Book Report: The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

TITLE – The Chronicles of Narina: The Lion, The Witch, and The WardrobeAUTHOR – C. S. LewisGENRE – Novella (Fairytale-Children’s book)THEME – How good and evil works against each other and their limits by certain constraints on how the universe and morality works.

SUMMARY

The story started with the Pevensie siblings which are Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy who were forced to evacuate to their parent’s friend home, Professor Kirke, due to the ongoing World War II. Not knowing what magic lies inside the old country house, the Pevensie decided to play hide and seek where then the youngest of the four, Lucy found the old wardrobe. Upon entering the Wardrobe to hide herself, Lucy finds herself entering a new world in winter and found herself near a lamppost. There she met Mr. Tumnus, a half human and half goat creature who explained to her that the world she’s standing on is Narnia. Upon knowing that Lucy is a human, Mr. Tumnus brought Lucy to his house and offered her tea. Lucy was having a great time with Mr. Tumnus and her tea when the half human half goat cried and confessed that he is under the evil White Witch that currently dominates Narnia and was ordered to bring her any human that is to be seen walking around. Forgiving Mr. Tumnus, Lucy accepted his apology and walked backed to where she entered Narnia, leaving her a warning that Narnia is not a place for human girls like her. Returning to her world, Lucy went out of the wardrobe and told her siblings of what she has discovered but none of them believed her.

Then one night, Edmund saw Lucy walking down the hallway and followed her, Lucy saw her and told her of Narnia. Following her younger sister inside the wardrobe, the two entered Narnia but Edmund got lost and failed to find Lucy when he encountered the White Witch. Letting Edmund trust her, the White Witch offered Edmund Turkish Delights, using the child’s greed and gluttony to convince him to bring his siblings to her. Edmund agreed and went back to the lamppost, finding Lucy and went back to their world. Lucy again convinced the remaining siblings of what she and Edmund discovered but Edmund refused Lucy’s claim and told them it’s just one of her silly dreams. The next day, the siblings decided to hide away from the guests that arrived in the country house and went to the wardrobe, accidentally entering Narnia, arriving on the lamppost. The Pevensie then met Mr. Beaver who took them to his shelter and told them that Mr. Tumnus was captured by the White Witch for betraying her and saving dear Lucy.

Lucy insisted on saving her friend but Mr. Beaver told them that her friend is beyond saving unless they go to Aslan, the only creature, a great lion, who can defeat the White Witch and help them. The four siblings went out on a journey with Mr. Beaver and they found Aslan and asked for help, said to meet him on the Stone Table. While on their journey, they met Father Christmas who explained to them that the White Witch made everyday winter but never made it Christmas. They also noticed that Edmund had disappeared, not knowing that Edmund has escaped to the White Witch and told her about their plan on meeting Aslan at the Stone Table. The siblings saw signs of Spring and the snow melted on the forest. Knowing this, the White Witch treated Edmund poorly and dragged him towards the Stone Table.

Upon meeting Aslan on the Stone Table, the siblings the grew fond of him, Aslan then promised to help them and save Edmund. Aslan then told them about the prophecy of the four human Kings and Queens who will one day rule Narnia and showed Peter his future throne on Cair Paravel, while showing this they suddenly heard Susan’s horn which was given Father Christmas, telling them that she’s in danger. Aslan sent Peter for help and they saw that Susan was about to be attacked by wolves, Peter successfully defeated them and saved her sister. Aslan saw one of the remaining wolf running away and told them to follow it that it may lead them to the White Witch.

The White Witch was about to kill Edmund when the party arrived and stopped her. Aslan then retrieved Edmund from the White Witch and forgave him of his betrayal but the White Witch insisted for Edmund’s life insisting that a traitor’s life must be forfeited exactly as what the Deep Magic of Narnia required. Aslan agreed to the White Witch and compromised with her secretly. The next day Lucy and Susan saw Aslan walking away and followed him only to find out that Aslan sacrificed himself in return for Edmund’s life. The two Pevensie sisters watched secretly as the White Witch killed Aslan. Upon seeing the area safe, the sisters rushed to Aslan and stayed with his dead body till dawn. When the stone table suddenly cracked and Aslan suddenly disappeared. They heard a great roar and the Pevensie sisters saw that Aslan has risen from the dead. The lion then took the girls to war and helped Edmund and Peter defeat the White Witch.

Aslan defeated the White Witch and the winter was finally gone in Narnia. The four Pevensie siblings then ascended to their thrones and were crowned as kings and queens of Narnia. Years passed and the siblings grew old, on a hunt for a magical stag the Pevensie stumbled again on a familiar lamppost and found themselves trailing a familiar path until they found themselves stumbling out from an old wardrobe, in their youthful bodies as if nothing happened. The professor then found them at the floor astounded and they all realized that the time has not changed in their world while they’re inside the wardrobe.

READER’S RESPONSE 

(Identifying the strength and weaknesses of the book)

The book is indeed a masterpiece; I also find this book a retelling of the Christ in where Aslan is symbolized as Jesus Christ, the White Witch as Satan and Edmund as Judas Iscariot. In where the sacrifice made by Christ was represented by Aslan’s sacrifice in the book and the act of rising from death. The book was also able to depict on the dilemma of good and evil, reflecting on some constraints of morality, like Aslan’s sacrifice and Edmund’s betrayal.

I would definitely recommend this to readers or anyone who is fond of adventure and fantasy. This is the right book for the. I have also reviewed the movie that was made and I say it’s one of the movies I’ve which gave justice to the book, which portrayed the book well and was able to give great visualization to the details. The movie is as well as the book too.

1. “All shall be done, but it may be harder than you think” (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis). People tend to want things, do things our mind wants us to do without knowing the real extent of the effort, journey or sacrifices that are need to be done in order to achieve it.
2. “Well Sir, if things are real, they’re there all the time’ ‘Are they?’ said the professor; and Peter did not quite know what to say” – (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis). Not everything that is permanently seen is real, sometimes we feel it. Things can be real as long one believes it to be real.