Essay: Lucy Looks Into a Wardrobe

Mankind has always had a need to believe in something. Some believe in God, some in Allah and some in science but I think that all human beings have in common that they all believe that good always defends evil. If we just have our family and friends everything can be figured out. This is exactly what the story Narnia is about.

The story is set in England during the Second World War. Peter, Lucy, Susan and Edmund live in London in a middleclass family. During the war they were evacuated from the city because of air raids. They were sent to the countryside to a very large house with a lot of rooms. Mountains and woods surround the house and it lies ten miles from the nearest railway station. Even though it is here the story starts it is in the fantastic world of Narnia, which Lucy discovers thought a wardrobe, the main part of the story takes place. When Lucy enters Narnia it is winter and snow falls from the sky. Narnia is a very beautiful place with woods, mountains and an overwhelming nature. Narnia is a world with magical creatures as fauns, talking lions, centaurs and dwarfs. There does not live any humans in the land of Narnia however the land needs to be ruled by four humans. Narnia is ruled by Aslan, two kings and two queens but right now the land is subordinated by the White Witch, Jadis. She has cursed the land with eternal winter.

And here the four siblings come into the picture. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy play a big role in the fight against Jadis and the evil in Narnia. Lucy is the youngest of the four children. She is very kind and friendly. She loves her siblings and almost everybody else. When she first met Mr Tumnuns, in Narnia, she could imminently see that he was good and not evil and they soon became very good friends. She was the first to explore Narnia. That shows that she is very curios and open for new things. When she first entered Narnia she was a bit frightened but at the same time she wanted to explore the new fantastic country. One of her first thoughts in Narnia was: “I can always get back if anything goes wrong”. That thought proves that she is very curious and overcomes the insecurity that might be in her.
The next to discover Narnia is Edmund. He is the second youngest of the Pevensie children. In the beginning of the story Edmund makes fun of the professor: “…Edmund (who was the next youngest) wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it”. He often talks back to Susan and tease Lucy. That makes him a bit of a bully. In the beginning of the story he gets mad at Susan because she says that maybe he should go to bed. But in Edmunds head it is only his mother or himself who can decide if he should go to bed or not. He is a bit unsecure about being away from home, his mother and father and that makes him a bit bad-tempered. Unlike Lucy Edmund chooses the bad side when he first enters Narnia.

But when it comes to the battle between good and evil all the Pevensie children at last chose the good side. They chose to fight on Aslan’s side. Aslan is the true ruler of Narnia. He sacrifices himself to save Edmund. Under the battle against evil Aslan is caught to a stone table and killed. Lucy and Susan are with him at the stone table when they suddenly hear the stone table crack. Aslan has risen from death. He explains to the two girls why he is alive: “She would have know that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and death itself would start working backwards”. Aslan’s resurrection is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Aslan has parallels Jesus Christ's crucifixion. They both sacrificed themself to recue others. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to rescue the humans and Aslan to save Edmund. Other similarities to Jesus Christ and Aslan’s sacrifice are the way it happens. They both knew they had to do it to save others lives. Another similarity is that when they both had risen from death they first showed themselves for two women. Jesus Christ for Maria Magdalene and the other Maria and Aslan for Lucy and Susan. With Aslan’s sacrifice and the children’s help good defeats evil and Narnia is back to normal.

Jesus Christ is a major theme in the text but family is also a big theme. Family always comes in first place and you have to forgive your bellowing’s. If you do not have family you have not got anyone to believe in you, support you and to take care of you. Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan had been sent away from their home because of war and enters another land, Narnia, where they gains on strength together as a family. They are the only hope for Narnia to win the war over evil, which they only can win by forgiveness, loyalty and courage. It is their fairytale in the middle of a terrible war where they had something good to believe in.