THE FUSION OF CHRISTIAN AND FICTIONAL ELEMENTS IN CS LEWIS'S CHRONICLES ~F ...

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THE FUSION OF CHRISTIAN AND FICTIONAL ELEMENTS IN
C. S. LEWIS'S CHRONICLES ~F NARNIA
By
PHANIDA SUTHAMCHAI
\ \'
Bachelor of Arts
Thammasat University
Bangkok, Thailand
. 1976
Master of Arts
Northeast Missouri State University
Kirksville, Missouri
1978
Submitted to the Faculty of the Gr~duate College
of the.Oklahoma State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
December, 1985
I
Thesis Approved:
Thesis Adviser ()
sL~ -
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12/Jl a ~f(tf-n--
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Dean of the Graduate College
AC KN OWL EDGME~TS
wish to express my deep appreciation to the members of my disser
tation committee--Dr. David S. Berkeley, Dr. Paul Klemp, Dr. Sherry
Southard, and Dr. Clyde B. Knight.
In writing this dissertation, I am greatly indebted to Dr. David S.
Berkeley, my major adviser and dissertation chairman, for not only pro
viding indispensable and invaluable assistance and suggestions, but also
for kindly lending me his collection of C. S. Lewis books, which benefit
ed me tremendously. The inspiration of his scholastic encouragement, his
endless generosity, and his patience will remain with me throughout my
1 i fe.
would 1 ike to thank Dr. Paul Klemp, who took the trouble of read
ing and giving me detailed comments. His insight has been an enormous
help in improving my dissertation.
wish to express my special thanks to Dr. Sherry Southard for giv
ing me invaluable advice and for proofreading my dissertation. Her moral
support, generosity, and friendship have always been of a great value to
me. I also wish to acknowledge Dr. Clyde B. Knight, my outside commit
tee member, for his invaluable guidance and support.
I take this occasion to express my gratitude to the English Depart
ment for granting me an assistantshi~_during my Ph.D. program. Special
thanks go to Dr. Bettie Jo Knight for her assistance and friendship, and
to Ms. Charlene Fries for her typing skill and patience.
i i i
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my father
and my mother for their love, moral support, and understanding, which
have been a continual source of inspiration for me throughout my educa
tion. I dedicate this dissertation to them.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE .
I I. C. S. LEWIS AND THE FORM OF FAIRY TALES 12
I I I. ASPECTS OF SETT I NG IN THE CHRONICLES OF NARN IA 29
IV. ASPECTS OF CHARACTERIZATION IN THE CHRONICLES
OF NARN IA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
V. ASPECTS OF PLOT-STRUCTURE IN THE CHRONICLES
OF NARNIA .......... . 98
VI. THEMES IN THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA 114
VI I. CONCLUSION 149
BIBLIOGRAPHY 154
v
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION AND'REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Each century has produced its geniuses, and in the twentieth centu-
ry, C. S. Lewis can be considered a gem of England. Though Irish born,
he spent most of his 1 ife in England where he taught English 1 iterature
at Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1954. In 1954, he moved to
Cambridge University, where he had been elected Professor of Medieval
and Renaissance English 1 iterature at Magdalene College. The achieve-
ment of Lewis in literature is evident. His genius as a man of many
talents and his contributions to the 1 iterary world are of great value.
In Bright Shadow of Reality, Corbin Scott Carnell asserted that 11Lewis
was without doubt one of the most adventurous and learned men of the
J
twentieth century. His )nterests and ~ccompl ishm~nts ran9ed over wide
areas--poetry, criticism, fiction, theology--and he dared to assert the
marvelous and devout in an age which often rejected them.111 To most
people who met him, Lewis was greatly admired for his wit, humor, frank-
ness, courtesy, and concern for other persons. Richard L. Purtill
aptly noted that Lewis 1s success 1 ied in 11all aspects of Lewis as a man,
a writer; in his imaginative and moral qualities as well as his intellec-
tua 1 capac.1 t1. es. .,2 Lewis gained international reputation not only from
his contributions to 1 iterary scholarship and from his fictions but also
from his Christian apologetics. Nathan Comfort Starr stated, 11Lewis
left a rich legacy. Apart from his brilliant teaching, he made lasting
2
contributions in the field of fiction, 1 iterary scholarship, and popu
lar theology.113 The Allegory of Love, English Literature i.!2_ the Six-
teenth Century, The Discarded Image, and A Preface to Paradise Lost
establish him as an authority in his field. Close to twenty of his
books, including collections of articles, are classified as apologetics.
His famous theological books such as The Problem of Pain, Mere Christian-
ity, and The Screwtape Letters, which are widely read and admired, pre-
sent a direct defense of the Christian doctrine. Starr commented on
Lewis's influence: 11To thousands of people in England and America, the
discovery of C. S. Lewis has been a momentous experience, akin to Keats's
first reading Chapman's Homer. His writing not only opened the old
worlds of Christian belief all too often unexplored but also created ne\-v
ones of unimagined richness and power through his mastery of theological
114
exposition and mythical narrative.
Lewis's religious ideas were embodied in his imaginative writings
such as the space trilogy and the chronicles of Narnia. The success of
the chronicles of Narnia makes him one of the best authors of children's
1 iterature. The Last Battle, the last book of the chronicles, was
awarded the Carnegie medal for the best children's 1 iterature in 1956.
The Narnian stories received a great deal of attention from critics and
readers. Criticism of the chronicles began as early as 1956 and has
continued since. Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper in C. S. Lewis:
A Biography discussed the great success of the chronicles:
At present, the seven chronicles of Narnia, that unexpected
creation of his middle age, which are selling over a mill ion
copies a year, seem to be Lewis's greatest claim to immortality,
setting him high in that particular branch of literature in
which few attain more than a transitory or an esoteric fame
somewhere on the same shelf as Lewis Carroll and E. Nesbit and
',j
3
George Macdonald, as Kipling and Kenneth Grahame and Andrew Lang;
a branch of 1 iterature in which there are relatively few great
classics in which as he himself said, 11the good ones last.115
Those who read them continue to be fascinated by their richness, magic,
and wonder, and especially Lewis's use of fairytale form as a vehicle to
convey Christian truth, an innovative treatment in the development of
the form of fairy tales.
Significantly, there seem to be two trends in the criticism of the
chronicles. The first trend is concerned with one principal aspect:
an embodiment of Christian theology and its thematic connection in the
chronicles. As a result, this 1 imitation establishes the chronicles as
only theological works. Charles Moorman in 111Now Conjecture for a
Time'--The Fictive Worlds of C. S. Lewis and J. R.R. Tolkien11 focused
on the fact that whereas Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is the projec-
tion of heroic values in the Middle Earth, theme and structure in
Lewis's chronicles of Narnia predominantly support Christian doctrine.
They become, as he contended, "the deliberate exposition of the great
articles of the Christian faith, the Trinity, the Creation of, the world
through the agency of the Son, Original Sin, the Atonement, Repentance,
and Rebirth, the Second Coming, the Final Judgment.116 Lewis's children
are depicted as archetypes of redeemable mankind and nature. Another
Clerk focused on the theme of life through death obviously illustrated
in The Last Battle in which Aslan's followers resurrect and live an
everlasting life in the New Narnia. He also stated that in The Horse
and His Boy Shasta's being chosen by Aslan to deliver Narnia and Archen-
land from the Calormene prince is parallel to "the history of the chosen
with the great theme of the New Testament and with the church down
through the ages, including o.urselves.117
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Kathryn Lindskoog 1s The Lion of Judah~ Never-Never Land: The
Theology of~-~· Lewis Expressed~ His Fantasies for Children is, so
far, one of the best critical works on Christian doctrines in the seven
books of Narnia. She scrutinized three main concepts that under] ie
Lewis 1s Christian orthodoxy: Lewis 1s concept of nature, of God as the
creator, redeemer, and sustainer of nature and mankind, and of man in
his relation5hip to nature, God, and his fellow man. She summed up,
11The basis of these concepts is neither fundamental ism nor modernism
but Lewis 1s particular Christian orthodoxy, which Chad Walsh has termed
Classical Christianity.118 However, she referred only to the form of the
chronicles on the ground that it is fn the tradition of George Macdonald,
to their supernatural quality, and to animal characters which are
11mythic elements and shadows of a foreign real ity.119 Elaine Tixier in
"Imagination Baptized, or 1Hol iness 1 in the chronicles of Narnia11
studied Lewis 1s experience with Holiness and its manifestations in the
chronicles. Specifically, she discussed how various aspects of Hol i
ness--a sense of longing, vigilance, wakefulness, joy and dance, glory
and beauty--are intertwined (these are Miss Tixier's stated attributes
of Holiness) to enhance the quality of Hal iness in the Chronicles.
Paul K. Karkainen's Narnia Explored is a study of the seven chronicles,
but Karkainen emphasized mainly the major themes that reflect Lewis's
Christian concept. He asserted, "Lewis did not write fantasy with in
struction in mind, but he had, in fact, filled his books with characters
°
and events which portray a variety of Christian truths.111 Karkainen's
book reveals how episodes in the seven books and their characters are
parallel to or reminiscent of Biblical episodes and Biblical characters.