C. S. Lewis and Myth 2023

  Shadowland Class Reflection (Part1) (Unfortunately, I had an awful stomach ache the day of this class, but I took the time to watch the film independently. I find CS Lewis to be such an important figure in Christianity and my faith, and I didn't want to miss out on a single thing.) The film begins with a funny interview between CS Lewis and an American fan named Joy, who calls herself a "lapsed atheist," just like Lewis was as well. The awkward conversation later leads to a deep friendship and marriage between the two and her son from a previous marriage.  The film shows how her views and intellect challenged and influenced CS Lewis's ideas and writing. One conversation towards the beginning displays this idea beautifully. Joy proclaims, "Reading is safe; experience is everything," Lewis replies, "Who said experiences are the only place you learn?" While this quote may seem simple, it feels profound to be said by Lewis. He always emphasizes pain ...

 When reading the Chronicles of Narnia, one of the most noticeable aspects of C.S. Lewis' stories is the personalities he represents in each of the Pevensie brothers and how different they are from one another. In the identity each of them possess, their actions reflect this identity and therefore the circumstances in which they're placed in. This is especially evident in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By recognizing each character's identity, I believe we can better understand the symbolism of each. To begin, Peter is represented as the leader of the four. He seems to be the character most people look up to the most- this correlates with his eventual role as the high king. While he initially approaches some situations with doubt in himself, Peter takes up positions of high responsibility and overcomes each obstacle. I find Peter to be a very admirable character not only because of his leadership and success, but in his way of facing fears head on. Contrastingly, I ...

  "Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh," said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"... "Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..." Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." ― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Let's begin with what, Aslan? Aslan is a lion but why? What does Aslan do?  Why did CS Lewis create Aslan as a lion in the likeness of God? The question can be given a quick answer, but that is not enough. The reason behind CS Lewis making Aslan the Christ-like figure in Narnia "just came to him." Still, this image is a perfect fictional, theological, and developmental representation of Christ.  Lions are scary, powerful, and huge, yet they are warm, fuzzy, and, most importantly, real. They walk this earth.  Aslan is a lion for a multitude of reasons. God's characte...

 After my recent presentation of my Narnia Short Story about an alternate beginning to the story, I continued to think about the discussion I had with fellow classmates afterwards- especially the role of character personality in comparison to their own fate. Since my story was centered around the "What Lucy found there" chapter but with Edmund meeting Tumnus instead, I reflected on my choice of having Tumnus betray Edmund and how much it changes the story. Instead of shifting the whole story though, Edmund still ended up meeting his fate of joining the white witch because of his own actions and betrayal by Tumnus. After hearing the discussions and comments after reading my story, I found that this was definitely the right decision for the writing. To begin, I believe that one's own actions are very important in determining the fate of the individual. In the original chapter written by C.S. Lewis, he showed how Lucy's natural innocence and kindness towards Tumnus led t...

  #1  2/1/2023 Class Discussion Board:  An interesting question posed to the class was surrounding what role fiction stories play in your mind. Some of the answers to this question were so interesting to think about. For some, fiction holds pure entertainment, while the same art of fiction could act as an inner dialogue to present a greater moral or ethical union among others. Myths or fiction can serve as a binding and shared experience in the fellowship of viewership. The simple act of participating in someone else's dream is an act of letting go of one's reality and allowing space for an alternate one to occur. While this could just be a simple question of do you like fiction or not, but is not that simple of a question. What parts of fiction are able to cause you to think, and what parts do you feel? What compounded do you have an appreciation for?  In class, I answered the question by thinking fiction has to mean fantasized fiction with make-believe characters o...

     Now that I have completed The Chronicles of Narnia, I want to speak of a central theme I noticed throughout all of the books: affection. I had never read The Chronicles of Narnia  prior to this class, but I feel as though this concept might have interested me still as a child. In every book, characters (mainly the siblings) can be seen paying their appreciation to a friend or ally by embracing them in a hug or kiss. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis depicts Susan and Lucy kissing and nestling into Aslan's mane as they discover that he is to be killed by the White Witch. This became one of the primary ways that Lucy would go on to greet Aslan in later books, as can be seen from their reunion in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.      These displays of affection were not limited to the girls. In the book Prince Caspian, Peter thanks a Narnian creature for helping the siblings on their journey with a kiss. Lewis writes, "He turned and foun...

     Over Spring Break, I decided to rewatch one of my favorite movies: Jim Henson's  Labyrinth . In the movie, a young girl by the name of Sarah is tasked with navigating through a labyrinth in order to rescue her baby brother, Toby. Toby has been stolen by the Goblin King (David Bowie), who controls the labyrinth and all of the creatures inside of it. The movie goes on to depict Sarah's journey through the labyrinth, in which she encounters a number of 'magical' beings. Early on, Sarah catches sight of a small, female winged creature, presumably a fairy. She is immediately enamored by the creature, exclaiming how cute it was and drawing closer. As she pokes her finger out touch it, however, the creature bites her. When she pulled back and shouted out in pain, Hoggle, a goblin that she had befriended along the way, asserted, "Well they're fairies. What did you expect?"      I was instantly reminded of our previous conversations of myth. While the nor...

First, even though I don't fully understand a lot of this text, I really love this book, as well as what I've read so far of Perelandra ! Some varied thoughts and connections:  The Problem of Evil...Again I know I may be beating a dead demon here, but do we have the same potential Problem of Evil situation that I complained about in The Magician's Nephew , when Aslan created Narnia, knowing the White Witch was already in the not-yet-made world space? On pgs. 119-120, it says that Thulcandra's (Earth's) Oyarsa "became bent" (120), and that the other Oyarsas and eldila "drove him back out of hte heavens and bound him in the air of his own world," "before any life came on your world [of Thulcandra]" (120). So, there seems to be a theme here of some angel / celestial / supernatural being becoming evil, and then some deity or superior being locking that evil being up and subsequently creating humans in that same "locked" space. Thi...