The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis

Presenter: Cindy

Meet the Author--Clive Staples Lewis

Main Points about this novel

Main Characters

Fantasy

Point of View

Setting

Questions of this novel

Question for discussion

Outlines 

C(live) S(taples) Lewis (1898~1963)

C. S. Lewis was known to his friends as Jack.

He was a medievalist, Christian apologist, literary critic, academic, radio broadcaster, and essayist.

Meet the Author

Named Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge in 1954, C. S. Lewis was known in England as an apologist for and proponent of Christianity, and indeed we see those beliefs alive in this book, e.g., the lion Aslan can be seen as a Christ figure who rescues Narnia from being “always winter, never Christmas.”

Lewis was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings.

Both authors were leading figures in the English faculty at Oxford University and in the informal Oxford literary group known as the “Inklings.”

Meet the Author

Other Books by C. S. Lewis

He is also known for his fiction, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy.

Main Points about this novelIt tells the story of four siblings –Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter – sent to live on the estate of a mysterious professor to escape the horrors of the WWII bombing of London.While playing hide-and-seek, the youngest child, Lucy, discovers the world of Narnia. She convinces her brothers and sister to journey through the open back of a magical wardrobe to travel to Narnia with her. Narnia, a once-peaceful land in habited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants, has been cursed with eternal winter by the evil but beautiful White Witch, Jadis.

Main Characters--peopleLucy

Peter

Susan

Edmund

Old professor: Temporary guidance to the

children

The White Witch or White Queen: Evil queen of

Narnia

The Dwarf: Assistant to the White Witch

Brothers and sisters who discover the world of Narnia

Main Characters--animals

Mr. Tumnus: Faun, Lucy’s first friend in

Narnia

Fantasy

Fantasy operates in imagined worlds, or is based in the movement between this world and an invented world. A key feature of the fantasy genre is the use of a ‘doorway’ or ‘portal’ that connects the ‘real’ world with the fantasy one, for example, the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, the wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Point of View

 The narrator speaks in the third person and focuses on what the children can observe. The narrator is omniscient, and knows the hidden motives and emotions of the characters. The narrator alternates between providing insight into the actions and thoughts of Lucy, Aslan, and Edmund.

Setting

Setting (time) : World War II

Setting (place) : The English countryside and the magical land of Narnia

Question 1:

Who is the first to reach Narnia?

PeterSusanLucy

Question 2:

What is a faun?

half man, half goathalf man, half dwarfhalf man, half horse

Question 3:

Who tells the children about Aslan?

Mr. TumnusMr. and Mrs. Beaver

the White Witch

Question 4:

Who befriends the White Witch?

SusanEdmund

Peter

Question for Discussion

What is the power of Turkish delight in Edmund’s life? How does it captivate and enslave him? What is the Turkish delight in your life?

Thank you!