C. S. Lewis and Myth 2018

In order for a myth or fairy tale or fantasy novel (such as Lewis's or Tolkien's) to worth, readers have to REALLY believe in the darkness or evil that is being battled. Using examples like the original Grimm's fairy tales, characters like Rumpelstiltskin have to be terrifying to take readers to the edge. It won't do if they are somehow watered down.The Orcs and Sauron are terrifying in Lord of the Rings. The White Witch is an equally worthy adversary to Aslan. In the battle of good versus evil and light versus dark in myth, we need to really be fearful that the good guys might not win--or even if they do win, imagine the price. Think of the King Arthur character and his loss and pain--and his journey to Avalon. Or think of how in Lord of the Rings, sweet Frodo suffers each time he dons the ring. These stories take us on a terrifying journey. We are never quite certain of the outcome. That element of darkness is what makes these stories all the darker and more int...

One book and movie I often think of when I consider myth is Big Fish. It was a book by Daniel Wallace, that was made into a movie by Tim Burton, one of film's premiere myth-makers. Big Fish is about a young man who has always believed his father was a liar. His father tells tall tales (forms of myth). But when his father gets very sick, the young man comes to discover that there was a grain of truth in his dad's stories. I think this is true of all myths. They would not resonate with us if they did not contain grains of truth, or if they did not represent us. Another aspect of Big Fish is that we are defined by our stories. That is how we relate to one another--through our long human tradition of creating stories to tell about us. We tell stories about ourselves to help show who we are--but we also create our own myths. We are often smarter, funnier, and more intelligent, or tougher, or whatever myth we want to tell about ourselves--when we tell stories. We exaggerate, cre...

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan is killed by the White Witch, is tied to a slab, and dies. Yet his death in one realm makes way for his birth in another--he is alive, in an obvious mirroring of the Christ myth. Another book I draw a comparison to in this regard is The Little Prince by Antoine de St.-Exupery. While Aslan's death clearly parallels Christ's story, the titular character of the Little Prince also dies and moves on--in this case to the stars. Poignantly, the Little Prince accepts that his body is "too heavy" to get him home to his beloved rose. Forevermore, the aviator hears the prince laughing among the stars. I will add that Lewis claimed his stories were NOT an allegory for the Christ myth, but instead a fantasy story for children. I think he either felt it was important to be thought of as a fantasy writer as some sort of exercise of Lewis's ego, or his ingrained Christian view was so powerful he could not even see it in himself....

It is interesting that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were friends. I think you can draw strong comparisons between their works, though they are very different. First, they were both writing, at least someone, as a reaction to WWII. How could any human--or writer--make sense of a world in which genocide of that scale existed? Lewis created a world of beauty--but also evil--and he sent innocent children into it. Tolkien did the same in Lord of the Rings--and sent childlike innocents (hobbit) on his mythological journey. They both created worlds of infinite beauty--but also terrifying evil and seduction. Both created worlds in which the choice to join the forces of good against the gathering forces of evil is a central element. I think fantasy affords us such a deep look at the battle of good versus evil. And quite frankly, I find it a lot easier to think there is a world in which elves exist or a lion can speak, than a world in which an entire country could be complicit and also ac...

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the children are sent to this house in order to escape London during the war. C.S. Lewis did not have children (though eventually he had stepsons), but he definitely enjoyed children. Thus, he created a world of beauty and joy for the children characters to enjoy and to hide from the realities of war. However, perhaps more magically, he created a world that for generations has provided and will continue to provide a place of escape through myth. In the character of Aslan, too, he created a powerful beast who would protect the children. He is the perfect companion, wise and gentle--yet capable of battle if need be. In the world of childhood imagination, a world in which "boogeymen" and nightmares sometimes rule, Lewis create an antidote. Childhood is such a sacred time, but like the war in London, adulthood is there, closing in. Lewis created a world where the characters could happily go even into adulthood, a place of goodness (at...

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the character of Edmund lays bare the question: Are humans basically good . . . or basically evil? Edmund has freewill, and he allows himself to be tempted, and he also makes betraying choices. Is Edmund worth ultimately saving? For one, he is a child, so that would probably sway most to think he is worth the sacrifice Aslan makes. On the other hand, if Edmund is a stand-in for us all, a reflection of our humanity, then we look in that mirror. We all make good decisions, and there is not one of us who has not made careless, cruel, or wrong choices that hurt ourselves and others. Are we mostly good? Or will most of us make the wrong choice because of inherent human selfishness? I relate this question to something that happened to me and my family. My mother took in six siblings whose parents were swept by ICE. Their mom was our cleaning lady, and my mother promised the children would not be separated if something bad happened. Around us, some ...

Casting Judgement “I am the God of the Woods. I communicate with the creatures of the woods, the plants, the insects, the four legged critters, and the wisest of trees. I do not dominate these creatures, I love them as they love me. I protect them and they protect me. You, Orual, are the complete opposite of me. Your love is dangerous, selfish, and destructive. You obsess over the love that you are given, and if it is not enough, you demand their life instead of love.” “Allow me to tell you a story of a goddess. The goddess was not born with the divine powers or characteristics, rather she was born a mortal. This goddess was loved by all and the most beautiful in the land. Her pet and loyal companion, understood this and was jealous of anyone that tried to steal her love away from him. The goddess’ companion was so stricken with jealousy that he failed to protect her and she was offered as a sacrifice. The goddess was freed and commanded to complete a series of unimaginable task...

A Series of Unfortunate Events A Series of Unfortunate Events , is a series of books that I think used myth in the same capacity as C.S. Lewis to some degree. The Baudelaire children are constantly being moved from guardian to guardian as they are being chased down by Count Olaf. It isn’t till the very last book of the series that the children realize that every single of one of their guardians, including the villain Count Olaf and his gang of misfits, have endured a tremendous amount of challenges and suffering. The children realize that life is hard and that you need to learn to persevere through the difficulties, just like everyone else. Much like C.S. Lewis and his use of myth and nonfiction, Daniel Handler, uses nonfiction to create a story that delivers an ultimate message about life in the end. The series of books are entertaining and hard to put down, but they serve as an important lesson to life.

Flight Behavior Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver was a book that I read over the summer. It’s a big shocker that the book was about some of the negative effects of climate change on butterfly migration. It was an excellent read and made the concept of climate change way more easy to understand. It reminded me of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. As we were reading the Chronicles of Narnia I was always shocked by the religious imagery I kept seeing throughout the books. Kingsolver was able to use butterflies and Dellarobia’s life to make a daunting topic like climate change into an enjoyable read. You get extremely connected to the characters and the fate of the butterflies throughout the book. I think by creating this imaginary character and life, Kingsolver was able to make climate change an exciting topic to read and learn about throughout the book.

The Hobbit With all of the reading that we have been doing about C.S. Lewis this semester, we have talked about J.R.R. Tolkien, one of my favorite authors. So I decided to read one of my favorite books by him, The Hobbit. I did not finish the book over the course of the semester and i barely scratched the surface of the book. I did get to one of my favorite parts, the section with Tom Bombadil. Tom Bombadil is this eccentric character that speaks in rhymes and lives among the critters and trees of the woods. The part that I enjoy most about Tom Bombadil is when he talks in the third person. I feel like as Tom is talking he is almost living out his own narrative. I also couldn’t help but see some parallels between Tom and God. Tom says that he was alive to see the first rain drop and the first acorn, as well as seeing knowing the dark before it became evil. When Frodo asks about Tom, he is told, “He is”. I just thought it was really cool imagery for a character that has such a brief...

Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet , was another book that I had read this semester. It reminded me a lot of the Space Trilogy because throughout the book I just kept thinking about the relocation of the human species to other planets. The book also reminded me of Mad Max and the fight for the last resources on the planet. The book centered around the fact that climate change isn’t going to happen, it is happening. McKibben writes that if we do not take the steps to resolve this disaster, we will soon see wars break out over the last drops of water on the planet and any other resources needed to survive. Although the book was not a work of nonfiction, it did present itself to me as if McKibben was writing about another world or planet. It was a great read and I highly recommend it to anyone that keeps up with the climate crisis.

The World in 2050 I recently finished reading, The World in 2050, by Laurence C. Smith. It was a fantastic read about climate change and what the world might look like by the year 2050. The book has plenty of information and data pertaining to the climate crisis the world faces today. The book was loaded with age distribution models, economic projection statistics and climate dynamic graphs. The part of the book that I found most intriguing was the ethnography of the people living close to the Arctic circle. Laurence C. Smith actually travelled around interviewing and gathering accounts of people that have already experienced some of the drastic impacts of climate change. I personally felt that without the ethnography aspect of his book, it would just be a science textbook. Instead, the ethnography really tied everything together so that when you were done reading it you really felt a sense of loss, much like the people that he interviewed. Much like the books we read this semeste...

Truth Truth is always based on perspective. There are many different truths but only one reality. People tend to confuse the two and use them interchangeably. Truth is not reality in the sense that people live in the same reality, people do not all live according to the same truth. Truth can hold different values and beliefs. Reality is something people grasp as real and it is used to develop and form personal truths. Truth can never exhaust reality because there is an infinite amount of variations of what someone may hold true. The truth can be defined as what someone deems ‘ultimate’. Ultimacy is what separates the sacred from the non-sacred, it is a vision of the divine. Within a tradition, each believer has a unique and/or different relationship with what is believed. Within one community, everyone maintains their own truth or their own version of the truth. Within one person, what is defined as ultimate or what is believed may change over time. Truth being perspectival means t...

Education The more educated a person is, the more likely they will be open to new ideas. Personal backgrounds, cultures, likes, and dislikes, do not allow us to see purely. We are filled with our own biases. People have different histories that make them see and place value differently. Based on that, people view everything from the perspective of how they relate to it. There is a way to combat this bias, and it involves being educated and knowledgeable. Achieving a higher education is accompanied with many benefits. One significant benefit is gaining the ability to be open to an array of ideas. Education teaches us many different ways to view the world. It allows us to learn about the unique cultures, religions, and values that exist all over the world. The more educated someone is, the more appreciative they are of a variety of perspectives. Admitting to having a limited perspective means one can move past that limit. Every experience a person undergoes shapes how they handle the...

Love “Love conquers all so you too, should be conquered by love” (Virgil). In relation to love, we decide whether or not to be ‘conquered’ by it. As humans, we possess this choice because love is not love if it is forced. The quote above, by Virgil, can be considered paradoxical because the connotation of the word ‘conquer’ is more coercive than organic. When it comes to love, there is always a choice. It cannot be manipulated or compulsory; not even a God can force love. In some religions, one cannot worship any other God or higher power, except within that specific religion; if a person does not love God, they are damned to hell. This meaning of love is not truly love at all. You cannot force love, or it is not real, and if it is not real, then it is pointless. Religion and/or God should be accepting and tolerant of all other religions and Gods. A God or religion that claims I am damned to hell if I do not return love/offer love is not a God/religion one should follow. From my pe...

Fire has always been a powerful entity in my eyes. It has many qualities and serves a variety of purposes. It can provide light and warmth and also, mass destruction. Fire is neither form nor formless. It can be bright, burning, rapid, sacred/holy, and deadly all simultaneously. To have form and to not have form at the same time is a concept most things cannot relate to. Fire is paradoxical and unique in comparison to other entities. To quote the Bhagavad Gita, “weapons cannot cut it, nor can fire burn it; water cannot wet it, nor wind cannot dry it” (2.23). When considering the power fire holds, many people focus on the damage it can inflict upon the world. Being something and not being something at the same time is a different kind of power. This approach to power is one that is probably overlooked most of the time and/or not appreciated. The irony is another entity which is neither form nor formless is water—the opposite of fire.

For research used in the writing of my paper, I read Daniel Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. Within the book, the philosopher argues that myth clouds the truth of things as they ultimately are; specifically, the myths of religion. By attempting to explain everything with science or otherwise empirical means, Dennett attempts to persuade the reader to cast aside myth and accept science as the true explainer of things. However, when Dennett argues this, he disagrees with the truth claims presented by myth yet provides no reason for doing so except for logic proofs against miracles and “proof” that a creator didn’t create the universe due to the cycle of genetics. Dennett doesn’t realize this, but he seems to misunderstand the nature of truth claims as presented by myth. The claims that myths assert, are not those of scientific authenticity or natural accuracy, but those which are true of an unmeasurable quality. Dennett’s assertion that empiricism trumps myth is wrong, ironically this ...

During a reading of the song of Solomon from the Bible, I wondered how allegory fit into the class discussion on myth. It has been theorized that the love shown within the song of Solomon is an allegory for God’s love for the Israelites. But, does the discussion of love as it takes place add anything as it is not explicitly stated for what the love is based. Does allegory have explanatory power in the same way as myth, or should things be more explicitly said. If allegory does not have this power then why does it exist, simply as retelling of stories or an obstruction of what is more clearly the truth. But if allegory has the similar properties to it, then why don’t more things take on this storytelling device to impart messages to the reader.