The Chronicles of Narnia

I have wanted to do a piece about these wonderful books for some time, so here we are; Today I am going to discuss the beautiful series that is C.S Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. There are seven, some of which are more widely known than others:
- The Magician's Nephew
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

My Boy Caspian. 

- The Horse and his Boy
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle
These books were very important to me as I grew up, Prince Caspian was one of my first loves and the casting of Ben Barnes when I was twelve didn't help this. Possibly paralleled with Michael Morpurgo, they are he reason I enjoy reading so much now I am (Almost) an adult. (I just arranged my first rented house this morning - official passage to Adulthood?)

Don't think I am diverging, for one of the key themes of the Narnia books is growing up. Maybe not in so literal a sense as aging, but religiously, for sure. Let us not forget that Narnia is a complex allegory of Biblical themes - The sacrifice and rebirth of Aslan to absolve Edmund from his sins; sound familiar? For three books we follow (mainly Lucy and Edmund's religious journey, they become good people (Queen Lucy the Valiant and King Edmund the Just) and when they have finished, culminating in the heroic 'death' of Reepicheep the brave mouse as he goes on to find 'Aslan's Country', Aslan appears as a lamb (!) and tells them that Lucy and Edmund cannot return to Narnia, for they must learn to find him in their own world; 

 "'I am [in your world],' said Aslan. 'But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little you may know me better there'"

To conclude this sectoin about Religion, I must skip to the final book; The Last Battle which is, quite honestly, sinister. Really damn creepy and, please excuse me if you are religious, denotes one of the things I don't like about religion. This idea that, even if one leads a good, fulfilling life, a lack of belief or being considered 'unworthy' or 'distracted' will mean that you are pretty much doomed. At the very end of the series, The entire realm of Narnia is ceasing to exist, Father Time has blown his horn, the stars are falling and the Pevensies, Polly and Diggory, and their friends and family have all been killed in a train crash in our world, with Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Jill, Polly and Diggory, 'free from old aches' were dragged to Narnia by their loyalty. These, and select few others we have met through the series, are 'Saved', taken to Aslan's world. The others, mad with panic, are considered 'unworthy', the animals have their talking ability taken from them and are left to deal with the end of the world. Not cool.

You may have noticed that our dear 'Queen Susan the Gentle' was not mentioned in my list of the saved. She was, by luck, not in the train crash that killed her whole family. Was she saved? No. She was left to suffer. 'No longer a friend of Narnia'. It is made quite clear to us that Susan, all grown up, does not conform with societal ideals of womanhood. In Jill's words 

 "she's interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations."

C.S Lewis was a mysogenistic little man, indeed. 
She has clearly stopped believing in Narnia (allegorically, she has moved away from religion) Eustace Scrubb tells us she said to the others:

"What wonderful memories you have! Fancy you still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children," 

 Of course, these are very strong ideals from the time, we cannot automatically assume that Lewis was considered outrageous for his ideas. In fact, Susan's fate is left ambiguous, it is possible - probable, even - that in the wake of the train accident Susan re-established her faith and eventually found her way to Narnia after dying perhaps of old age. This is a very complex point, and I found some wonderful articles going into detail about Lewis' misogyny HERE and HERE. They make interesting reading.
Another example of opinions of the time is the slightly racist attitude shown in the books, with the dark haired and very Jewish-Like militants from Telmar, the antagonists in Prince Caspian, and the Calormenes in The Horse and His Boy who bear a striking resemblance to a Muslim faith where even the recial slur 'darkie' is used against them.  The first article above explains better and in more detail than I can in the time I have left. Of course, these do not stand true throughout, Prince Caspian himself is a Telmarine, and Susan later marries a Calormene, though Edmund is reported saying 'It is a wonder you could find it in your heart to show him such favour'

 But my main argument here is that whilst these are childrens books, these are not books to be read lightly. Lewis claims that the allegorical religion, misogyny and racism were not intentional, that he simply set out to make a story, but all the same, it is there. Clear as day.

In all, this series is a very much treasured and adored series, and even against a backdrop of religious allegories and possible misogyny and racism, these stories do catch the attention of children, of magical worlds that can be found in Wardrobes or in times of strife such as war torn Britain or the return to school, of fauns and talking animals and centaurs, battles where the good triumph and brave little comedy mice. Rambunctious and arrogant and greedy little boys are punished, they learn their lessons and it even becomes almost a competition, As this conversation between Eustace and Edmund shows:

"I'd like to apologise. I'm afraid I've been pretty beastly."

"That's all right," said Edmund. "Between ourselves, you haven't been as bad as I was on my first trip to Narnia. You were only an ass, but I was a traitor."

They are fantastic stories. And wittily written, simple, and all round lovely.I certainly couldn't leave without mentioning my favorite opening line of any book ever:

'There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb. And he almost deserved it.'

Phew, that went deeper than I was intending it to, so sorry. I hope I didn't offend anyone or ruin your childhood. They are fantastic books, just with outdated ideas. I was also a little pushed for time. Wednesdays are pure chaos for me. 
Ta ta for now. 
Emily