Eternal winter

[Unicornguy]

[A#minor]

I think Lewis used winter to show the contrast between the coldness of sin (White Witch) and the warmth of righteousness (Aslan);the bare, stark world of winter in contrast with the flowering world of spring. Certainly there's nothing pure about the witch.

I can see the connection between the fruit in the Garden of Eden and the apple that Digory retrieves. (I'm glad you said "fruit" since we don't know that the fruit of Eden was an apple. We only know it was a type of fruit; most likely a type no longer in existence on earth.)
However I don't really see a connection with the apples eaten at Cair Paravel in Prince Caspian. I think there just happened to be an orchard there, that's all. I could be wrong.

I love walking through empty churches. It can be very peaceful.
Have fun reading Silver Chair!

[rusmeister]

[Iris]

[WolfVanZandt]

[Iris]

I hate it when people look for symbolism that doesn't exist. I had a teacher once who did that. I mean, can't a poet EVER just write about how pretty the sunset is without it having to symbolise...I dunno...the beauty of their life ending or something??? It's a pet peeve. Especially because my writing rarely uses symbols and I KNOW there are others out there who are the same way. Grrrr...(maybe this should go in the "things that make you go grrrrr..." forum...)

[WolfVanZandt]

Iris, symbolism always exists. That's what makes any story personal. The symbols I use to translate the writings of C. S. Lewis are different (though some are shared), than those you use, and that is the way it should be. I see different things in his stories than he saw.

Relating is partially receiving the message another person gives me as they meant it - but it also includes me taking the message into myself and making it mine. If they recognize the transformation and take it back as transformed, then we unite conceptually and a relationship forms. Meaning flows in both directions.

[Iris]

[WolfVanZandt]

Well, I neither like it or dislike it, I simply recognize it. Symbols don't exist on paper - they are tools but they're not particularly literary. They exist in our heads. We manipulate our perception of reality by symboism. Symbols mediate our perception and our thoughts.

[Prince Caspian]

I also believe that. A few weeks ago I wrote a story about the Holy Spirit, but I used a lot of symbolism. At the end of telling my story, we shared opinions about it, and what did they tought the elements in the story symbolized. I found out that they had more meanings than I actually put in my story! I was surprised, and then I tought "Wow, C. S. Lewis must have felt this when people shared opinions about Narnia." So yeah, I do believe that it does flow in both directions.

And also, remember that in both the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian C.S. Lewis still keeps symbolism a bit toned down, it's after Prince Caspian that he starts putting more of a litttle meaning into everything.

And yes, I'm almost sure that in LWW winter stands for cold, and for being away from God, before you finally see him and he warms and makes spring flow in your heart. :D

[David]

[Stanley Anderson]

[Sunny]

[A#minor]

I agree that there are too many supposed symbols being rooted out of nowhere in English classes today. I had an awful time with The Scarlet Letter in college. I like the book, but our teacher kept coming up with the most ridiculously irrelevant connections to everything under the sun! If there was a beam of sunlight in the story, she was positive that it meant something. Maybe it was sunny that day...
Yes, there is some symbolism used in many books, but not everything is an allegory for something else.

[Stanley Anderson]