Symbolic Depictions in Fiction Using Animals: A Discussion on "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe"

Characters – People and/or Animals? Create character profiles for each of the main characters – do you naturally include the animal characters? Do you treat them the same or differently than the human characters? Why do writers for children use animals so often? Lewis has the opportunity to write any story he wants; why might he have chosen to use animals to tell the stories in the Narnia Chronicles?

Animals are frequently used for Children’s literature. From nursery rhymes to folktales and fables, animals are almost always depicted as friends to children, domesticated animals in particular. The fact that C. S. Lewis chose to include animal characters in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is not at all surprising when considering it’s far harder to name a children’s book without animals.

There is symbolism around animals in general, but also surrounding specific characters. For example, a lamb is always equated with innocence. A lion is always seen as brave and courageous, as well as a King, though perhaps not in the case of The Wizard of Oz, (but that’s an intentional outlier). These animals can act as vessels to communicate ideas without having to outright say it. Having Aslan as the leader makes sense from a symbolic standpoint given that in nature, never mind the fact that Aslan ends up being a metaphor for God.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I oftimes found it far easier to connect with animal characters than with human ones. I’m not sure I have an answer as to why. Perhaps it’s because animals became familiar to me far before adults did. I had stuffed animals and was read children’s books before I met many strangers.

Children don’t associate animals with how they are in the wild, but how they are in stories. Children love going to the zoo, (ethics of caged animals aside) and it’s a novelty to see these beings in real life. There is something pure in the nature of animals, whether domestic or wild, a carnivore or herbivore. There is something like kinship I felt with animals in a way I have never felt with humans.

I like to imagine C. S. Lewis drawing a bubble around “What do children like?” and then drawing lines to add ideas and among them being “imagination”, “animals”, “adventure”, “magic” etc. and then just writing something that appealed. When you combine these topics, the animal characters can be used in any number of ways, but they are almost always guides and friends. There are exceptions, of course.

Foxes and snakes are often depicted as sly or deceitful. These characters are already made, so in a sense, there is little the author has to do to develop these characters to show what they mean. If a character was a dog, you would know that they’re likely going to be a dedicated friend. If there’s a fox, you know there’s going to be a trick. The plot can very easily build off of this characterization.