BANNED BOOK SUMMARY

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe BY Lewis, C.S.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was banned in 1990 for depicting graphic violence, mysticism, and gore. And in 2005, when Jed Bush picked it for a required reading book in Florida, and the novel was viewed as not politically correct for school reading. In fact, it was deemed “unconstitutional” by the Americans for the Separation of Church and State because Aslan can be interpreted as a Christ-like figure and offensive to non-Christians.


Throughout its existence, Narnia’s availability has been challenged in a variety of different settings. It has been banned in numerous public lower schools, faced criticism from various religious communities, and even faced removal from public libraries. A children’s fantasy by genre, this would at first appear extremely surprising. Christianity today, a popular Christian magazine, highlighted many of books anger arousing aspects when it said “it [Narnia] is a sullied book that attempts to animalize Jesus Christ, putting his struggles into clichéd animal characters…” On top of this, the book has often been cited for arousing children to act in mischievous manners, disobeying the conventions of their elders while looking for adventure. Even when read casually, many have dictated that the chronicles create “rebellious and unruly youth,” (Christianity Today). Although the above may be extreme situations, from it one can clearly gleam the controversial nature of this seemingly innocent and pure series of fantasies.