The past few weeks were hell for me. So I needed something light hearted and simple to read; so I returned to a world that I knew would give me the comfort I needed...Narnia. I was introduced to The Chronicles of Narnia when I was in the fifth grade. It was one of those books that sparked my imagination as a child. When I was embarking on my college career The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe came to the big screen. And I was immediately disappointed. I felt like the movie had failed to capture the magic of the words Lewis had written so long ago. For the past few years I have wanted to return to Lewis stories and experience it with an adult eye. So that’s what I started last week.
In the Magician’s Nephew we are introduced to Digory and Polly; two average, adventure seeking children. One of these adventures leads them into Digory’s Uncle Andrew’s study. While in the study Andrew makes Polly vanish and forces Digory to go after her. It seems that Uncle Andrew is a magician and has discovered a way to travel between worlds. While Digory and Polly are gone they happen upon Queen Jadis; a terrifying, self serving and very destructive ruler. While trying to escape her and get back home to London they end up bringing her along. That is when all hell breaks loose. Jadis causes a bunch of craziness on the streets of London; it becomes clear that the children have to get her back to the world she came from. So they use the magic that Andrew invented to bring not only Jadis and themselves back but Andrew, Frank (a carriage driver) and his horse. The group ends up in Narnia at the moment that Aslan is singing the world into being. They watch as Aslan creates Narnia from nothing. Flowers, trees, mountains and animals come into being. Aslan grants a few of these animals the ability to speak. And sets the rules for how they must live. In fact, he even adds another person to the mix - Helen (Frank’s wife); and installs them as the first Queen and King of Narnia. Narnia seems perfect, however, there is an issue - Queen Jadis. She is on the loose in Aslan’s beautiful world; she is evil to the core and Narnia must be protected from her. Since it is Digory’s fault that Jadis was bought into Narnia Aslan sends him on a mission (with the assistance of Polly) to bring back the fruit of a magical tree. The fruit of this tree will help protect Narnia from Jadis for centuries. Once his mission is complete Digory is rewarded by Aslan and sent home (along with Polly and Andrew).
At the heart of this story is friendship, love, magic and faith. As many of you may know C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian and wrote the Chronicles as a way to explain the gospel to his God daughter. The Christian themes in the story are more evident to me now then they were to me as a child. I found myself smiling as I read about Aslan creating the world. It was as perfect an analogy as you can get to the creation story in the book of Genesis. And from a child’s perspective its probably a lot easier to understand. Of course, Aslan is God/Christ; and the choice of him as a Lion is symbolic as well; for God is described as a Lion in the biblical book of Hosea. Aslan is an animal that the children should be scared of but they are also drawn to him. They see a fierce gentleness in him. And when at one point Digory expresses sorrow over his mothers illness you see that Aslan knows his pain well; which reminds me of the compassion of Christ. Queen Jadis is an example of evil in the world. I took her to be a representative of sin and being unrepentant. She is selfish and self serving at her core. She cares about nothing and no one. Her ways will be her undoing.
Lewis storytelling is simplistic and magical. It’s an easy, one sit read. And anyone that says they don’t like Narnia needs their head examined. These stories are just that good. I have decided to read one book a month from the series until I have finished the entire thing. I gave The Magician’s Nephew 5/5 stars on goodreads.
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