This is a story about Peter, Susan, Edmond,
and Lucy, siblings who live in England during
World War II.
They discover a wardrobe and by entering it,
they are transported to a magical world called
Narnia.
Narnia is ruled by the White Witch, an evil
sorceress who keeps the world in eternal winter.
However, a prophecy tells that four humans
will take down the Witch.
Knowing this, the White Witch convinces Edmond
to bring his siblings to her.
The group is taken in by beavers and learns
that Aslan, a mighty and powerful lion, is
back in Narnia, ready to restore order.
Scared, Edmond runs away from everyone and
decides to visit the White Witch.
When he gets there, he is punished for not
bringing his brother and sisters.
Peter, Susan, and Lucy eventually meet Aslan
and an army is summoned.
Edmond is rescued from the White Witch, but
because he is a traitor, he technically belongs
to the White Witch.
Aslan and the White Witch make a deal so that
Edmond can stay if Aslan is sacrificed.
The White Witch kills Aslan and she takes
her army to finish off Aslan's forces.
Aslan comes back to life and revives the stone
statues at the White Witch's castle.
The White Witch and her forces are defeated
in battle and Aslan appoints Peter, Susan,
Edmond, and Lucy as the kings and queens of
Narnia.
In the end, after years of living in Narnia,
the group stumbles back into trees and reenters
the normal world as they were as children.
While the previous book in the Narnia series
focused more on the allegory of Creationism,
this story focuses heavily on the allegory
of Christ and the cruxifiction.
It's Aslan, the innocent, who must die for
the life of Edmond, the guilty.
As Aslan is approaching the Stone Table where
the White Witch waits, the tone in his voice
is similar to that of Christ in the garden
of Gethsemane.
He is reserved and nervous, not quite the
lion that readers have known him to be.
However, since Aslan knows that no innocent
blood can be spilled on the table, he is confident
that he will be resurrected.
One of the interesting aspects of the story
is how time works in Narnia compared to the
real world.
In Narnia, the children grow up to be kings
and queens, living a good numbers of years
into their adulthood.
Yet, when they are drawn back through the
wardrobe and reenter the real world, they
appear as children, as if time had never moved
forward.
This speaks highly of how children view time.
Because of a child's limited life experience,
time seems longer than it really is.
This is probably why a five minute timeout
can seem like an eternity for misbehaved children,
and a few seconds in a wardrobe can feel like
a lifetime in another world.
The story is also a study into forgiveness
in the context of family.
Edmond betrays the others early in the story,
yet they are willing to forgive him.
This shows that even though an individual
within a family acts selfish and prideful,
there is always an opportunity for forgiveness
if both parties are willing to work things
out.
It takes courage to forgive, both from the
receiving and giving party.
