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The Lion, The Witch, And The WardrobeThe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. It was the first of the Chronicles of Narnia to be written, in 1950, and is the best known. The Magician's Nephew is thus a "prequel". Synopsis Four English children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy have been sent to stay in a large house owned by an old professor, Digory Kirke, as part of the evacuation of children from English cities during World War II. Whilst playing a game of hide and seek, Lucy enters a wardrobe, and finds herself in a snow-covered forest (which curiously features a lighted lamp post). She meets Mr Tumnus, a faun, who befriends her. Over tea and buttered toast, Mr Tumnus intimates that Narnia is in thrall to a tyrant, the White Witch, who turns her enemies into stone, and has made it "always Winter, but never Christmas". When Lucy returns, she is surprised to discover that the other children have not noticed her long absence. She takes them into the wardrobe, but it is just a normal wardrobe, with a solid wooden back. Some time later, both Lucy and Edmund enter Narnia. Lucy meets Mr Tumnus again, but Edmund encounters the White Witch herself, and her Dwarf. She gives him Turkish delight, and extracts details of what he knows. On their return, to Lucy's disgust, Edmund pretends that he has not really been in Narnia. Peter and Susan speak to Professor Digory Kirke about their concern that Lucy persists in treating her "made up story" as real, but the professor refuses to dismiss it. Rather, he defends Lucy, asking the others to compare her record of truthfulness against Edmund's. Finally, all four children go into Narnia. They discover that Mr. Tumnus is missing, and his house has been ransacked. They meet Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who speak of Aslan who is rumoured to be arriving to save Narnia. They prepare to set off on a journey to the Stone Table to meet Aslan. They notice that Edmund has disappeared, and realise that he had, in fact, been in Narnia before, and has betrayed them. Along the way, they are overtaken by Father Christmas, who gives them all useful presents, and hints that the power of the Witch is waning. Meanwhile, Edmund has met up with the White Witch, and with her and her dwarf is also travelling via sledge. Along the way, they come across an entire party of animals which is celebrating Christmas with a feast provided by Aslan. The enraged Witch turns them all to stone and Edmund, who unsuccessfully tried to persuade her otherwise, realizes to his horror the evil he has allied with. Eventually, they have to abandon the sledge, as snow is gradually thawing. The other three children meet Aslan. There is a parley with the Witch, which results in the ashamed Edmund being released. It later transpires that the price for this is that Aslan has agreed to forfeit his own life. The requirement that a life be paid is described as "Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time". Aslan is slaughtered by the Witch and her minions on the Stone Table. But as dawn breaks, a "Deeper Magic from before the Dawn of Time" raises Aslan from the dead, and the Stone Table is broken in two. The Witch is vanquished, and the four children become the Kings and Queens of Narnia. Peter, the oldest, is appointed High King. After many years' reign — which incidentally encompasses the whole of the time-period of The Horse and His Boy — the kings and queens, now adults, go on a hunt for a rare white stag. While in pursuit, they find the lamp post in the forest, pass through the wardrobe, and find themselves back in our world, where they are still children and where no time has passed since they left. Consulting with the professor about their experience, he tells them that while the wardrobe portal cannot be used again, this is hardly the end of their adventures in Narnia. Commentary The story contains inspirations from the Gospel themes of betrayal, death, resurrection and redemption. "Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time," and "Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time" can be seen as similar to the Old and New Covenants of Christianity, respectively. There is a nod in the direction of the Trinity concept, with Aslan in the Christ-role and a passing reference to the "Emperor over Sea" as God the Father. The children form a disciple-group around Aslan, with Edmund as Judas and Peter the High King as St Peter. The two girls also follow Biblical precedent through being first to see the resurrected Aslan. The parallels are simplified for the sake of young readers; Aslan rises in the morning after his slaying, rather than on the third day, for example. The book is not a straight re-telling of Biblical stories in another form, it simply borrows heavily from them so as to illustrate basic Christian ideas (and some other ideas as well — Platonic philosophy among them). One can only look for symbolism for so long, though; for example, if Aslan is Christ in Narnia, then how does Narnia come to have Christmas? Modern perspectives Some view the values in Lewis's books as being in ways more traditional than modern or postmodern. Some suggest (from this and later material) that Lewis may have regarded some forms of sexual maturity as something of a fallen state, such as in "The Last Battle", when Susan is described with some disgust as having lost interest in Narnia and become more concerned with "lipstick, nylons and invitations". In later adventures in the Narnia series, the children do not visit for such a long subjective time, returning home as soon as their immediate involvement is completed. The above quote to other suggests Susan had left behind her faith as so many children do upon reaching their teenage years. Lewis spends a great deal of time addressing the modern views of sexual maturity, encouraging some and discouraging others, in his book That Hideous Strength. In these and other writings, Lewis views many things as being in a fallen state, but that sexual maturity is not inherently fallen, only often found in such states. Cultural References - The book inspired the song "Narnia" by Steve Hackett, and was sufficiently well-known to be briefly parodied in an episode of The Young Ones.
- An episode of South Park, Here Comes the Neighborhood, includes scenes with a pride of lions. The leader of the lions is named Aslan, copying the voice intonation and general animated look from an earlier animated film, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", but with actions and response inconsistent with Aslan as written by Lewis.
- In an episode of Friends, Chandler says sarcastically that pressing his third nipple opens a door "to the magical land of Narnia."
- In an episode of Family Guy, Peter climbs into his dryer looking for a sock and he encounters a faun who introduces himself as "Mr. Tumnus."
- A song by the band Phish is titled "Prince Caspian" and features what may be 'the sound of horse's hooves galloping under water' and the repeating lyrics "oh to be Prince Caspian, afloat upon the waves... with nothing to return to but the demons in their caves."
- The Discworld series of humourous fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett contain occasional references to wardrobes that lead to magical lands, although none of the wardrobes encountered thus far in the series are known to do so.
- In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic vol. 2, #1, reference is made in a text fragment to the apple tree from The Magician's Nephew. A text piece in #2 refers to the possibility of making a wardrobe from it.
ISBN numbers - ISBN 0848808231 (hardcover, 1976)
- ISBN 0020444907 (paperback, 1986, reprint)
- ISBN 0027582000 (library binding, 1988)
- ISBN 0871292653 (paperback, 1989)
- ISBN 0606065326 (prebound, 1994)
- ISBN 0606065334 (prebound, 1994)
- ISBN 0060234814 (hardcover, 1994, abridged)
- ISBN 0064404994 (paperback, 1994, abridged)
- ISBN 0060234822 (library binding, 1994, abridged)
- ISBN 0064471047 (mass market paperback, 1994, abridged)
- ISBN 060607791X (prebound, 1995)
- ISBN 0064433994 (paperback, 1995, abridged)
- ISBN 0590366475 (mass market paperback, 1997, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 1561372439 (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 156137704X (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 1840020490 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0606199810 (prebound, 2000)
- ISBN 0060277246 (hardcover, 2000, Deluxe Edition)
- ISBN 0786222328 (hardcover, 2000, Large Type Edition)
- ISBN 0060290110 (hardcover, 2000, abridged)
- ISBN 0060290137 (library binding, 2000)
- ISBN 0064409422 (paperback, 2000, Collector's Edition)
- ISBN 0060086610 (paperback, 2002)
- ISBN 0064436950 (paperback, 2002)
- ISBN 0060082402 (paperback, 2002, Large Type Edition)
- ISBN 0060530839 (hardcover, 2003, Gift Edition)
- ISBN 0060556498 (hardcover with compact disk, 2003)
- ISBN 1561796999 (compact disc, 2003)
- ISBN 0060556501 (hardcover, 2004)
- ISBN 006055651X (library binding, 2004)
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
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