Hello everyone!
I realized I never shared with you the speech I wrote and performed about Narnia. Well, I competed in the NCFCA my Junior and Senior years. NCFCA is a National Christian Homeschool Speech and Debate league that is amazingly awesome! In 2008 I had to write an Expository Speech (using boards as visuals) about anything. I chose Narnia. :) I entitled my speech "Hidden in Narnia," and it was about the Christian parallels in the Chronicles. My points were Aslan and Our Savior, Edmund and Our Problem, and Caspian and Our Faith. It was fun, Christian, applicable, and it was Narnia!
At my very first tournament (January 2009) I won first place with my Narnia speech! I was so surprised! God sure blessed me a lot! (To the right is a picture of just my club from that tournament.) I went to only one other tournament (March 2009) with it. I could have gone to Regionals, and I had great plans for my boards (how to make them look like an old-fashioned book with pages and pictures and things that slid in and out). But Colorado was a long way away, and my parents decided against it. Overall, i think this was my most fun speech to write, prepare for, and perform. I've pasted in the text of the speech below.
Hidden in Narnia “Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a lion there, and then imagine what would happen.” C. S. Lewis said this about his Chronicles of Narnia. Besides being fun fantasy adventure books, the seven Chronicles of Narnia have stories hidden inside the stories. Inside Narnian characters, places, and things are hidden messages that teach us something about our world, our God, and even about ourselves.
I’d like to tell you about three characters and the hidden meanings in each of them. They are: Number one, Aslan. Number two, Edmund. And Number three, Caspian.
First, Aslan and our Savior. Aslan is the most important character in the Chronicles and the only character to appear in all seven books. Aslan is a talking lion and the Son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Aslan is not a tame lion; he does what he wants to do and is very powerful. But he is good. He is also wise, gentle, and compassionate.
Aslan has a hidden meaning. He represents someone from our world! In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan tells Lucy and Edmund they will not come back to Narnia again. Lucy cries and realizes that when she goes back to her own world, Earth, it isn’t Narnia she will miss, it’s Aslan. Lucy says to Aslan, “We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live never meeting you?“ “But you shall meet me, dear one,” says Aslan. “Are you there too, Sir?” “I am,” he says. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name.” This means Aslan is patterned after someone from our world. Who is it? C. S. Lewis says it’s the Son of God. So, Aslan represents Jesus! Aslan goes on to say, “This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” What C. S. Lewis is telling us, is that by studying Aslan in Narnia, we may know Jesus better here on Earth. There are many similarities between Aslan and Jesus.
Jesus is the Son of God who came to Earth as a man to be our Savior. He is all powerful, but He is also wise, gentle, compassionate, and good. Aslan was never created, but has lived and will live forever; Just as Jesus has always existed and always will exist. Before the world began, Jesus was there, and He created the world. The Bible, in the book of Colossians, says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth.” (Col. 1:16) In the book, The Magician’s Nephew, Aslan sings Narnia into existence and appoints a king and queen to name the creatures, rule over them, and protect them, just like God gave Adam and Eve that job in Genesis 1.
Aslan has wonderful relationships with those who believe in him. Aslan loves to play with, talk to, and encourage the creatures he loves. He rejoices when they rejoice, and hurts when they hurt. He also corrects them, and probably most important, He forgives them when they do the wrong thing. Jesus also always forgives his followers each time they ask for forgiveness. 1 John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Secondly, Edmund and our problem. Edmund is one of the four Pevensie children who come into Narnia through the wardrobe, in the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They have a mission: to defeat the white witch and put an end to her 100 year winter.
When the Witch meets Edmund, she deceives him by promising to make him a prince. And he falls for it! Edmund’s selfishness, his greed, and his pride cause him to believe her. He has betrayed his siblings, and the unchangeable laws of Narnia, set up by the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, say that every traitor has to die. The white witch knew this, and came to Aslan’s camp to claim Edmund. His blood was rightfully hers, and she knew that Aslan would have to comply. Everyone was distressed, and knew that for his deed, Edmund would have to die. No one could do anything about it. Except Aslan. He spoke to the witch alone and offered his own life in place of Edmund’s. Aslan’s death would save Edmund and fulfill the law. So it was agreed that Aslan would come to the stone table that night to be killed. Aslan kept his promise and died that very night on the sacred table, and the witch thought she had triumphed! But had she?
Carved into the stone table was a Narnian law that said 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, because he willingly suffered and died for Edmund, fulfilled this and death worked backwards as the table cracked and Aslan miraculously came back to life! In the end, life conquered over death, the witch was killed, peace was restored, and the Pevensies were crowned kings and queens of Narnia.
The hidden meaning to this story is that each of us is an Edmund. God created us to have relationship with him. But he is good, just, and holy, so He cannot tolerate wrongdoing, or sin. And the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) Just like Edmund, we are selfish, greedy, and prideful. We fall for the Devil’s lie that sin is OK, and that there is no consequence for it. But there is an unavoidable consequence. In Hebrews it says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Heb. 9:22) In other words, blood must be shed as a penalty for sin. So what is the consequence of sin? “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) Guess what? You and I are no better off than Edmund. We need a Savior! Edmund deserved to die, and for my deeds, I deserve to die, too. No one can do anything about it. Except Jesus. Jesus loves me so much, he was willing to die in my place, just like Aslan did for Edmund. Romans says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) Isn’t that amazing! Jesus died for you and for me, even though we don’t deserve it.
Jesus, like Aslan, was a willing victim who had committed no treachery and who was killed in a traitor’s stead, and Death itself worked backward. He came back to life! First Corinthians says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:54-55) Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, the power of sin and death is broken, and everyone who believes in Jesus and his sacrifice for them, will be saved from eternal punishment.
Thirdly, Caspian and our faith. There are many admirable characters in the Chronicles of Narnia with strong faith in Aslan. One of these is Prince Caspian. But we must start before him, with his mentors. When he was very little, his nurse told him stories of Aslan, the Narnian creatures, the white witch, and the four children. Caspian loved listening to these stories of Old Narnia and believed they were true. Through listening to them, he came to believe in Aslan, and when his tutor, Doctor Cornelius, reassured him they were true, he was overjoyed. Caspian‘s faith in Aslan is amazing because, unlike most of the other Narnian characters, Caspian believed in Aslan long before he ever met him!
Evidence of Caspian’s strong faith is also seen in his son, Prince Rilian. Rilian had heard stories about Aslan all his life, from his father, and was able to defeat evil because he believed in Aslan. Caspian diligently taught his son the truth, and it didn’t stop there! Rilian taught his son, who taught his son, who taught his son, and on down the line to King Tirian, the last king of Narnia, who, because of the stories he’s heard, believes in and fights for Aslan with all his might. The faith of Caspian and his descendants represents the multi-generational faith of Christians who pass their beliefs down to their children, and their children’s children, and so on.
Caspian followed Aslan all of his life. In the book, The Silver Chair, he dies and appears in Aslan’s country lying in a stream, dead. But, Aslan has his paw pierced and when a drop of his blood falls onto Caspian’s body it starts to change. His body grows younger and younger until Caspian jumps out of the stream to greet Aslan. He lives in Aslan’s Country forever with everyone else who had faith in Aslan. Hidden in this story is the most exciting message of Narnia. Caspian represents us, and Aslan represents Jesus. Again, Jesus’ blood is what brings us back to life. When those who belong to Jesus die, they will begin their new life in Jesus’ Country: Heaven! And this life will never end.
In conclusion: We’ve uncovered some of the hidden meanings of the Chronicles of Narnia by looking at Aslan as our Savior, Edmund, as a representative of each of us, and Caspian and his deep faith.
The next time you read The Chronicles of Narnia “suppose that there is a land called Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a lion there.” (C. S. Lewis) Dive into that wonderful world to learn more about your own world, yourself, and your Creator.
