The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Chapters 1 - 12

 LWW 7 - 12

One very basic difference between prose writing and imaginative writing is that the former strives for clear, direct, and precise statement, whereas the latter seeks to work by indirection.  I very much like Emily Dickinson’s poem that makes the point:

Tell all the truth

But tell it slant

Success in circuit lies.

Like lightning to children eased

By explanation kind,

The truth must dazzle gradually,

Or all the world be blind.

Imaginative writing appeals strongly to the senses, and one of the means by which the LWW achieves the effects that it does is by vivid descriptive images that appeal not  only to sight, but to sound and taste, smell and feeling. The scene in the beavers’ home as they prepare and partake of a meal is an excellent example of this range of appeal. 

LWW is an excellent example of such indirection and its profound effectiveness.  Lewis obviously wants to instill within his readers very positive attitudes towards the good and very negative ones towards evil, and powerful appeals to the imagination constantly underscore and enhance this intention.  Our reading for this week abounds with moments that illustrate the point.  Let me call attention to a some; each reader will want to add many more to the list.

Lewis explained in one of his letters that Aslan is not an allegorical image for Christ, but rather a figure that would act in Narnia like Christ acted in our world.  Lewis remembered in his own childhood, how he was supposed to have feelings of empathy and awe when confronted with the account of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, but  was utterly unable to generate such feelings.  In LWW he makes and earnest and fascinatingly successful attempt to address that issue by  creating an aura of awe and excited expectation around any reference to Aslan.

For example, in chapter 7,when the Pevensie children are in the beavers’ home and the beaver whispers “they say Aslan is on the move. . . ,” an extended paragraph follows that describes how everyone had exalted feelings of eager anticipation. Lewis writes: “Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don’t understand  but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning–either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words . . . etc..”  thus he describes at length an exalted state of anticipation.  Such an aura attends successive references to Aslan’s rumored appearance. By subtle but powerful indirection, the reader is thereby prepared to have similar responses to accounts of Christ’s mission and ministry.  Note how this aura is cultivated in the references to Aslan that follow.

In fascinating contrast, note how strongly the aura of dread and suspicion is created around the White Witch.  It is greatly strengthened by the beaver’s stealthy actions when the Pevensie children first encounter him and he warns that even some of the trees may betray them, and the text abounds with images that feed this strong sense of danger and impending peril.

Lewis stresses in his writings, such as in The Great Divorce, that giving oneself to evil results in the gradual but relentless diminishing of one’s humanity, so that finally the individual is reduced to almost nothingness.  The entirety of hell, in that work, is depicted as being reduced to an iota.  Here, the victims of the White Witch, such as Mr. Tumnus the faun, are captured and turned to stone. 

The beaver assures them, however, that when Aslan comes evil shall be no more and all things will be set right.  When two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will occupy the four thrones in the castle at Cair Paravel, the witch’s reign will be over.  His task is to take the Pevensies to meet Aslan at the Stone Table.  But they are suddenly aware that Edmund is missing, and they suspect he has gone to the witch’s house.  The beaver assures them the their only help is to go to Aslan.

In accord with his nature, Edmund’s inner reactions of horror upon hearing of Aslan’s coming stand in vivid contrast to his siblings’ experiences, and his daring adventure in approaching and entering the White Witch’s castle has a slowly increasing aura of impending peril.  Everything stands in stark contrast to all that he had hoped for and expected, but he consoles himself with ego-inflating dreams of how he will wield the power vouchsafed him when he becomes king of Narnia.  The vivid descriptions make a strong appeal to the range of the senses and have a steadily revolting effect upon the reader.

Edmund’s experiences stand in strong  contrast to the other children’s surprised and delightful reactions when on the way to the Stone Table that meet Father Christmas (Santa Claus).  It is interesting to note that, as Lewis read the initial text of LWW to the Inklings, Tolkien strongly objected to what he felt was an intrusion into the narrative of an image from the real world.  It destroyed the aura of Fairie–of complete otherness–that must characterize fairy stories.  But Lewis felt this particular  intermingling of images  added to the effectiveness of the tale.    

WOULD YOU TEND TO AGREE WITH TOLKIEN, OR WITH LEWIS ON THIS ISSUE?

It is plain that Lewis’s intention in LWW is to create in the child reader a fascination with and a desire for good, and a strong repulsion for evil, and an awareness of the subtle ways in which evil can entice a person.  The strong appeals to the imagination is what accomplishes his intentions.

ANY REACTIONS?