s peculiar house, Lucy finds a wardrobe. This study guide refers to the 2009 HarperCollins edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.ĭuring World War II, four young siblings ( Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) evacuate to the safety of the countryside to live with the Old Professor. Therefore, the narrative becomes functions as a universal explication of good and evil rather than a strictly didactic Christian text. Lewis’s use of Christian allegory is moderated by the incorporation of images from classical mythology, as well as Arab and Jewish folklore. Becoming an atheist seriously challenged Lewis’s understanding of the basis of right and wrong, though he returned to Christianity when he was 33 and went on to become a lay theologian-his wartime radio broadcasts about Christianity were very well received.ĭespite the fact that there is no mention of God in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, there are clear parallels between Aslan and Jesus and the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea and God biblical language is also littered throughout the novel.

Born into the Church of Ireland, Lewis lost his Christian faith as an adolescent. Lewis himself had a complicated relationship with morality and belief. In Lewis’s world, the children must navigate numerous challenges, including self-sacrifice and redemption, the difficulties of growing up, and the importance of forgiveness. When the children arrive in Narnia, it is suffering from an endless winter under the rule of a terrible tyrant. At first, Narnia appears like an escapist fantasy away from real-life problems, but on closer inspection, these issues permeate Lewis’s whimsical world too. Furthermore, society entered a collective spiritual crisis, with faith in a loving God and the moral absolutism of good and evil challenged by wartime horrors. By 1947, food rations fell below wartime levels due to global food shortages, and Britain was undergoing a period of intense austerity. Written against a backdrop of the postwar years, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe emerged at a time of economic and social hardship.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis