This is an essay thing I wrote for a class, we had to make it somewhat personal and include an anecdote, hence the structure.
The Contrasting Portrayals of Religion in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia
I remember being gifted the first book in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy when I was maybe about ten. I was told of its status as a classic children's book not dissimilar to C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia and I gave it a read. But in spite of the fact that I had completely read many classic children's books at that age, some of which were terribly dull (What Katy Did still holds its place as the worst book I've ever had the misfortune of engaging with), I wasn't really able to immerse myself with His Dark Materials. However, something about the book, or maybe just all the people insisting to me that it was a masterpiece, lead me to attempt to reread it multiple times, never getting further than chapter nine. I abandoned the book for years, until I kept hearing it being brought up in the context of its interesting take on religion, something that very much appeals to me. That lead me to trying to read it recently, in which I quickly finished it and started to not just understand the people parading it around as a masterpiece, but agreeing with them. This lead me to reflect on what it was about the book that had child me unable to finish it due to boredom, but my current self finding the book to be enthralling from beginning to end, and I came to the conclusion that, despite being marketed to children, His Dark Materials's best traits, its intricate politics, bleak social commentary and unique prose all aren't really things that most children, (even insufferably academic ones like myself), look for in books. In fact, I would read His Dark Materials as something closer to a dark satire to the likes of The Chronicles of Narnia than something of the same genre. In this essay, I will discuss the similarities and differences of His Dark Materials and The Chronicles of Narnia, and explore how His Dark Materials presents almost as a dark counterpart of The Chronicles of Narnia.
The thing that comes to mind when you think of the themes of both His Dark Materials and The Chronicles of Narnia is religion. The Chronicles of Narnia famously includes a lot of Christian allegory, with Edmund's storyline of being lead astray by an evil person to betray his good siblings, in part due to his own greed, is a retelling of the biblical story of Judas, and Aslan returning from the dead, (and, really, the whole character of Aslan), being a metaphor for Jesus. His Dark Materials, on the other hand, depicts the Christian church (and the actual Christian church at that, not a fantasy representation), performing macabre experiments on children in an attempt to rid them of a substance they believe to be original sin, in a darker, albeit more realistic, depiction of organised religion. The themes of religion prevalent across both books, particularly how Phillip Pullman subverts the religious themes introduced by C. S. Lewis will serve as the foundation to my points in this essay.
A theme that intertwines with religion in both books is that of the magic of childhood. In The Chronicles of Narnia, the reason the children are able to enter Narnia is because of the magic of childhood innocence. Narnia links childhood innocence and magic to religion by portraying the children as being truly good in the eyes of Jesus (Aslan), and depicting a Christian country, (Narnia), as a place where childhood is sacred. His Dark Materials takes this idea and bastardises it. His Dark Materials shows a church obsessed with the innocence of childhood to the point of carrying out gruesome experiments on children to try and preserve their childhood innocence and free them of original sin. This is an example of the two books taking the same core idea and C. S. Lewis using it to affirm the virtue and doctrine of the real Cristian church, and Phillip Pullman using it to comment on the corrupt nature of real world organised religion.
Another important parallel between the two books is the nature of their respective villains. The White Witch of Narnia is cold and maleficent to an obvious degree, but still beautiful enough to lead multiple good characters astray into sin. Edmund describes her as having, 'a beautiful face in other respects, but proud and cold and stern.' If Aslan is Jesus, the White Witch is the devil. The White Witch represents the Cristian idea of evil, obvious in their heresy, but still able to tempt others into deviance. Conversely, Mrs Coulter in His Dark Materials is a lot more subtle in her villainy. When she is introduced, both Lyra, the main character of the book, and the audience, they are supposed to trust her. When describing her Lyra says, "She's Wonderful, She's the most wonderful person I've ever met." But, as the book goes on, it is revealed that Mrs Coulter uses her charm to lure children away for the church to do their experiments. While the White Witch is the Christian idea of evil, Mrs Coulter is the evil of the church, charming and subtle, only revealing her true nature when it's too late. In some ways, Mrs Coulter and the White Witch are very similar, they're both beautiful villains unafraid to use that beauty to manipulate the main characters, the differences being both the amount of subtlety they use, and how they relate to the church, the White Witch being an enemy of the church, and Mrs Coulter being a part of it.
In conclusion, Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials and C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia bother deal with themes of religion, although The Chronicles of Narnia does so through a Cristian perspective, and His Dark Materials through a more agnostic one. The two book contain many parallels, with His Dark Materials satirizing Narnia by portraying similar themes twisted into a darker version of them.
