Blog #1: Role of fate and identity in Chronicles of Narnia- Cole Guinther

 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 to Tumnus betraying the white witch and bringing Lucy back to the wardrobe safely. On the other hand, I chose Edmund to be the one who came into the wardrobe as a way to avoid his siblings and being much less kind and sympathetic to Tumnus. As a result of his personality, Edmund was brought to the same fate as he did in the original story. No matter the circumstance, he would still end up becoming the white witch's servant despite the different introduction.

This concept was very interesting to me and something that can apply into our own lives; especially in the way one's personality leads to different situations. As shown by my short story, a different beginning to the story would end up leading Edmund to almost the same position as he did in C.S. Lewis' version of the chapter. Recognizing this can bring up a discussion of fate versus free will, and how one's own identity affects this as well.

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