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Essay on The World of Narnia: Allegory or Fairy Tale

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Religion influences every aspect of a true devotee’s life. After the year 1931, C.S. Lewis was a devoted Christian and member of the Church of England. This means his faith when he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia was influential in what went into the writing of these stories. This influence was noticeable throughout all of the books in this series however it does not make the story automatically anything more then a great story. There are several basics of the Christian faith that C.S. Lewis believed and that are demonstrated in his writing. A few of the beliefs visible in these books are as follows: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the creation of the world and evil entering the world after creation had occurred not at the same …show more content…

Especially considering that in the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan dies and is resurrected on the stone table which creates a very similar parallel to Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. However there are two great dilemmas when choosing to say that the series as a whole is an allegory, and the first being the fact that C.S. Lewis was set against saying it was written as an allegory. In a letter he wrote he states this, “If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair represents Despair, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” The second great dilemma is dealing with the fact that the entire story does not lines up correctly for allegorical purposes. An event that was mentioned previously that makes it appear allegorical is the death and resurrection of Aslan. The biggest distinction however is why and for whom. Why did Aslan die compared to why and for whom did Jesus Christ die. Jesus Christ died for the entire world according to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Yet when Aslan died it was not something that saved the

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