User:Lsommerer/Narnia

A quiet place to edit part ofThe Chronicles of Narnia article. In my mind there are two main reasons to use this page:
 * to show what changes you'd like to see without playing with the article or try to describe changes (which takes much longer than actually making them)
 * to see what other people are suggesting and incorporating changes you agree with into your own suggestion. In this manner we can see where we're reaching agreement (and I can steal all of your good ideas from you)

Criticism (LSommerer suggestion)
CS Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia series have received various criticisms over the years, much of it from fellow authors.

Accusations of Sexism

Allegations of sexism center around the decription of Susan Pevensie in The Last Battle. She is characterized as being "no longer a friend of Narnia" and interested "in nothing nowadays except lipstick, nylons and invitations".

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has said:
 * "There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found sex, I have a big problem with that."

Philip Pullman author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, interprets it this way:
 * "Susan, like Cinderella, is undergoing a transition from one phase of her life to another. Lewis didn't approve of that. He didn't like women in general, or sexuality at all, at least at the stage in his life when he wrote the Narnia books. He was frightened and appalled at the notion of wanting to grow up.

Defenders of Lewis respond to Pullman and Rowling by noting that the "lipsticks, nylons and invitations" quote is taken out of context. In The Last Battle Susan is excluded from Narnia because she no longer believes in Narnia. In The Horse and his Boy Susan's sexual maturity is portrayed in a positive light. They also cite the positive roles of women in the series, like Lucy Pevensie and Aravis, who are main characters in the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy, respectively. ,

Accusations of Racism

Hensher and Pullman have also implicated The Chronicles of Narnia series in fostering racism. This is based on a perceived negative representation of other races and religions, particularly the Calormenes, as enemies of Aslan and Narnia. The Calormenes are described as oily and dark-skinned people who wear turbans and pointy slippers and are armed with scimitars. This depiction has been cited as a blatant allegorical comparison to the traditional attire of Islam and Sikhism. Turbans are worn by Muslim clerics, and most adult Sikh males. Scimitars originated in the Middle East, and are highly symbolic of Islam. The Calormenes worship the "false god" Tash. Tash is portrayed as stereotypical Satanic being who requires evil deeds and sacrifices from his followers.

Lewis supporters note that Lewis was a distinctly British author, as were his contemporaries J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and others. Therefore, his writings have a particularly British Victorian era flavour. The fact that all of these authors and their works have been so popular over such a a long period of time seems to show that many of the criticisms which have been voiced are not thought to be significant by the reading public. Lewis supporters also note that there are "good" Calormene characters throughout the series. In The Horse and His Boy, a female Calormene princess named Tarkheena Aravis marries a Archenlander prince of a presumably different ethnicity. In The Last Battle, the Calormene Emesh is accepted by Aslan although he is a worshiper of Tash.

Criticism (Marshill suggestion)
...Hensher and Pullman have also implicated The Chronicles of Narnia series in fostering racism. This is based on a perceived negative representation of other races and religions, particularly the Calormenes, as enemies of Aslan and Narnia. The Calormenes are described as oily and dark-skinned people who wear turbans, pointy slippers and armed with scimitars. This depiction has been cited as a blatant allegorical comparison to the traditional attire of Islam and Sikhism. Turbans are worn by Muslim clerics, and most adult Sikh males. Scimitars originated in the Middle East, and are highly symbolic of Islam. The Calormenes worship the "false god" Tash, portrayed as a stereotypical Satanic being who requires evil deeds and sacrifices from his followers.

Lewis's Calormen is contextually and historically similar to the Ottoman Empire and comparisons have been made depicting the Calormenes as saracens and the Narnians as medieval crusaders. Since the historical aftermath of the Crusades and Ottoman Empire are still being felt centuries later in the current Middle East Conflicts and by calls for jihad against the Western World, it is probably unavoidable that such criticisms would arise at this time.

In response to this, Lewis fans point out that anyone can scrutinize a work of fantasy, including Pullman's, and find symbols that can be subjectively interpreted into positive or negative connotations in the real world. As actress Tilda Swinton, who starred in the 2005 Disney adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe states:
 * "You can make a religious allegory out of anything if that's what you're interested in"

Supporters of Lewis state that searching for subliminal messages of discrimination against religious groups are excessive and taken far out of context. The Chronicles of Narnia is simply children's story, and should be read that way...

Criticism (CyberDenizen's suggestion)
CS Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia series have received various criticisms over the years, much of it by fellow authors.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series has said:
 * "There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found sex, I have a big problem with that."

Philip Pullman author of His Dark Materials trilogy stated:
 * "Susan, like Cinderella, is undergoing a transition from one phase of her life to another. Lewis didn't approve of that. He didn't like women in general, or sexuality at all, at least at the stage in his life when he wrote the Narnia books. He was frightened and appalled at the notion of wanting to grow up. [...] Death is better than life; boys are better than girls; light-coloured people are better than dark-coloured people; and so on. There is no shortage of such nauseating drivel in  Narnia, if you can face it."

Philip Hensher author and journalist, stated the following:
 * "Don't give your children CS Lewis to read; not the Narnia books, not the Screwtape Letters, not that appalling Is God an Astronaut? science fiction. It looks like rich fantasy, but it is the product of a mean, narrow little mind, burrowing into their ideas and pooh-poohing them. Give them anything else -- Last Exit to Brooklyn, a bottle of vodka, a phial of prussic acid, even Winnie the Pooh -- but keep them away from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

Praise (CyberDenizen's suggestion continued)
Brief introductory sentence citing awards and accolades

''Lovers of Lewis can add an *equal* amount of praise here, citing sources. By keeping the number of negative and positive quotes equal, this will hopefully circumvent edit wars. Also, by not allowing rebuttals, this will stop the tit for tat. Let the criticisms and praises speak for themselves. There will always be people who disagree or hate something, but the critics of Lewis seem more vitriolic than most - however this just reflects on their character and marginales them, rather than converting people to their POV. The long drawn out arguments make it seem as if the defenders 'doth protest too much'.''

Cyberdenizen 08:08, 13 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I really like your suggestion (the section's pretty good as it is now, too). However I would like to ask that you not tar all critics of Lewis with the same brush - I'm firmly in the "what about Susan?"/Pullman/Rowling camp myself (and I also love the books and don't find that contradictory at all), but I would like to think that I am not vitriolic or 'protesting too much'.


 * What really seems to be missing from the 'criticism' section is, you know, actual literary criticism! Quotes from famous authors and vague references to "Lewis lovers, on the contrary" are all well and good, but litcrit is where the real ongoing discussion (both ways) is. I've done some tentative research, and if anyone is interested I can see what I turn up once I get back to school and have access to academic libraries again. Tinderblast 13:49, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

Thoughts on the use of the Rowling quote
A careful reading of the article quoted shows that Rowling is criticizing the asexuality of the young characters in the Chronicles, as oppossed to the more realistic sexuality of the characters in her series. Nothing in the article overtly suggests a double standard between Lewis's treatment of male and female characters. I posted the above comments on the narnia discussion page as well, but it seemed like there was more serious dialogue about this section on this page. I feel that the Rowling quote does fit in the criticism of Lewis' work but not as an accusation of sexism. Niccodemus (talk) 14:21, 25 May 2008 (UTC)