The fantasy genre is one imagination and extensive thought that allows the writer to portray an invented world that cannot exist. The most successful novels of this genre (as argued by Peter Dickinson) are the ones that can successfully interweave realism into fantasy. Peter Dickinson, author of Fantasy: The Need for Realism argues that the problem with fantasy is that it is useless in an unimagined world, as the impossibilities are unrealistic. In his argument Dickinson identifies that in order to create realism in fantasy it must be consistent and coherent to avoid any confusion or unanswered questions that leaves the reader with words on paper rather than an imagined world. Two novels from the fantasy genre; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
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Lewis provides similar structures in Narnia. In the same sense that the ordinary rabbit hole turns out to be an extraordinary portal in Alice in Wonderland, the plain wardrobe turns out to be a doorway into the Narnia. The fantastical element of the wardrobe is the fact that it will not work for everybody, purely those with the believability, like Lucy as when the other siblings initially attempt to enter Narnia they are thwarted. The realistic elements of the wardrobe being a normal wardrobe, except when using your imagination gives it credibility to its intended audience of children, who with enough imagination could turn it from “a perfectly ordinary wardrobe [with] no wood and no snow” to the magical realm of Narnia (Lewis 31). The same hierarchical structure that exists in Alice is also present in Narnia with the tension between the White Witch, Aslan, the people of Narnia and the four children. The fantasy element of the change of position from the hunted children of Adam and Eve to Kings and Queens of Narnia demonstrates the desires and fantasies of growing children; to go from the bottom of the order to the top and rule over everybody else (Lewis …show more content…
These realistic qualities are necessary according to Dickinson’s argument because they create the credibility and believability needed for the story to be coherent
Lewis provides similar structures in Narnia. In the same sense that the ordinary rabbit hole turns out to be an extraordinary portal in Alice in Wonderland, the plain wardrobe turns out to be a doorway into the Narnia. The fantastical element of the wardrobe is the fact that it will not work for everybody, purely those with the believability, like Lucy as when the other siblings initially attempt to enter Narnia they are thwarted. The realistic elements of the wardrobe being a normal wardrobe, except when using your imagination gives it credibility to its intended audience of children, who with enough imagination could turn it from “a perfectly ordinary wardrobe [with] no wood and no snow” to the magical realm of Narnia (Lewis 31). The same hierarchical structure that exists in Alice is also present in Narnia with the tension between the White Witch, Aslan, the people of Narnia and the four children. The fantasy element of the change of position from the hunted children of Adam and Eve to Kings and Queens of Narnia demonstrates the desires and fantasies of growing children; to go from the bottom of the order to the top and rule over everybody else (Lewis …show more content…
These realistic qualities are necessary according to Dickinson’s argument because they create the credibility and believability needed for the story to be coherent