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Original poster

Some questions abou the Narnia books.

43 replies

nkf · 17/01/2009 17:43

If you are a fan of them, can I ask?
When did you read them first?
Did you notice the Christian message?
If not on first reading, then when?

OP posts:
Katisha · 17/01/2009 17:45

Was about 15. Yes.

cyteen · 17/01/2009 17:46

i loved them

can't remember when i first read them, they've just always 'been there' iyswim

never had a clue about the christian message until someone pointed it out to me in my teens...but then religion has never been a part of my life at all and was never a part of our family life, so no real reason i would make that connection.

edam · 17/01/2009 17:46

Not entirely sure but around eight.
Yes (was at a CofE junior so parallels very obvious).

pinkteddy · 17/01/2009 17:47

I first read Magicians Nephew at about 8 or 9 I think and then Lion Witch and Wardrobe not long after. Read the whole lot eventually. Didn't get the Christian message AT ALL until years and years later!

Original poster
nkf · 17/01/2009 17:47

I can't remember not realising but that might be a bad memory. I'm jsut reading a fascinating book where the writer talks of feeling "betrayed" when she realised the books she loved were Christian.

OP posts:
psychomum5 · 17/01/2009 17:48

I got my first box set of them at 8yrs old, and read them all......loving them completely (they are still my books of choice when I am stuck for what to read), and at that point missed the religion entirely.

in fact, I must confess.......it completely bypassed me until it came up as the new films came out.

I just saw them as (and still do TBVH) as very good stories (altho 'the last battle' is quite hard to read as it is boring compared to the others).

Tidey · 17/01/2009 17:48

I read them at about age 10. I didn't notice the Christian message as I was reading, but was very annoyed at the end of last book when it becomes less of a message and more of a screech in your face: 'See!! The lion is in fact God! Did you get it?? Aren't you glad you spent all this time reading about a lovely make-believe world only to find out it was all about Christianity? Well?!'

I didn't like the last book anyway.
No offence meant.

PinkTulips · 17/01/2009 17:55

was between 8 and 10. i read them from the classroom library in school.

no i didn't notice the christian stuff at all and i was being raised a catholic, i only noticed it when i re read them last year for the first time since originally reading them and i was quite surprised tbh....

i don't think i read the last book as a child though as i know there was one i could never get a hold of and it didn't seem familiar at all when i reread the set..... it was rather blunt about the aslan=jesus stuff which i'm sure i would have noticed first time round.... and probably been quite disappointed about tbh as i still credit narnia as being my introduction to fantasy literature and am quite sad that cs lewis was actually trying to evangelise

Bink · 17/01/2009 17:55

Before 10; and no, not as specifically being Christian, but very much as being some kind of intensely meaningful semi-familiar parable.

The semi-familiarity is key - when you know nothing of any religion other than Christianity, you don't identify these messages as Christian specifically, you identify them just as the axiomatic moral framework - because Christianity is your norm.

It would be very interesting to know how people from a non-Christian background (by which I don't mean non-religious, but a background which is say Hindu or Buddhist) responded to their first reading of Narnia.

tiggerlovestobounce · 17/01/2009 18:01

I was 8 or 9.

I wasnt aware of the christian element until in my teens when I read a book about C S Lewis.

Its interesting to read the comments about The Last Battle. That is my favorite book of the series. I like that it is 'darker' than the others in the series.

Original poster
nkf · 17/01/2009 18:02

I don't like The Last Battle. It's depressing.

OP posts:
psychomum5 · 17/01/2009 18:07

it is darker, I agree completely there, but I think all the going on with the monkey in the lion skin was just utter crap (personal opinion) and after how wonderful 'the lion, witch and wardrobe' was, it was a huge disappointment to me.

I always thought 'the horse and his boy' was pretty boring too, but when I read them all this summer I actually found I liked it (nice surprise).

cat64 · 17/01/2009 18:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Clary · 17/01/2009 18:12

I love them.

Think I was 9-10-ish when I first read them (seems old but the language is hard for a child much younger).

Yes I saw the Christian message but then I was brought up in a Christian household so I think that helped me spot it.

(Tidey - FWIW the Lion is Jesus actually; God is the Emperor over the Sea)

bloss · 17/01/2009 18:23

Message withdrawn

notcitrus · 17/01/2009 18:38

Read LWW when I was 7-8, as they'd been a gift to my previous school's library and lots of people cheered when that title was read out.
I thought it was crap, with the whole 'oh by the way, there's a Deeper Magic I didn't tell anyone about'. If I'd known the phrase 'deus ex machina', I'd have said that instead or as well as 'it's crap'

Read the others aged 10 or so and loved them, including the Last Battle (at which point I noticed the religious similarities). Re-read them all since and still think LWW is the weakest of the lot. Magicians Nephew and Dawn Treader are my favourites.

Despite trad CofE primary schools and Sunday School for 3 years, I somehow still managed to get to age 10 ignorant of the fact that anyone nowadays in the UK believed in a god...

Bink · 17/01/2009 19:01

Yes, so who is Reepicheep? Best character (and best book) of the lot.

Is he, perchance, CSL himself?

neversaydie · 17/01/2009 19:04

I read TWW at around 7, and the rest of them over the next 2 years. The allegorical bits passed me by completely. We were not a church-going family, and I was raised outside the UK, in a country where people observed several different (and not Christian) faiths.

Re-reading them to DS, at similar ages, the later ones, especially the Last Battle, seemed incredibly heavy-handed. He enjoyed the earlier ones, but hasn't really gone back to them, whereas I read them again and again.

NimChimpsky · 17/01/2009 19:04

Read them aged 7. Was aware of the religious connotations but the magic seemed so much bigger back then. I read them now and while I still love them, the magic is hidden behind the overt Christianity.

Original poster
nkf · 17/01/2009 20:02

if you aren't Christian, did it bother you when you realised that there was an evangelical message?

OP posts:
llareggub · 17/01/2009 20:05

I read them at about 9 or 10, I think. The Christianity message became obvious in my teens when I re-read them. I think it is telling that the last few books were my least favourite.

I'd like to re-read them again now to see what I make of it all. I have recently become interested in Christianity, and I wonder what I would make of it?

Clary · 17/01/2009 20:45

Interested that some of you say age 7 when you read them.

Could I give them to DD (good reader) who is 7 then?

I personally think that, like the William books, the language and mores of the time have dated very rapidly - what I mean is I read Narnia and William 35 years ago, not so long (relatively) after they were written, so talk of shillings and maids and jolly good show was not so distant if that makes sense, as it seems to be on reading them to the DC now...

rachels103 · 17/01/2009 20:49

I read them over and over again between the ages of about 7 or 8 and 10 and didn't notice the Christian messages at all. I'm now a teacher of 9-11 year olds and they are still fairly popular...I think with children's classics, as with any classic novel, the old fashioned language becomes part of the book rather than making it seem dated.

Takver · 17/01/2009 20:52

Around age 6 or 7
Never noticed the Christian subtext until much older - maybe 10 or so
Didn't bother me - CofE primary school but atheist parents including mother who had a tendency to go church for the music and atmosphere, so was quite used to taking in Christianity as an interesting story IYKWIM

noonki · 17/01/2009 20:55

I loved them 6-10

complete atheist upbringing

only heard about the christian thing when the Pullman books where discussed along side narnia on the radio!