ELA Book Report

Summer Book Report

One of the books I read this summer was C.S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It's about four children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) who find a magical wardrobe that leads them into another world called Narnia, where a struggle between good and evil is being fought. Peter, Susan and Lucy decide to join Aslan, a lion who is the leader of the good Narnians, while Edmund goes on a journey to find and help the White Witch, the leader of the evil Narnians, and is the ruler of all Narnia, who has cast a spell on Narnia so that it is always winter but never Christmas. The four children are the only people who can break the spell when they are all together in the thrones of the capital of Narnia, so the White Witch repeatedly tries to find and kill them. Edmund rejoins the other children, and a final battle is fought, in which the good Narnians are the victors, and peace and joy is restored in Narnia. The children stay there for many years until they are in their twenties and thirties, remaining the rulers of Narnia, but eventually return home to find that no time has passed, and they are little children again.

One huge aspect of this book is how creative and imaginative it is. The creatures in the book create a whole new level of fantasy, with wonderful human and animal sides to them. For example, two of the many talking animals in this book, Mrs. Beaver and Mr. Beaver, are different from any other creature in the book, or in real life for that matter. While they can talk and understand human ideas, the way they are described and talk makes you never forget that they are beavers. They are a perfect proportion of human to beaver. All of the animals in the book speak and act exactly as one would imagine. They all are different and special, even if they only appear once or twice. There are also many mythical beasts in the book, which creates a sort of perfect combination of things you wish were true. For example, Tumnus the Faun is a creature which has been in mythology for hundreds of years, but C.S. Lewis manages to modernize it. Also, along their journey, the children see all sorts of creatures from the past, mostly from Greek mythology, such as Harpies and Giants. The creativity of this book is definitely one of the most major parts of what makes this book so enjoyable.

Another thing that makes this book so interesting is the clear concept of good and evil that is portrayed. For example, the second the children enter Narnia, it is clear who is evil and who is good, and the difference between the two is quite clear. All the White Witch says and does has some immoral message to it, and all her minions are creatures and mythical beings who are known for being evil, while Aslan always does the logical thing, and tells the children what the right thing to do is, and all his creatures are proud and good to all they see, other than those who threaten them. But what makes everything even more interesting is how Edmund actually decides to join the evil side, and lets the reader see a whole more tempting side to evil.  It then also shows how he soon realizes his mistake, and is miserable. On his journey to evil, he shows how his motivations change along the way, and his thoughts change from those of a normal yet slightly mean boy, to those of a haughty and evil prince, and how he starts to turn against his brother and sisters along the way. A huge part of this book's interest is the way C.S. Lewis shows good and evil.