Analysis Of Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia

Lewis, no doubt, intentionally crafted his characters and scenes religiously within The Chronicles of Narnia, although it is not an allegory of the Bible, but a parallel. It is as if he is making his own bible story in a more imaginative way for children to comprehend in their own manner. Pullman made it clear that he was not objecting to God or religion in His Dark Materials, he was objecting the religious structures and how they are utilized. He did not fully create an archetype, but instead created a negative connotation to many of the Bible’s important figures. Pullman is crafting his characters religiously, but to set his own agenda on demonstrating the so-called “truth” about the Biblical story in his own point of view. Pullman is completely …show more content…
Aslan’s sacrifice on the stone to save Edmund is a direct representation of Jesus’ crucifixion for the sake of humankind. He is more of a parallel character rather than a representation of Christ, and Lewis argues this often in many of his essays. Aslan is the ‘golden lion’ who represents the ideals of Narnia. The name Jesus Christ is powerful and was made powerful by God. “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). His name affects people similar to the effect Aslan 's name had on the Pevensie children. After hearing Aslan 's name “each one of the children felt something jump in his inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays” (The Chronicles of Narnia, p. 141). When it comes to religion, everyone has their own beliefs about what it means to them. Similar to how people feel when they hear Christ 's name, the Pevensie children felt what they found the greatest feeling …show more content…
After much debate, it can be concluded that the Magisterium represents the Church and organized religion, which Philip Pullman detests. Augustine states that there is evil in the world only because people have free will, so in many ways, Pullman is trying to pull from Augustine 's theology and create a similarity between organized religion and how it is the same as vanquishing free will. Pullman tries hard to expose the façade on organized religion by making it the villain in his book. He created a failed follower of Jesus Christ in The Amber Spyglass named Mary Malone. She used to devote her life to Christ, but she soon realized that “the Christian religion is a powerful and convincing mistake” (The Amber Spyglass, p. 394). Here, Pullman provides his readers a back story explaining that it can be foolish to spend a whole lifetime dedicated to securing a place in heaven when you are physically on Earth and you can be perfectly contempt without revolving it around religion. There is a huge disagreement between the two great powers in His Dark Materials, ‘wisdom’ and ‘stupidity’. In His Dark Materials, God is described as the first angel who came from “Dust”. In order to increase his power, he calls himself the creator. The truth is “he was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves –– the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust