Narnian Days

*NOTE: Sorry Ms. Jess, but I have to admit that this blog entry was based on one of my previous essays a few years back. I had writer’s block again…Yea, lame excuse, but at least I have something. I’ll do better next time, I promise!*


As many of us know, the Chronicles of Narnia is a popular children’s series that touched many beliefs adults struggle with during the round-about game called ‘life’. Though written in a very simple and truthful form of writing that would fascinate the young minds of children, the Chronicles have also indeed provoked the pondering of academic intellects. Who is the man behind all these stories that continued to interest many people years after he had passed away? Of course, the answer would be the ever clever, witty and intelligent Clive Staples Lewis. ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and its following books all have its charm and captivating plots that drew its readers into a world filled with love, treachery, characters that would live in your memories, and also a Being so powerful who has the strength and might to destroy an entire world at his command. C.S Lewis’s Chronicles that was loved by many has many mythical backgrounds that were considered inconsistent. In a way it was a legend, but then again it was also a type of supernatural myth or a lovable folktale that would amuse young children. Whatever it may be, his books would always be recalled as a classic that would be loved and adored for many, many more years to come.

Divine myths are probably the stories that we are more aware of when we were still young. Though we may hear of many other fairytales, the first thing that comes to our immature and primitive minds (well, we didn’t know much when we were only five) when the word ‘myth’ was mentioned, would be gods of great power or a catastrophic doom that would endanger the lives of the entire population of earth. Unfortunately, the Chronicles of Narnia have fewer ideas that have that same fate of ending the world (except for the final book, ‘The Last Battle’, where Narnia comes to an end). In this way of looking at the Chronicles, we would see Aslan as the powering ‘God’ who created Narnia in the first place. C.S Lewis had also described how each spot of ‘The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ came to be. For example, the lamppost that Lucy first saw when she entered Narnia was planted by an even earlier descendant of the White Witch. It is a long story, but to sum it up, the Chronicles of Narnia has explained itself how it came to be and how it was controlled by a Supernatural yet physical Being instead of a complete systematic and humanistic way of governing this certain world (they did try and rid of the magical creatures and the name Aslan during the book, ‘Prince Caspian’, under the reign of dishonourable King Miraz). However, though the stories take place in many foreign places (its setting was in another world), time and space seemed not to be so distant. One can mathematically calculate how old Narnia is and though time differ in Narnia and in our world you could easily tell when a couple hundred years are a couple of hundred years (meaning you could tell when you were in time). There were many other different gods and goddesses, dryads and spirits, dwarves and fauns, but no one really have any power without it being given to them by Aslan himself! In more than one way, Aslan is the only God in this Divine myth!

Somewhat more symbolically, Narnia can also be considered as a legend. It tells a bit of history that affected our world for six decades ago and it prominently illustrated the historic story of Christ’s death and resurrection. Truth is behind the stories that C.S Lewis had so carefully made and it also tells of Kings and Queens who goes on adventures so wide abroad the world. Narnia, however, does not contain an explanation of why something is to be in our world but some events were tied together and had involved each other to the end. For instance, the horrible train accident that happened on earth had the children (Lucy, Peter, Edmund, Jill, Eustace, Polly, and Digory) dead, but while in Narnia, apparently, it was also dead because of corruption as the result of the end times (and because of an ape named Shift). In the beginning of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, we could easily see which war the children were in the middle of. WWII was not symbolic in history and so C.S Lewis’s Chronicles has a hint of human past. It may not be under the heading of a specific mythical category, but the Chronicles of Narnia certainly has endured these past fifty years without anyone complaining about its written format (except Tolkien, of course, who disagreed about entering Father Christmas into an otherwise mythical world of centaurs, beasts of the wild who could talk and other creatures Aslan had created).

Folktales are another way of saying fairytales. Its stories that belong under this heading are not and should not be considered true. It also taught lessons and beliefs that we are to live by as we go through our own journeys. The characters of the Chronicles of Narnia were ordinary people who have had hard lives (Digory), annoying personalities (Eustace), no real father or mother (Shasta/ Cor), and were people who were just like you and me. In all the books, as it neared to the end, you could always see a change in the characters who turned out rather to be heroes than a traitor. That is another element of a folktale and it should not be ignored. C.S Lewis certainly knew that his story was not real, but on the other hand, it actually is realistic in a way. His stories were handcrafted and are based on his own experiences that had inspired him to write so that perhaps even children may understand the message the Bible had so intended to spread.

I enjoy fantasy books thoroughly and it gives me an escape from the real world every time I have a bad day or have done something embarrassing on a special occasion. C.S Lewis’s books really have been written from the heart and that’d be the reason why I like it so much. ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ is a great movie to watch and I will recommend it to people, but it would be better to have read the books first so that you may understand fully what the author intended to state up on the screen and not pester other people sittin’ beside you by asking too many questions :)

-Carpe Diem!

....I've always wanted to say that :)