The Chronicles of Narnia

V. The Chronicles of Narnia

牋牋牋牋In the 1950's a glorious land came to readers, filled with talking beasts, evil witches, and a lion named Aslan that everyone loved. C. S. Lewis wrote his Chronicles of Narnia starting with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in 1950. It was soon followed by six other sequels all published a year apart: Prince Caspian: The Return To Narnia in 1951, The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" in 1952, The Silver Chair in 1953, The Horse and His Boy in 1954, The Magician's Nephew in 1955, and finally The Last Battle in 1956. The Chronicles have been very successful during and after Lewis's life. Whether people read them for pure enjoyment or to find a connection with Lewis's Christian faith, all who have read them agree that they are magnificent works. Today however there is a big battle in the world of C. S. Lewis scholars on these chronicles. When the Chronicles were published they were not written in chronological order but seem to jump from different time periods in the land of Narnia. Bookstores today now sell the Chronicle in this order: The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader", The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. Yet however order one reads these in, they will still enjoy the land of Narnia.

牋牋牋牋The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was dedicated to Lewis's goddaughter Lucy Barfield, daughter of Owen Barfield, another well-known author. It begins with four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, who are sent to a large house in the country belonging to an old professor to get away from World War II. To entertain themselves they often played hide-and-go-seek, and this is how they end up finding the magical wardrobe that can teleport them to the land of Narnia. Lucy is the first to discover this secret and as she tells the others, they look upon her skeptically. Finally all four go into the wardrobe not knowing that Edmund has already visited this land. The land of Narnia is being ruled by an evil queen named the White Witch. She has cursed the land with constant winter with no hope ever for Christmas. When Edmund first visited Narnia, he fell under the Witch's command through her trickery. The children meet the maker of Narnia, Aslan. He is a wonderful lion with a heart of gold. After Edmund finally discovers the right thing to do, he joins the other three children and Aslan to finally defeat the White Witch and become kings and queens of Narnia. There is King Peter the Magnificent, Queen Susan the Gentle, King Edmund the Just, and Queen Lucy the Valiant. At the end of the story they return to their own time only to discover that though they had experienced 40 years in Narnia, only mere minutes had gone by in our world.

牋牋牋牋Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia was a grand sequel to Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It begins as the children are fixing to board a train home after the war and are summoned by Aslan to return to Narnia. Upon their arrival, they find that hundreds of years have passed and Cair Paravel, their castle at the time of their reign, is in ruins and so are the hopes and dreams of the Narnians. They meet a dwarf named Trumpkin who tells them of the evil King Miraz and his nephew Prince Caspian, who is trying to save Narnia from his evil uncle's clutches (Chronicles). Aslan appears to Lucy and shows her where to go to save Caspian, but the others do not believe her because they cannot see Aslan themselves. Finally when all is lost, the others decide to follow Lucy and discover Caspian's forces nearly defeated. The children, with the help of Aslan, defeat King Miraz's forces and make Caspian King of Narnia. However the end is a sad one when Aslan tells Peter and Susan that they will never return to Narnia because they are too old now.

牋牋牋牋The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" is the story of Lucy and Edmund's return to Narnia, but they bring along a new character, their cousin Eustace Scrubb. Eustace is a very annoying child with no friends and is only tolerated by his cousins. They journey to Narnia through a painting of a Narnian ship, the Dawn Treader. The captain of the ship is King Caspian, the same young man Lucy and Edmund helped in Prince Caspian, but much older. They are trying to reach the end of the world and experience many different adventures. The journey is almost like the Odyssey of Narnia, with its different sea creatures and mythical islands. Also on the ship is the courageous Reepicheep, Caspian's commander of the Narnian Army. Reepicheep is a 5-foot talking mouse who helped Caspian win the war against his uncle in the second volume. He has his own plans for the voyage. He wants to see the land of Aslan. They soon reach the End of the ocean as they approach a golden sky with lilies covering the water. Reepicheep gets his wish as he sails out into the unknown alone as the rest return to Narnia as well as the children return to their own home.

牋牋牋牋The Silver Chair was written without the original children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. However it did keep Eustace from The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader". It begins as Eustace and his friend Jill Pole are discovering what a door behind the gym of their school leads to. Of course this is another entry for them to reach the wonderful world of Narnia. They are summoned by Aslan to find King Caspian's lost son Rilian. Aslan gives Jill the duty of knowing four signs that will lead them to the prince, which she must not forget. They begin their search with a new friend named Puddleglum, a Narnia marshwiggle that looks like a scarecrow with web-feet. The three escape cannibal giants and journey to the center of the earth. They meet a knight, who has been rescued by the Queen of the Underland, who to keep the evil spell that plagues him at bay, must be tied to a silver chair one hour every night. The queen ends up being an evil sorceress who has not only trapped Prince Rilian in the evil spell of not knowing who he was except for an hour during the night but was also the one that killed Rilian's mother. The three heroes free Rilian and return to Narnia, so that Rilian is present at his father's death. At this sad moment the children say their good-byes and are returned to their own world with no time passed since they had left.

牋牋牋牋The Horse and His Boy that takes place in Narnia's Golden Age when King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy still reign. However the majority of the story takes place in a neighboring land of Narnia called Calormen. It has a Turkish flavor with men in turbans and Turkish style buildings. A poor abused child called Shasta works day and night for his father until a talking horse comes with its master to rest the night at his house. The horse, Bree, convinces Shasta to take him away to Narnia from where he was kidnapped as a foal. They meet a mysterious horseman in the woods as they are fleeing from vicious lions. The horseman actually turns out to be a girl, Aravis, who is fleeing from an arranged marriage to a man twice her age. Her horse Whin is another talking horse from the land of Narnia and both riders and horses decide to team together to reach Narnia. Shasta is mistaken for the prince of Archenland, a friendlier neighbor of Narnia, when they reach the city of Tashbaan. The prince was accompanying Queen Susan and King Edmund to Tashbaan to visit the king of Calormen. However when they get there the prince of Calormen, Rabadash, wants to marry Susan. When she refuses, the royalty of Narnia decide to sneak out because they knew once Rabadash found out Susan's lack of affection for him, they would all be killed. Shasta escapes when the real Corin arrives and meets up again with Aravis. They learn of Rabadash's plans to attack Narnia and race to warn the kings and queens. They arrive when Narnia and Archenland defeat Rabadash and take him prisoner. Aslan tries to show Rabadash kindness but he will have none of it, so Aslan changes him into a donkey. Shasta finally discovers that he is Corin's twin brother, Cor, and the actual heir to Archenland. Aravis stays in Archenland and marries Cor.

牋牋牋牋The Magician's Nephew is about the beginning of the world of Narnia. It begins with a boy named Digory Kirke who is staying with his uncle and aunt as his mother is dying, and his friend Polly Plummer, the next door neighbor. One day they begin to explore Digory's house and find a secret room where his Uncle Andrew is practicing magical experiments. Andrew tricks the two children into putting on his magical rings and teleports them to a world between worlds where there are ponds that allow them to go to other worlds. They decide to explore one of the ponds and discover an evil giant planet that is dying. In a great hall, Digory rings a bell to awaken the evil Queen Jadis from her frozen slumber. She escapes with the children to their own world and creates chaos for everyone. Digory and Polly discover they must fix what wrong they have done and trick Jadis into going with them back the World between Worlds. However they take along some unexpected visitors when they go. A cabby, his horse, Uncle Andrew and a piece of iron from a lamppost the queen was swinging around all go with them when they enter the new land of Narnia. Many wondrous things happen as if they were living through the Bible book Genesis, when God made the Earth. However instead of God, there is Aslan making the world. The cabby and his wife become the first king and queen of Narnia and the horse becomes one of the chosen animals that can talk. The witch runs away and becomes the White Witch in the first volume. Digory must pay for his curiosity when he awoke the witch by getting an apple from a forbidden garden. For his reward for being brave he takes an apple to his mother and cures her and plants the seeds in his back yard. The apple tree is later cut down to make a wardrobe and he becomes an old professor.

牋牋牋牋The Last Battle is the final volume of the Chronicles of Narnia. A clever ape makes a false Aslan out of a donkey and causes commotion all over Narnia. Aslan had not been seen for years and the animals, people and creatures are willing to follow the impostor Aslan. Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb are back once again to free the land of Narnia from evil minds. They help the last king of kings, King Tiran. They finally prove that the ape is faking Aslan but chaos still settles in Narnia. This is the end not only for Narnia but also the original four children from the first volume. As in Prince Caspian the children are at a train station waiting with their parents to head home. However when Narnia ends so do the children in a tragic train accident that has killed them in their own world. Jill and Eustace go back home but the others decide to follow Aslan into his new world that will bring joy--but there shall never be another Narnia.