Key themes
- The allegorical Christ and the sacrifice that thaws eternal winter
- The English evacuee children and what Narnia gives them that England cannot
- Good and evil made concrete — and what the concreteness does for children
About this book
Four children step through a wardrobe into a frozen magic kingdom; the gateway to Narnia.
Published in 1950, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was Lewis's first Narnia novel and became one of the bestselling children's novels of all time. Tolkien disapproved of its mixing of mythologies; Lewis didn't care.
Discussion questions
- The lion Aslan is a Christ figure — his sacrifice and resurrection are explicit. How does Lewis deploy the allegory — and does it require the reader to know the Christian story to be moved by it?
- The White Witch represents evil with considerable psychological sophistication — she gives Edmund what he wants. How does Lewis develop temptation in a children's story?
- The novel was written for Lewis's goddaughter and began with a dream of a faun carrying an umbrella. How does the dream-origin show — and does the dreamlike quality serve the story?
- Narnia has been criticised for its racial and gender politics. How do you engage with this critique?
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has been beloved for over seventy years. What does it give children — and what does re-reading it as an adult reveal about how the allegory functions?
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