Religious Allegory In The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

For decades, scholars have debated back and forth on whether C.S. Lewis’ novel, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe can be considered a fantasy story or a religious allegory. This paper will argue that it fits the religious allegory better than the fantasy genre. This novel successful fits a religious allegory instead of the fantasy genre because it uses several religious figures from the Christian bible to convey major moments in the novel. The fantasy genre and religious allegory have vast differences, but can intertwine with each other. According to Children’s Literature Classics, the fantasy genre features “Events (that) occur outside the ordinary laws that operate within the universe” (Children’s Literature Classics). Magic is central to the genre, and often involves journeys and quests.

According to John H. Timmerman, fantasy literature provides a parallel reality that gives readers a renewed awareness of the world around them. “There is an enormous and unquenchable thirst in humankind for precisely this opportunity to pause. And, as the pace of modern life inexorably quickens, the fascination for fantasy literature quickens simultaneously” (Timmerman 1). If we look at The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a fantasy novel, then it

He becomes a liar by lying about having been to Narnia and causes conflict amongst his brother and sisters. Peter and Susan do not believe Lucy’s tales about Narnia. Seeing Edmund’s betrayal as a sin, Mühling writes “It is interesting that one consequence of sin is that the children’s relationships are affected (Peter and Lucy) even though they have not all come into contact with the Witch or evil” (Mühling 28). This shows that betrayal not only causes conflict between the betrayer and the persons betrayed, but also amongst the betrayed people. If Judas had a family, his family would had been affected by his betrayal