Jonathan Middleton: Narnia As an Example of Escapism

Edmund, Lucy, Peter and Susan of the Chronicles of Narnia nearly perfectly encapsulate the escapism offered by fantasy. In the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, these four children all literally escape from a war ravaged nation into an admittedly war ravaged fantasy world. the words of Lewis, “In the enjoyment of a great myth we come nearest to experiencing as a concrete what can otherwise be understood only as an abstraction.” (Lewis, para. 10). These children were afforded the opportunity to escape into a fantasy world away from their current predicaments.

However, while they were able escape their world they were yet unable to escape their general situation they had been in. The fact that the world that they had escaped to was arguably as worse off as the world that they had left left them in nearly the same situation. However in Narnia the children were able to have a profound effect on the world around, something which they would certainly not have in the real world. In the real world, these children would have been innocent bystanders and perhaps tragic victims of a conflict that was completely out of their own control.

But in Narnia, the main characters were no longer the passive potential victims of a terrible conflict but had the capacity to see the violence come to an end. The main characters went from mere children in our world to literal Kings and Queens in a fantastical world that they had the power to save.

This ability to escape a world where they could be nothing other than victims to a world where they could actively change their situation is a brilliant example of a coping mechanism. These children were allowed to quite literally face their demons (the monsters and beasts) in Narnia and live a life that they could not have hoped for in our world. Narnia offered them an ability to escape from their world, battle their demons, and afforded them the time to cope with their situation.

Lewis, C.S. "Myth Became Fact." God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. Ed. Walter Hooper. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970. 63-67.

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