The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

800x600-fitdown1The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is the second book of a seven book series called “The Chronicles of Narnia”. The book was written by Clive Staples Lewis and was published in the year 1950 in  the United Kingdom. The book is dedicated to Lewis’s close friend’s daughter who was also his god-daughter, Lucy Barfield. Even though it was written about six decades ago, but this fantasy novel is still quite popular among children of all age groups.
The setting of the novel is a mystical land called Narnia. Four English siblings, namely Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were sent to an old professor’s house in the countryside shortly before World War II. There, they discover a wardrobe which is a pathway to Narnia. Lucy turns out to be the first to make this revelation. In that peculiar place, she comes in contact with a fawn named Mr. Tumnus and takes an immediate liking to him. Narnia turns out to be a land being ruled by the white witch and had only been experiencing winter for the past hundred years. Edmund, the third eldest is the second one to enter and he on his visit encounters the white witch who pretends to be a warm and amiable woman. She lures him to making him the prince of Narnia. Edmund falls for the trap. During Lucy’s third visit to the strange land she is accompanied by her other three siblings. All of them are together until at one point they realize that Edmund has left them and has joined the forces of the white witch. It is later on that he perceives that she is a wicked and cruel woman. The story moves forward with the occurrence of multitudinous magical events. Many secrets are revealed with all four of them realizing how special they are. They are set on their journey to free Narnia of the white witch and find the true king, Aslan.
When the book came out, it was believed by many that the idea of the story had been originated from Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. There were rumours that Aslan was being depicted as Jesus since just like Jesus, he too had sacrificed himself for the well-being of the innocent. All these allegations have always been denied by Lewis and he said that his work was totally based on his own imagination. All the characters of the novel have been inspired by the various people Lewis met in his lifetime. Due to some conflicts, there is a slight difference between the American and British editions.
C.S. Lewis’ creation, as well as description of Narnia, is truly enchanting. His style of writing is impeccable and choice of characters is fantabulous. Every child loves mystery and magic and together they make a superb combination which is quite charmingly depicted in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. There are portions which make you laugh, portions that make you weep and portions that draw you in awe. Not only children, but every adult who loves this genre will immediately fall in love with this amazing work of fiction.
This story has been adapted thrice in the form of television series as well as movie. There have also been a few stage adaptations. We all know about the movie which was released in the year 2006 but only the readers know what all the watchers have missed out.
This amazing novel has been an all time favourite ever since it was published and will continue to be so in the future as well.
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