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Courtney Spradlin Literary Analysis of C.

S Lewis s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Step 1: Three literary tools chosen Characters Symbolism Setting Step 2: Examples of each Characters 1. Edmund and gluttony in the beginning when he meets the white witch and she offers him Turkish delight. All he could think about was getting more, that is just like a child s way of thinking when they want something that they can t get. 2. Lucy and Susan they represent the two Mary s at the resurrection of Christ. They were the first to see Aslan brought back from the dead, just as the bible tells of the two Mary s being the first to see Christ brought back from the dead. 3. Aslan is a direct example of Christ and his forgiveness of mankind s sins. When he died instead of Edmund or when he forgave Edmund, those are examples of Lewis lightening up the biblical lesson. Symbolism or Allegory 1. Telling of when Aslan breathes life onto his warriors so that they can wage war on the white witch. Is a more mystical way of saying the holy spirit came to all his disciples and they together waged war against spiritual warfare. 2. Aslan ultimately winning against the witch (who represents sin), bringing in a recreated world is a new twist on the new heavens and earth in the bib le. 3. The Cross resurrection is not said in the novel; instead Lewis uses a Lion and a stone table. A young reader would be able to imagine this much easier than the original depiction of the crucifixion of Christ.

Setting 1. The Architect of the old house and how it is so big and the children will be left alone so often to do as they please. One verse from the novel says No one will mind what they do. 2. The season of the setting being the snow covered earth. This is a direct symbol of sin covering the earth. 3. The setting being Narnia a magical world which is how a child would think of heaven. The setting of Narnia is cold and desolate until Christ (or Aslan) enters the world and bringing salvation. Thesis Statement The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe works well to illustrate the union of fairy tale fantasy to explain the biblical truths.

Through using unique characters, setting, and symbolism, C.S Lewis s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a children s narrative in the form of a fairytale. It s simple and straight forward, allowing Lewis to use fairytale form to pass the difficult theology and simplify the story of salvation. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, works well to illustrate the union of fairytale fantasy to explain biblical truths. The first literary tool used to demonstrate this union his choice of Characters. By using children as the main characters, the author appeals to the younger reader. It is easier for younger readers to understand difficult bible stories when they are explained in a more simple fashion. Lewis does this by letting the younger reader associate themselves with younger main characters. Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter all describe Narnia in childlike dreamy ways, just as a child would describe heaven. The first example of a character being used to demonstrate a biblical lesion is when Edmund meets the White Witch and is tempted with Turkish delight. The lesson is about Gluttony, yet the young reader is explains this lesson in whimsical way that he can understand. Another example is Lewis s choice of using Susan and Lucy to represent the two Mary s from the bible. In Narnia Lucy and Susan are the first to witness the resurrection of Aslan, just as the two Mary s are the first to witness the resurrection of Christ in the bible. Using Children or young girls instead of grown women to teach of Christ s resurrection after he was crucified is a brilliant example of fairytale writing style capturing a young readers mind and attention to retain knowledge about a subject that would otherwise not be interesting to a young person. This novel also uses personification of animals to bring fantasy to biblical truths. One of the most obvious correlations of an animal being used to represent a biblical character is Aslan the lion. He is used to symbolize God Almighty. When Aslan gives his life so that Edmund s life can be spared by the White Witch, this is telling of how Jesus chose to be stoned by the Romans and then crucified. In the eyes of a child it would be easier to imagine a lion being killed that a man being killed. The use of personified animals and the use of children as main characters allow C.S Lewis to soften the realities of the world and explain biblical teaching in a fairytale explanation. C. S Lewis uses many stylistic devices in this novel. Allegory or Symbolism is one of the most prominent figures of speech used to illustrate the union of fairytale to biblical teachings. When using Allegory it is important to understand what symbols are referring to and not simply what they are represented by. What matters most when using Allegory is that the picture is correct or that the story s moral is understood correctly. It doesn t matter if the allegory used to tell the story matches the real life events or if the historical events are told verbatim. One usage of allegory in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the crucifixion scene. Lewis uses a lion and a stone table instead of a man and a wooden cross, thus using a fairytale version to soften the blow, so to speak. The novel tells of the crucifixion yet because his target audience is young readers he uses allegory to explain a rather difficult biblical story. The moral is the

same in both the bible and this novel, that God (Aslan) gave his life to save humanity from their sins, yet allegory allowed the author to convey it in a childlike manner of thinking. Lewis also uses allegory when he describes Aslan breathe life into his warriors so they along side of himself could wage war against the White Witch and her armies. This is a great usage of allegory for Lewis to tell his young readers about spiritual warfare. The breathe on his warriors is symbolic of the Holy Spirit coming on his disciples. The witch is symbolic of sin and death, and waging war against her is exemplary of Spiritual Warfare. Aslan defeating the witch and ultimately winning is symbolic of Christ being the ultimate ruler of the earth and all human hearts. To state that biblical lesson in such color and descriptive creativity is the exact definition of allegory being used to unite fantasy with biblical truths. Allegory allowed the author to convey a bible lesson to young readers who may not have normally been interested in the lesson. The last literary element used in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the setting. The relevance of making the setting whimsical and magical is to connect with the child s imagination. The first example of how the setting makes a union of fairytale to biblical truths is to describe the architect of the old mansion. Children love to explore and let their imaginations run wild. The sheer size of the house is key to how the children are allowed to find Narnia (this can be symbolic of how God allowed Adam and Eve to have free reign of the Garden of Eden). The Narrator says in one passage when telling about what wing of the house the children will stay in, that it is so far from the professor that No one will mind what they do . This description of the setting allows a child to dream about being allowed to do what they want without thinking about what biblical lesson is about to be told. Another example of how the setting is relevant to the union of fantasy to the bible is the world of Narnia it s self. Narnia is a world of magic- another world, a separate creation from ours. This magical world where everything comes alive is a lot like how a child, when first learning of heaven, might describe heaven. The bible talks of how grand and alive heaven is, just as Lewis explains the wonders of Narnia. Lewis also uses the seasons of the settings as a tool to compare the snow covered earth , to the biblical teachings that the earth is covered with sin. His descriptions of the settings allow him to be less conspicuous when trying to make his novel a biblical lesson and not just an escape from real life. The setting is a vehicle used to tell a bigger story, to engage the reader, and thus allowing the author to convey biblical teachings not to promote falsehoods in the real world. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is a creative novel in which C. S Lewis uses characters, symbolism, and settings to illustrate the union of fairytale fantasy to explain biblical truths. By using these three literary tools the author has recreated the gospel story. He has written them in a simple fairytale adventure for children to read and enjoy while being taught bible truths at the same time.

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