Though I’ve read The Chronicles of Narnia multiple times, it’s been years since I last read them, and this is the first time I’ve read it to my children. We finished The Magician’s Nephew earlier this year, and last week we read the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Without a doubt, reading it with little people listening has reawakened me to the magic of C.S.Lewis’ simple sounding tale, as well as to the layered depths within each. Indeed, reading the stories with my girls (ages 5 and 8) has shown me how the story plays for the target audience. These are stories written for children, and yet, it’s often clear that Lewis, for all his efforts sometimes seems to forget who his audience is. But has he? Or is he, like a master teacher, layering multiple elements into his tale to allow each student to learn what he, or she, is ready to learn? Even as my girls lean forward eagerly as the Stone Table cracks and squeal in excitement as Aslan reappears, I see another lesson about Deeper Magic, the Emperor Beyond the Sea, the power of Aslan’s breath on stone animals, and so many other plot points. They are only story–until they are not, until they are metaphor of something closer to home, closer to the transcendent.
So while my daughters hear story about an evil witch, an heroic lion, and an adventure to another world, I hear a parable about our journey here to Earth, a place where we learn and grow, face our fears and demons, and, ultimately, are redeemed by an act of sacrifice by one who is both innocent and does not merit the stripes he bears on our behalf. It’s a multi-tiered story, one which unfolds only as look for the layers.
In short, I loved rereading what was only a straightforward adventure to me as a boy and finding, again, meaning that is not exactly hidden so much as in a language I had not yet learned to understand. Does nostalgia and resonance from my childhood experience play a part in this? Without a doubt–but I somehow wonder if this is exactly what Lewis was playing on as he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. It is not a new story of his own invention; rather, it is a story as old as the Christianity that Lewis had discovered late in his own life and for which Lewis was an ardent apologist. His power was in finding ways to make the lessons of the gospel come alive to a world that no longer spoke the language of the Old and New Testaments, and yet needed them still.
I was surprised at the depths in The Magician’s Nephew, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe did not disappoint either. It was more than an added bonus that my littles enjoyed the story for its ability to excite their imaginations, and I look forward to reading The Horse and His Boy with them soon.
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia
Fantasy
HarperCollins
1950
189
Four adventurous siblings—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change . . . and a great sacrifice.
Journey into the land beyond the wardrobe! The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy series, which has been captivating readers of all ages for over sixty years. This is a stand-alone novel, but if you would like journey back to Narnia, read The Horse and His Boy, the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia.
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