The Lion And The Wardrobe Christian Analysis

“It certainly is my opinion that a book worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading even then” (qtd. in Root, Jerry, and Martindale, 90). Although arguments have been made that C.S. Lewis’s novel, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is purely a children’s book, the novel itself holds a deeper religious meaning due to its parallels with The Bible and the morals it supports. Lewis’s work depicts a strong Christ-like character and has many tools or situations that have strong biblical origins and influences. Growing up, C.S. Lewis was raised in a practicing Christian family, but as he grew older, denounced his Christian faith (Nelson, 2). Downing explains that Lewis possessed no love or awe for God as a child because he felt that he had to feel only what his elders told him to feel (128). Lewis considered himself very much a free thinker, and continued to challenge preconceptions throughout his life. Although Lewis did not consider himself a Christian, he still believed in the resurrection of Christ as a historical event (Nelson, 6). He also did not shy away from faith driven conversations, and because of this fellow author J.R.R. Tolkien was able to convince Lewis of his

Because of this, Lewis like to call his representations in children’s books “supposals” instead of using the terms symbol or allegory (Downing, 126). Many modern texts use allusions to the Bible ironically, but not to show the continuities between contemporary events and traditions based in religion (Foster, 52). In order to create a work not fueled by allegory, especially The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Lewis modeled his Christ-like figure after what Jesus would be like if Narnia had truly existed and that was where he chose to come back to (qtd. in Root, Jerry, and Martindale,