The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe-
The main theme here is pretty obvious. While not a perfectly complete parallel, Aslan's sacrifice is a metaphor for Christ's atonement. Here are some of the things that stood out to me: The story illustrates well what Nephi learns in his dream about the "condescension of God" (1 NE 11:26-33). We see Aslan as a perfectly noble, majestic being. But then not only does he give himself to his enemies to be killed (in the place of one who tried to betray him), but subjects himself to mockery and humiliation before he's killed. It's such powerful imagery to me-- this glorious king of beasts allowing himself to be tied, muzzled, and shaved of his mane. And what's more, Alsan did all this for just for one child. I used to think this a flaw in the parable, but this time around it took new meaning to me. Christ suffered and atoned for all, but sometimes i think we forget that he knows every one of us and paid that price for each of us individually.
One more thing i noticed this time around was something the author said when he first mentioned Alsan in the story. Here it is from the book (chapter 7):
"'...And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do. But the moment the beaver had spoken these words, everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand, but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning. Either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare, or else a lovely meaning- too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life, and are always wishing you could get into that dream again." *
I may be completely off, but it sounds to me as if C.S. Lewis is hinting at some profound experience. I've always been amazed at how deep an understanding he had of things i don't think are common belief among religions he was exposed to. Could it be that this dream he's alluding to was some form of personal revelation? Who knows.
By the way, since writing the above I've been reading a bit about C.S. Lewis and realize i may be mistaken in using the term metaphor. Lewis apparently didn't like Alsan being thought of as a allegory of Christ; rather, he wanted to imagine a different world Christ created, in which he appears in a completely different form than in ours. Therefore Alsan = Christ not an allegorical sense, but, as Lewis calls it, a suppositional one.
The Magician's Nephew
This one has so much good stuff, but the overall theme to me was that of Fall and Redemption. As with the lesson from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe about the atonement, this one is about personal fall and redemption rather than universal (like Adam and Eve), but can be applied universally i think. Digory's "sin" of awakening the witch introduces evil into Narnia on the day of it's creation. Alsan then gives him a task to make amends for the damage done, at the completion of which tells him Well done and forgives him.
My favorite part of the story involves the task Alsan gives to Digory. which is to go and bring back an apple from a tree in a garden. (as a side note, this apple gives eternal youth, is in a garden, and is guarded by some sort of bird. Sound familiar at all? check out Moses 4:28-31.) He's tempted to eat the apple himself but refrains. However, as he's about to leave the Witch tempts him as well. After she sees that it's useless to tempt him with power and living forever, she take a much more cruel approach. Digory has been concerned about his sick mother the entire story. it was for that reason he approached Aslan in the first place. But rather than giving Digory something to help his mother, Aslan set him on a difficult task. here's a bit of the dialogue with the witch from Ch. 13:
“'Do you not see, fool, that one bite of that apple would heal her? You have it in your pocket. We are here by ourselves and the lion is far away. Use your magic and go back to your own world. A minute later you can be at your mother’s bedside giving her the fruit. Five minutes later you will see the color coming back to her face. She will tell you the pain is gone. Soon she will tell you she feels stronger. Then she will fall asleep. Think of that. Hours of sweet, natural sleep, without pain, without drugs. Next day everyone will be saying how wonderfully she has recovered. Soon she will be quite well again. All will be well again. Your home will be happy again. You will be like other boys.'”*
Digory then has to make probably the most difficult choice of his life, but he chooses to honor his promise and bring the fruit back to Aslan. In Ch. 14 he meets alsan and presents the apple.
"this time he found that he could look straight in the lion’s eyes. He had forgotten his troubles, and felt absolutely content."
At this point he knows fully that he made the correct choice. but it doesn't end there. after the apple is planted and a grows into a tree, Aslan explains the consequences of eating of the fruit when it's not given by him.
'"Understand then that it would have healed her, but not to your joy nor hers. The time would have come when both you and she would’ve looked back and said it would have been better to die in that illness.”
And digory could say nothing, and he gave up all hopes of saving his mother’s life. But at the same time he knew that the lion knew what would’ve happened, that there might be things more terrible than losing someone you love by death. But now Aslan was speaking again.
“that is what would've happened, child, with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now. What I give you now will bring joy. It will not in your world give endless life, but it will heal. Go. Pluck her an apple from the tree.”'
Here's what i get from all this: Serve God first. While it seemed at the time that Digory was choosing to obey Aslan over his own desires, it turns out it was the best way (the only way, in this case) to fulfill his own righteous desire. It's so much deeper than i can explain here though, so just read it.
some other elements:
the two villains' comments about how rules and laws are only meant for commoners, not magicians or royalty or what-have-you, vs. the many examples of Aslan, the highest king, the law-maker strictly obeying the his own rules.
Aslan Warns the two children about the world of charn, who destroyed themselves out of lust for power, and foretells of tyrants who will seek for power rather than joy, justice, and mercy for their people (obviously an allusion to WWII, which is going during the Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe), and may find something that could destroy life as the witch's magic did in Charn.
this is a theme we'll see later, but Uncle Andrew convinces himself that the sound coming from Aslan couldn't be music and therefore must be just the normal wild animal noises. He makes himself blind and def to something wonderful because he doesn't want to believe it.
* quotes are transcribed from the audio, therefore may not be completely accurate, especially the punctuation.
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