To add to your statement, The Wizard of Oz is an allegory about the gold vs. free silver campaign during McKinley's presidential election. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book written from The Chronicles of Narnia, is an allegory about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis was a self proclaimed Christian.
The Gold Standard Theory was a popular one, for a while, but has been rejected by most Baum studies. There was a lot of social commentary in the Oz books, especially about social reform and a pro-Feminism viewpoint.
Lewis, himself, denied Narnia was an allegory. The Narnia books were more about faith in general, rather than in the Christian Church. Lewis used symbols from all sorts of mythologies, including his own Christian. Sure, Aslan is Christ, but Aslan's good friend Bacchus is in Narnia, too. Of course, Tolkien's Gandalf was partly a Christ figure. Even Carroll's Alice had some Christ symbolism attached to her.
Carroll, Tolkien, and Lewis were heavily influenced by Carroll's mentor, George MacDonald, the father of fantasy literature as we know it, today, who was mainly known as an unorthodox theologan in his day. When Lewis Carroll was told by Alice Liddell that he should publish that book he wrote for her as a Christmas present, he went to MacDonald for advice. MacDonald read it to his family, and they loved it, and agreed with Alice that Carroll should publish it. The book was, of course, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. C. S. Lewis would go on to say he never wrote a book that didn't quote MacDonald.
MacDonald's was an anti-Fundamentalist theology, with a special reverence of Nature...
IT IS THE TEMPLE OF NATURE and not the temple of the church, the things made by the hands of God and not the things made by the hands of men, that afford the truest of symbols of truth.
ALL NATURE SPEAKS, like the flower, messages from God, the Father of the universe.
EVERYWHERE IS GOD. The earth underneath us is his hand upholding us; the waters are in the hollow of it. Every spring-fountain of gladness about us is his making and his delight. He tends us and cares for us; he is close to us, breathing into our nostrils the breath of life, and breathing into our spirit thoughts that make us look up and recognize the love and care around us.
SEE THE FREEDOM OF GOD in his sunsets-never a second like one which is passed! See the freedom in his moons and skies, in the ever-changing solid earth!- all moving by no dead law, but in the harmony of the vital law of liberty.
EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL is but a bit of love frozen.
EVERY FACT IN NATURE is a revelation of God.
ALL LOVELY SIGHTS tend to keep the soul pure, to lift the heart up to God.
THE MAN WHO, in harmony with nature, attempts the discovery of more of her meanings, is just searching out the things of God.
You'll notice this reverence of Nature throughout Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Another theme of MacDonald's that was throughout Carroll's, Tolkien's, and Lewis's works, as well as the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, is child-likeness, which is completely different from being child-ish.
THERE IS A CHILDHOOD into which we have to grow, just as there is a childhood which we must leave behind. One is a childishness from which but few of those who are counted wisest among men have freed themselves. The other is a child-likeness, which is the highest gain of humanity.
WHEN WE FORGIVE our neighbor, in flows the forgiveness of God's forgiveness to us. For God to withhold his forgiveness from the one who will not forgive his neighbor is love as well as necessity. If God said, "I forgive you," to a man who hated his brother, what would it mean to him? How would the man interpret it? Would it not meant to him, "You may go on hating. I do not mind it. You have had great provocation, and are justified in your hate." No, the hater must be delivered from the hell of his hate, that God's child should be made the loving child that he meant him to be.
MANY ARE SO BUSY understanding with their intellects that they miss the better understanding of thought of a thing that they miss the thing itself-whose possession, not its thought, is essential.
TO MANY WELL-MEANING PEOPLE with small natures, theology must be like a map-with plenty of lines in it. They cannot trust their house on the high tablelands because they cannot see the outlines bounding the land. It is not small enough for them. They cannot take it in. Such people, one would think, can hardly be satisfied with creation, seeing there is no line of division anywhere in it.
WHEN GOD DRAWS LINES, they are pure lines, without breadth and consequently invisible to mortal eyes, not walls of separation such as many Christians are fond of constructing.
Having that child-likeness is the rule to be able to enter these Fairylands, be it Wonderland, Oz, Neverland, or Narnia. Notice this same rule applies to all of them. Adults can enter Oz if they are "as a child," have that quality we all possess as children and often lose along the way, that sense of wonder with the world, that ability to see and fully experience it's true magic, that realization that there's something more than what we can immediately see, feel, and smell right in front of us. Dorothy's aunt and uncle had lost that, but were, through Dorothy, able to regain it and enter Oz (More Christ symbolism, there). That's why it had to be Lucy to lead her older siblings into Narnia. Wonderland reflects Alice's view of the real world, and the madness and absurdity she sees in the adults around her. One modern version of the Alice/Dorothy/Wendy/Lucy figure is Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter books. Notice she's child-like, but also the most mature and wisest character in the series, and the most genuinely pure and good. She's pretty much the Alice archetype after Wonderland, taking what she learned on her Journey and applying it. Notice all the creatures she discusses have Carrollian and Baumian names.
MacDonald, and these writers heavily influenced by him, used the Fairylands, the Celtic Otherworld, to represent certain concepts. For a little on the Celtic Otherworld that is the basis for Wonderland, Oz, Neverland, and Narnia, not to mention so many, since, see here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherworld
To these writers, the journey into the Fairylands represents a spiritual Journey. So, yes, it is about an "altered state," as you're not the same at the end of the Journey as you were when you started it, but not about drugs.
reply
share
DaylightShinesBackwards
15 years ago
The Gold Standard Theory was a popular one, for a while, but has been rejected by most Baum studies. There was a lot of social commentary in the Oz books, especially about social reform and a pro-Feminism viewpoint.
Lewis, himself, denied Narnia was an allegory. The Narnia books were more about faith in general, rather than in the Christian Church. Lewis used symbols from all sorts of mythologies, including his own Christian. Sure, Aslan is Christ, but Aslan's good friend Bacchus is in Narnia, too. Of course, Tolkien's Gandalf was partly a Christ figure. Even Carroll's Alice had some Christ symbolism attached to her.
I learned in school that both Narnia and Oz were allegories, but then everybody has their own interpretation. That just solidifies my belief that symbolism is invented by scholars. I don't think most authors write with the idea in mind that the green light across the lake is a symbol of Daisy Buchanan.
I have noticed many cross references in Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, from major themes like growing up and fantasy worlds, to the small fact that the same girl who does the voice for Alice in the Disney version is also the voice of Wendy in Disney's Peter Pan. Also, the tune of "Second Star to the Right" was originally written to be the tune to "Beyond the Laughing Sky" in Alice until that song got cut, then Disney though it was perfect to be used in Peter Pan.
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
reply
share
ebailey140
15 years ago
I learned in school that both Narnia and Oz were allegories, but then everybody has their own interpretation. That just solidifies my belief that symbolism is invented by scholars. I don't think most authors write with the idea in mind that the green light across the lake is a symbol of Daisy Buchanan.
I have noticed many cross references in Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, from major themes like growing up and fantasy worlds, to the small fact that the same girl who does the voice for Alice in the Disney version is also the voice of Wendy in Disney's Peter Pan. Also, the tune of "Second Star to the Right" was originally written to be the tune to "Beyond the Laughing Sky" in Alice until that song got cut, then Disney though it was perfect to be used in Peter Pan.
"Beyond the Laughing Sky" sounded too "Over the Rainbow," so it got dumped in favor of "A World Of My Own." The music, though, worked perfectly for Peter Pan.
There was a lot of symbolism in all these books, but it tended to be myth based, the idea being to create new Myths for the modern world that would serve the purpose the classic Myths did for the old. The result is the classic "children's stories" have ended up much more layered and complex than most adult literature. The Alice books, especially, are never quite the same books whenever you re-read them. There's always something new that jumps out at you, especially with Through the Looking Glass.
One thing about the Alice books is they've never been really adapted to film (though I do love Disney's take). They may well be unfilmable, as they're very poetic and lyrical works, to the point it would be like trying to adapt a great poem to film. The Alice books, after all, were a huge influence on James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (Imagine trying to make a film out of that), and several Beatles songs from the Sgt Pepper era, onward ("Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "I Am the Walrus", "Glass Onion", "Cry Baby Cry", "Helter Skelter", "The Long and Winding Road", not to mention John Lennon's own poetry).
reply
share
DaylightShinesBackwards
15 years ago
The only one of Joyce's works I've read is The Dubliners (typical, I know, but it was assigned in my British Literature class about a year ago). Once I get time to read more like I used to, I'll look into Finnegan's Wake. Being that it's influenced by Carroll, I'll probably love it.
You're right about Alice never being the same each time you read it. I recently re-read Wonderland and it definitely took on a completely different meaning than the last time I read it, which was like six years ago. After I get through this weekends tests I'm going to pick up Looking Glass again.
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
P.S. I love your shoutout to the Beatles/Lennon. "I Am the Walrus" is by far my favorite .
reply
share
denbeez
15 years ago
^ "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally the riddle had no answer, but Carroll made one up later. He said...
"Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front! This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle as originally invented, had no answer at all."
Many readers have invented their own answers ever since, including the most famous "because Poe wrote on both."
reply
share