Lions, Witches, and Wardrobes

[kethni]

I started looking through my course materials today although I don't actually start until the 2nd. The first activity was relating to 'a book you can remember from your childhood.' After a bit of umming and ahhing I went with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Partly because it's generally a good one for discussions generally and partly because I have a reasonable memory of it (unlike the sequels which I read but remember practically nothing except the very last one.)

Anyway, having answered the questions I turned over the page and found the example they used was... The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.' Doh! I hate being so predictable. The thing that got me most about the ensuing discussion (Edmund as a happy and "good" child? Really?) was the author saying that they only picked up on the Christ allegory when they read it as an adult. They didn't say how old they were when they read it the first time but I was no more than 9 or 10 and I sure as heck picked up on it, and I, like Homer Simpson, have a history of missing the point of these things. (And yet I'm studying Literature, bizare I know).

Granted when I was around 10 or so I read 1984* (it was quoted in The Demon Headmaster donthca know), and Boris The Tomato, which was an allegory of Nazi Germany/Political Extremism in uh... a garden. (Boris the tomato really doesn't stand up when you read it as an adult. Which was disappointing.) But even so, I didn't think Aslan = Christ was a particular difficult one to decode. Having said that, I'm pretty familiar with the bible. So I'm wondering now if I was just a very weird child. (As opposed to being the very weird adult I will cheerfully admit to.)



(I read Animal Farm when I was MUCH younger, this is what happens when grown-ups leave books around within easy reach of young book worms. The Heaven Makers was also seriously not appropriate for small children!)