“The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis is a series of fantasy novels, which raise a number of significant issues. In this respect, Christian themes and parallels can be clearly traced throughout the book, especially when the main character, lion Aslan, his actions and life are taken into consideration. In fact, the author has managed to convey metaphorically some basic Christian concepts from Genesis to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In such a way, C.S. Lewis attempted to convey the traditional Christian vision of the creation of the world and particularly important events in the development of Christian. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that children were the target audience for Lewis’ work. In such a context, “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis can be viewed as an adaptation of Biblical stories to make them comprehensible to children and the author has done in a perfect literary form which evokes the interest of readers and is understandable for children.
In fact, “The Chronicles of Narnia” starts with the creation of Narnia itself and, at this point, it is possible to compare the creation of Narnia to the creation of the world by God, according to Christian traditions. In this respect, it should be said that lion Aslan, the main character of “The Chronicles of Narnia” performs the role of God or, at least, a powerful deity who is capable to create and manage the world. In actuality, it is lion Aslan, who is the creator of the world of Narnia. On reading the process of creation of Narnia, the parallel to Genesis and the creation of the world by God can be clearly traced. At first there was chaos and darkness but lion Aslan has managed to cope with the darkness. He starts singing a song and this song brings forth the light. At this point, it is possible to compare his song to the word of God. In other words, Aslan creates the world with his song, because the song brings light, which, in its turn, brings a new world, Narnia, whereas God, according to Biblical texts, created the world with his word.
In such a way, C.S. Lewis conveys the Biblical story of the creation of the world in an allegoric form because lion Aslan performs the role of the God. The parallel with Biblical texts becomes even more obvious when lion Aslan carries on his creative work. To put it more precisely, he gives some animals the ability to talk. In Christianity, it was only God who had such a power over living beings and it was God who granted a man with the ability to talk.
In addition, lion Aslan anoints a simple, not rich human couple as the King and Queen of Narnia. In this respect, the parallel between Narnia and its King and Queen, on the one hand, and the Eden and Adam and Eve, on the other, becomes obvious. In fact, C.S. Lewis conveys the Biblical story of Eden in simple, comprehensible words. In such a way, he probably attempted to help children to understand the origin of humans in traditional Christian interpretation. At the same time, he stressed that humans are subordinated to the supreme being, to a powerful deity, whose role performs lion Aslan in “The Chronicles of Narnia”. His divine power is beyond a doubt.
Moreover, C.S. Lewis develops such important concepts as the salvation of the mankind and self-sacrifice. In fact, lion Aslan does not only performs the role of God as the creator of the world but his further actions reveal the fact that the author makes him an allegoric character who performs the role of Jesus Christ. To put it more precisely, in one of the central scenes in “The Chronicles of Narnia”, lion Aslan gives his life for the sinner, Edmund Pevensie. Thus, similarly to Jesus Christ, lion Aslan gives his life for the sinner and his death implies the salvation of people or at least one person. In such a way, C.S. Lewis conveys the idea of the salvation of the mankind, which is the fundamental idea of Christianity, through self-sacrifice. However, lion Aslan does not really die. Instead, he follows the fate of Jesus Christ because he is resurrected after his death.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that C.S. Lewis conveys Biblical stories presented in the allegoric form in his “Chronicles of Narnia”. As the matter of fact, the author attempted to interpret and convey the story of the creation of the world, Genesis, replacing God by the main character of his book, lion Aslan. In fact, it is possible to trace a number of parallels between Biblical stories which are fundamental for Christianity, including not only the creation of the world, but also the creation of Eden and the power of God over animals and humans. In such a way, he conveyed basic Christian, Biblical stories in the allegoric form.