Nandakishore Mridula’s Reviews > The Chronicles of Narnia > Status Update

A donkey posing as Aslan the lion. An ape who interprets him and enslaves the Narnians in the name of Aslan, in cahoots with the "brown-faced" Calormenes who worship the bloodthirsty god Tash. The absolute blasphemy of the ape who says Tash and Aslan are the same. Enslavement in the name of freedom... need I go on? How disgusting can an allegory get?

There is a school called "Experiment House" which is co-educational and secular (which means - gasp! - the Bible is not taught and kids do not know the basic fact that they came from Adam and Eve), and where corporal punishment is frowned upon. The school consequently is full of bullies who terrorise the timid children. Oh God! I hope I won't throw up.

This is becoming more and more of a chore to get through. Aslan has become tiringly preachy... and the allegory has become so obvious that it reads like a religious tract in places. For example, in the last chapter of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan changes into a lamb and then back into a lion, all the while preaching to the kids. How unsubtle can you get?