A Formalist Approach to Religious Imagery in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v11i1.72982

Firosyan Fittanasuqi Sulaiman(1), Achmad Munjid(2*)

(1) Universitas Gadjah Mada
(2) Universitas Gadjah Mada
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


One of the most popular novels written for children is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (2005). However, this novel is controversial amongst critics because it contains religious symbols. This research argues that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe has its way of presenting religious symbols implicitly therefore children can enjoy reading it. Thus, this research aims to examine the effective presentation of religious symbols in the novel. This research uses the Formalism approach. To support the analysis, the researcher uses library research as the method with the religious symbols found in the novel as the primary data and the books and journals written by experts as the secondary data. The result of this research is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe presented religious symbols through the characters of children, role models, central subjects and important events of the story of the novel.


Keywords


Children’s Literature; religious symbols; The Chronicles of Narnia

Full Text:

PDF


References

Abrams, M.H. (2008). A Glossary of Literary Terms. 9th ed. Boston: Heinle &Heinle.

Anderson, N. A. (2013). Elementary children's literature: Infancy through age 13. Allyn & Bacon.

Cole, L. (2013, October 31). Teaching Character Education Through Children’s Literature. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from http://broadwayeducators.com/teaching-character-education-through-childrens-literature/.

Eretova, P. (2009). The possible parallels in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.

Johnson, M. (2014). Hogskoland Kristianstand. Christian Messages and Moral Values in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 1–25. Retrieved March 20, 2019 from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:889751&dswid=-2060

NZ Herald's author (n.d.). Narnia Film Stirs Controversy over Christianity. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10350705

Lewis, C. S. (2005). The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. New York: Harper Collins Publisher

Lynch-Brown, C. & Tomlinson, C. (2005). Essentials of Children’s Literature. Allyn and Bacon.

Nodelman, Perry. (2008). The Hidden Adult: Defining Children's Literature. Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Pambudiaji, R. (2008). An Analysis of Themes in The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe). (Published banchelor thesis). Universitas Islam Malang, Malang, Indonesia.

Sidney Morning Herald Author. (2008, February 23). Narnia Tale Voted Best Children's Book. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/narnia-tale-voted-best-childrens-book-20080223-gds2ca.html.

Soji, L. (2016). Artifact Analysis: Christianity in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 1–5. Retrieved February 20, 2019 from https://medium.com/@sojiolol/artifact-analysis-christianity-in-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-3afee3c6e2a3

Stanton, R. (1965). An Introduction to Fiction. New York: Halt, Rinechard and Winston Inc.

Syahrullah, A. S. (2012). The Aspects of Fantasy in C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. (Published banchlor thesis). Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Toynbee, P. (2005, December 5). Narnia Represents Everything That Is Most Hateful about Religion. Retreived February 12, 2019, from www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/05/cslewis.booksforchildrenandteenagers

Tyson, L. (2006). Critical Theory Today. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

Wellek, R., & Warren, A. (1956). Theory of literature. Mariner Books.

WorldCat Author. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples) 1898-1963. Retrieved February 20, 2019, from http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-003974/

Abrams, M.H. (2008). A glossary of literary terms. 9th ed. Heinle &Heinle.

Anderson, N. A. (2013). Elementary children's literature: Infancy through age 13. Allyn & Bacon.

Cole, L. (2013, October 31). Teaching character education through children’s literature. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from http://broadwayeducators.com/teaching-character-education-through-childrens-literature/.

Eretova, P. (2009). The possible parallels in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (Unpublished undergraduate thesis). Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.

Johnson, M. (2014). Christian messages and moral values in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Unpublished undergraduate thesis). Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden.

Hunt, P. (2004). International companion encyclopedia of children's literature. Routledge.

Lewis, C. S. (2005). The chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Harper Collins Publisher

Lynch-Brown, C. & Tomlinson, C. (2005). Essentials of Children’s Literature. Allyn and Bacon.

Narnia film stirs controversy over christianity (2005, October 17). Retrieved March 7, 2019, from www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10350705

Nodelman, Perry. (2008). The hidden adult: Defining children's literature. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Pambudiaji, R. (2008). An Analysis of Themes in The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe). (Published banchelor thesis). Universitas Islam Malang, Malang, Indonesia.

Soji, L. (2016). Artifact analysis: christianity in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Retrieved February 20, 2019 from https://medium.com/@sojiolol/artifact-analysis-christianity-in-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-3afee3c6e2a3

Stanton, R. (1965). An introduction to fiction. Halt, Rinechard and Winston Inc.

Syahrullah, A. S. (2012). The aspects of fantasy in C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. (Unpublished undergraduate thesis). Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Toynbee, P. (2005, December 5). Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion. Retreived February 12, 2019, from www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/05/
cslewis.booksforchildrenandteenagers

Tyson, L. (2006). Critical theory today. 2nd ed. Routledge.

Wellek, R., & Warren, A. (1956). Theory of literature. Mariner Books.



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v11i1.72982

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 1982 | views : 1071

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Firosyan Fittanasuqi Sulaiman, Achmad Munjid

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


Lexicon Office

English Department
Faculty of Cultural Sciences,
Universitas Gadjah Mada
Soegondo Building, 3rd Floor, Room 306
Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281
Telephone: +62 274 513096
Email: lexicon.fib@ugm.ac.id

ISSN: 2746-2668 (Online)

Web Analytics View Stats

Creative Commons License
LEXICON is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Lexicon is indexed in

 

About UsSubmissionIssuePoliciesReview