THE CONTINUING ROLE OF CHRISTIANITY IN POPULAR CHILDRENS LITERATURE

Until relatively recently, the United Kingdom has been a predominantly Christian country, following the precepts of the Bible, with all aspects of life being influenced by the teachings of the Christian faith and the underlying assumptions concerning good and evil and this has included literature; as recently as the 1950’s and the publication of CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, religious imagery and allegories, such as the apple, the serpent and the rainbow, being easily recognisable to the reader. However, in the years since the Narnia series was published, English society has become increasingly multi-cultural and the dominance of Christianity has declined, in favour of other religious views and the acceptance of these ideologies over traditional Christianity. In the words of religious academic Edward Cahill,
Christianity has moved through its history from a position of almost absolute dominance in the determination of cultural, social and economic patterns to its present precarious position as a vestigial institution on the periphery of our civilization. (Cahill, 1974) The result of this ideological shift is that specifically Christian symbols which were recognisable to the majority of readers in the early post war period, are no longer as evident to the modern reader, as illustrated by Francis Bridger in A Charmed Life: The Spirituality of Potterworld, (2002) when he says ‘…the blatantly allegorical elements are generally lost on its millions of young readers.’ (p22-23) This was reinforced by a recent informal poll amongst University of Cumbria English students, who after reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Lewis, 2001) were asked about the presence of Christianity within this novel, and only a minority understood the religious episode alluded to in the text. (Bradshaw, 2010)

Despite this apparent move into what is being posited by critics as a Post-Christian culture, the fiction being produced contains many of the same allegories and biblical references as previous works using Christian interpretations of good and evil; but latter day novels are not being understood as having Christian significance due to the multicultural nature of society in modern Britain. An example of a misunderstood text containing specific Christian allegories is Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by JK Rowling (2000); when this text was published it was denounced for its ‘…tone of death, hate, lack of respect and sheer evil’ (Usborne, 1999) and The Pope, before his ordination to the papacy, condemned the series as containing ‘…subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.’ (Blakely, 2005) This interpretation of the text, however, does not account for some of the explicit Christian imagery found within the pages of the series, imagery which is accepted as being fundamentally Christian in older works such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, or the way the text highlights the triumph of good over evil, despite the minor transgressions of the characters.

According to the Bible, when God created humankind, he endowed them with free will as highlighted in the final verses of the book of Revelations; that is, they were given the ability to choose for themselves whether to live by the rules He provided, or to give in to temptation and choose to follow the Devil, as Eve did in the Garden of Eden, when she ate the fruit of the ‘…tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis, 2:17) known to Christians as the Fall from Grace. Eve was not acting out of evil intentions when she ate the fruit, but rather was tempted by the serpent telling her she would ‘…be like God, knowing both good and evil.’ (Genesis, 3:5) In itself, this is a worthy aspiration for all Christians; however, the way that Eve achieved her objective was through disobedience, having been specifically forbidden this fruit, and as a result both she and Adam were cast out of the Garden of Eden. (Some Christian groups believe that this resulted in all humans to be born with the predetermined tendency to evil, known as the Original Sin.) Fortunately, God sent his Son as an ambassador (known as the Incarnation) and Christ offered a man chance to live according to Gods laws and to be forgiven all their sins, and he was crucified at Calvary in order to heal the rift between man and God created by Eve in the Garden of Eden (The Atonement.) This central Christian message is evident in some of the most famous children’s fiction published in the Twentieth Century, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, with the notion of free will and temptation being explored in various ways throughout both of the texts and the parallels with the Bible are clearly evident.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the character of Aslan the Lion, accepted by many critics as representative of Christ forgives Edmund Pevensie for betraying his siblings, and Aslan himself, to the White Witch, he also allows himself to be killed on the Stone Table in Edmunds stead, clearly echoing the story of the Crucifixion in the Bible. As with Eve in the Garden of Eden, Edmund is not acting in a deliberately evil manner; he is tempted by the White Witch who, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, offers Edmund the thing he most desires, which is, in his view, to be treated better, just as Eve wished to be more like God. This is not an evil desire, but a selfish one nevertheless, especially as his treatment is not very harsh, or undeserved, but Edmund ‘…suffers as a result…’ (Ringrose, 2006) and is punished through his subsequent treatment at the hands of the witch, until rescued by Aslan’s followers and forgiven his sin. In this, Edmund represents humanity and Lewis condenses the Fall, the Incarnation and the Atonement into the events of one child.

In the Harry Potter series of novels, JK Rowling is able to show her characters as able to exercise free will, and also to resist (or give in to) the temptation for selfish desires. Arriving at Hogwarts school and undergoing the sorting, Harry does not want to join the Slytherin house, although this would allow him ‘…help…on the way to greatness, no doubt about that…’ (Rowling, 2000, p91) and this is taken into account by the Sorting Hat. Connie Neal, in The Gospel According to Harry Potter, (2002) says that ‘Harry resisted evil, and was sorted into Gryffindor…and did not yield to the hat’s suggestion…’ Harry is also able to exercise the will to overcome temptation at the climax of the novel, in that when he is looking for the Philosophers Stone, it is not for the sake of any desire, such as the eternal life or riches promised the holder of the stone; instead he is able to ‘…find the stone and not use it…’ (Rowling, 2000, p217) understanding that this is the only way to stop Professor Quirell and by extension the evil Lord Voldemort gaining the power contained in the stone. Hagrid, in this novel is shown as a comparison to Harry, in that he allows himself to be tempted by the disguised Professor Quirrell and the promise of an illegal Dragons egg, divulging vital information which allows Lord Voldemort to gain access to the Mirror of Erised. Here is another direct analogy to Eve’s temptation in the Garden of Eden; as with Edmund, Hagrid is not acting with evil intentions, but his desire results in the betrayal and subsequent danger of his friends.
Through the entire Harry Potter series, one of the major motifs in the texts is that of the Ultimate Sacrifice. Repeatedly, Rowling makes it known that Harry’s mother Lily sacrificed her own life in order to save Harry, and this sacrifice acts as a sheild; it is this that allows her son to be ‘Harry Potter – the boy who lived’ (Rowling, 2000, p18) and the residual protection of this helps to keep Professor Quirrell from the Philosophers Stone. As Dumbledore explains to Harry at the end of the first novel,

…love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection for ever. It is in your very skin.’ (Rowling, 2000, p216)

This is an explicitly religious message couched in the metaphor of Harry’s mother. The Bible teaches that ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son…’ (John 3:16) Jesus Christ to be crucified at Golgotha in Calvary, making the largest sacrifice he could to ensure the continued survival of mankind. The parallels between this and the sacrifice of Lily Potter are striking; Lily Potter made the greatest sacrifice she could in order to ensure the survival of her son, freely forfeiting her own life to protect her him and this, as with God’s sacrifice, allows Harry to ‘…not perish but have…life.’ (John 3:16) In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, this is one of the most famous and recognisable allegories, with Aslan the Lion allowing himself to be killed in order to save the life of one of the ‘sons of Adam.’ (Lewis, 2001, p40) Explicitly echoing the story of The Crucifixion and The Atonement, Aslan is ridiculed and humiliated before being killed, watched by Susan and Lucy, just as Jesus was at his death in Matthew Chapter 27; he is then resurrected, heralding a new era in Narnia. As with Lily Potter, Aslan makes the ultimate sacrifice when he allows himself to be killed in order for Edmund to live. Both Aslan and Lily Potter, like God, make this sacrifice not for selfish reasons, but in the name of love. This is a concept that evil cannot comprehend; the White Witch calls Aslan a fool for his willingness to die for Edmund and Lord Voldemort equally cannot understand why Harry survived the killing curse or the power behind Lily’s sacrifice.

In the Bible, Christ died knowing that he would be restored to ‘…drink wine again…with you in my Father’s Kingdom.’ (Matthew 26:29) This aspect of the Crucifixion is explicitly analogised in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Aslan goes to his death willingly in order to save Edmunds life; Aslan, like Christ, knows that he will be resurrected as he is ‘…a willing victim who had committed no treachery…’ (Lewis, 2001, p176) just as Jesus was free from sin and so would be reunited with his apostles after his crucifixion. Following Aslan’s death he is restored to life through the power of the deeper magic, which allowed ‘…death itself [to] start working backwards,’ (Lewis, 2001, p176) just as the power of God allowed Christ to be crucified at Calvary and subsequently resurrected and furthermore to allow his followers to enjoy eternal life. Evidence of The Resurrection can also be found in the pages of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, although not as explicitly as in the pages of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, or even in the final novel of the Harry Potter series. At the end of the first novel Harry, according to John Granger‘…dies a figurative death’ and is ‘…saved by love…in [Philosophers] Stone.’ (Granger, 2006, p27) Love, in this novel is comparable to the deeper magic found in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and indeed the love of God for mankind which enables Christians to survive death and ‘…inherit the Kingdom prepared…’ (Matthew, 26:34) and ‘…go into eternal life.’(Matthew, 26:46) It is also, as already discussed, a concept which the evil characters such as Lord Voldemort or the White Witch, cannot understand or overcome.

Whilst these examples of the contents of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone underscore specific Biblical episodes, there is a fundamental message in the both of the novels which highlights the basic principle of good triumphing over evil. One of the basic ways this is shown in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is in the construction of the Hogwarts houses. Harry and his friends are in Gryffindor House, with its badge of the Red Lion, and his nemesis Draco Malfoy belongs to Slytherin House, represented by the Serpent. In using the Lion and the Serpent as the symbols of the houses, Rowling employs some of the most established literary images which allow her to represent good and evil; these symbols have been used throughout literature, with the Red Lion similar to that found on Peter’s shield in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and its ‘…allu[sion] to the biblical Lion of Judah. (Wood, 2001) and the serpent appearing as Satan’s representative in the Garden of Eden and traditionally being associated with this evil; the Book of Revelations calls Satan ‘…the ancient serpent…the one deceiving the whole world…’ (Revelations 12:9) The battle under the school at the end of Harry Potter is clearly defined as having Harry as a ‘good’ character and Professor Quirrell and Lord Voldemort as the ‘bad’ characters, and Harry himself understands ‘…that this was a matter of life and death, good versus evil.’ (Neal, 2002, p33) The characters in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are also clearly defined as being either good or evil, with bad characters recognisable by their ugliness and described as’...monstrous...evil... and poisonous...’ (Lewis, 2001, p163)

In an interview after the publication of the final novel in the Harry Potter series, author JK Rowling said that she thought the religious parallels were obvious, but that she ‘…thought it might show people who just wanted the story where [it was] going." (Adler, 2007) and so had refused to be drawn to discuss the religious significance of the novels. However, it is clear upon a close reading that the religious symbolism running throughout the Harry Potter novels is as evident as that found in the Chronicles of Narnia, including the representations of sacrifice and resurrection, both of which are deeply religious symbols. There is also a clear attempt to portray the religious idea of free will, and to show that everyone has the ability to choose their own path, as with Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry in Philosophers Stone. Furthermore, as with other children’s fiction, the depiction of good and evil within the novels is clear and easily identified, but complicated by the free will man is endowed with and the repercussions of giving in to temptation.


Bibliography

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Ringrose, C (2006) Lying in Children’s Fiction: Morality and the Imagination [Online] Available at: https://gateway.cumbria.ac.uk/content/r252j328kn7x7052/,DanaInfo=.awxyCwuxpvpo2xv1zPt65+fulltext.pdf Last Accessed: 5 April 2010
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Is studying an English Degree an easy option?

During the last three years upon mentioning I am studying an English degree, the response has generally been ‘English? How hard is it to read a few books?’ delivered in a sneering tone; leaving me feeling that people perceive this subject as being an easy, or ‘soft option’. The literal answer to this question is that it is not hard to read a book; but that is not the reason I have spent my time and money studying an English degree. I was already able to read; indeed I have read extensively throughout my life so far. I wanted, instead, to be able to see past what is written to what is meant in a text, something that is a lot harder than reading. I returned to education after a long break and although reading has always been my favourite pastime, being called ‘bookish’ in school reports, automatically given library duties as a prefect and amassing a collection of over 1300 books, the standards needed at degree level took me by complete surprise. Studying this ‘easy’ degree has changed so much more than my reading, including the way I think and even the way I watch TV (not that there is any time for such a frivolous activity!) Gone are the lazy days of believing the word on the page or images on the screen, replaced instead by an inquisitiveness to understand deeper meanings, a quality that has been painstakingly cultivated through lectures and seminars, exercising my mind in a way similar to that of athletes training for competitions and no one says that is easy!

When I began the degree course, I was a voracious reader, reading a novel within a day or two; taking at face value the words written on the page - easy reading in other words, and although I still read widely, the way I do this has changed dramatically. Now, instead of greedily consuming a text and moving on to the next one, I read slowly, which allows the words to sink into my head and to understand better what is being said, which I don’t always want to do, especially if I am reading something that does not stand much analysis, like the ‘formulaic’ and ‘generic’ adventure fiction of Clive Cussler. Evenings filled with playing on the Xbox, or taking long leisurely baths seem like a distant memory, replaced by a necessity for (as it is known in the trade) close reading. I find that I need to read some books two or even three times through, each time discovering a new motif which needs careful consideration. So much for easy reading!

One of the things I was unprepared for when I began studying was the amount of other disciplines I would need get to grips with in order to gain a full understanding of a piece of literature, as with the poetry of Seamus Heaney which I studied in the first year. During the first lecture on the Irish poet I listened incredulously as I was told this poem directly correlated to the Troubles in Northern Ireland; I felt my heart sink and wondered how on earth I would manage to graduate if I did not even understand this obviously basic interpretation of poetry. However, perseverance, the study of Irish history and an open mind enabled me to understand his writing, and also led me to appreciate how important the context and the background around a piece of literature are when trying to understand it. This degree also required a sound grasp of sociology, which like history I had never significantly considered before; but it was quickly evident that it was essential to the successful study of English Literature, resulting in long nights revisiting my partner’s A-level sociology notes and textbooks in order to know what is meant by the terms ‘post-modernism’ or ‘Marxism’.

As a ‘mature’ student, I had to make a large number of changes in my life as a result of studying; I have, in effect, put life on hold in order to complete this degree. I have missed friend’s birthdays and my children’s school plays in order to be at lectures; I have spent evenings at home, when others have been out carousing and having a good time, so I can have an essay finished early - although I have saved a fortune in babysitting costs! Joking aside though, this degree has not been an easy option by any means; apart from the studying itself, there have been times when I have thought the cost too great, that I have neglected aspects of life that are important, like school events and friends. So to those people who consider that an English degree to be a soft option let me say this.

Studying an English degree is more than reading; it is learning to understand the words written by another person and knowing what they are saying, over the span of centuries in some cases. It is being able to articulate what that author is saying underneath the words, even when the author does not realise it. Being an English student is regretfully looking at the pile of Christmas present novels sitting in the corner and knowing that they will not be read, because the pile next to the bed are needed for the next essay that is due in and then there will be the one after that; it is having to get to grips with a theoretical perspective such as Marxism or Feminism so that you can discuss it in the next seminar and know what you are talking about. An English degree is about studying history and sociology as well as English literature and giving up leisure time to understand what is being studied by re-reading things over and over again; But, studying an English degree is also about learning to understand the world around you in a new way, listening to the opinions of other people, and accepting their interpretations; it is also about personal development and learning to ask for advice rather than struggling on and accepting that I am not superwoman who can do everything alone. So, while it may be easy to read a book there is so much more to an English degree that that, and while I have sometimes struggled and had to push myself to finish a piece of work, it has been worth every late night and unread Christmas present; I can now not only read that book, but I can understand it too!