lion, witch, and wardrobe book review

Book review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Narnia is one of the lands that is ingrained into the popular culture of today.  The first book especially is what sticks into the mind of the viewer/reader.  When read as child, the spots clung onto are that of Mr. Tumnus and all of his sweetness and Aslan with his kindness.  Santa even makes an appearance.  As a child, many things are not picked up on.

 The fact that the Witch is not just a bad person, but a tyrant who would have everyone die for her amusement is overlooked by a child.  It is the first thing about the Witch that an adult looking at her character would understand.  A child can understand on a base level that she is bad, but not see why or how.  An adult would only focus on what it is that makes her a bad person and then ponder how this came to be in the first place.  Her origins are explained to a degree, but it has to be inferred what happened from there (her birth).

Mr. Tumnus is supposed to kidnap any human child that stumbles into Narnia and he is forgiven by Lucy.  The other children seem to simply overlook this discrepancy because they trust their little sister’s judgment so highly.  It is interesting that they hold her in such high regard that they would look past someone wanting to hurt her.  They feel bad for Mr. Tumnus, her would be kidnapper, and instead focus that hatred onto the Witch.  She was the one that was making him kidnap children, but he was going to do it.  He confessed to Lucy that he was, so why do children see him as a victim when he had made the decision to do the deed?  Is it the fact that he did not go through with it or is it simply love and trust for Lucy that distracts the reader?  It seems that her judgment and Aslan’s are what is law within the story when no one questions them.

This complicated story made simple for a child’s consumption is the perfect way to appeal to the subconscious.  A child would read this and then read it again as an adult to come away with the aspect of way being necessary, but bad in the forefront of their mind.  It is almost a propaganda on the importance of war and its effects if the “right” side were to win.